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For all the corporate drones who feel drained and devalued by their jobs and long to pursue their passions, Fields, a high-powered attorney turned successful entrepreneur, offers a motivational and practical guide to starting your own business. The author tells his own story of corporate disillusionment and physical deterioration (capped by a stress-exacerbated heart attack, which he interpreted as his "body literally rejecting" his career) to a new life as a fitness entrepreneur. Fields moves beyond self-help rhetoric to proffer helpful, no-nonsense steps for aspiring business owners, acknowledging that "career renegades" must not only identify their own "secret passion" but must also translate it into a profitable and sustainable enterprise. In addition to sharing inspirational career renegade cases studies, such as "Liv's Story," in which a frustrated artist discovers a profitable niche decorating custom cakes, Fields provides pragmatic strategies for creating a realistic business plan, exploiting technology and employing affordable guerilla marketing. While the author does not spend much time addressing the financial risks, chances of failure or enormous commitment of personal energy and resources involved in entrepreneurship, he does provide an engaging firsthand look at the rewards in doing what you love for a living. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Part 1 What Makes You Come Alive?
1 You Don't Have to Be World Class to Make a World-Class Living 15
2 What's Your Secret Passion? 22
Part 2 What Kind of Renegade Will You Be?
3 Introducing the Career Renegade Paths 35
4 Turn Your Passion Loose in Unexpected Places 38
5 Got Information? Sell It! 50
6 Want to Teach? Expand Your Reach 71
7 Exploit the Need for Stuff 94
8 Exploit the Need for Community 103
9 Make It Easier for People to Do What You Love 110
10 Planning and Protecting Your Vision 114
11 Is the World Ready for You? 119
Part 3 How to Master Your Passion and Build a Worldwide Following
12 Are You Ready for the Renegade World? 151
13 Launching Your Quest for Authority 163
14 Getting Social Online 183
15 Building on Blogging and Social Media 196
16 Marketing that Won't Break the Bank 213
Part 4 Let the Revolution Begin
17 Cultivate the Renegade Mind-Set 225
18 How to Be a Renegade without Ending Up Divorced and Penniless 238
19 Don't Do It Alone 250
20 Hold On to Your Life Preserver Until You Can Swim 260
21 Be Your Own Guru 267
Appendix Career Renegade Programs 27
Amigo_van_Helical
Posted June 13, 2009
This is a well-written and energetic book about developing one's own passions into self-employment. Like many books in this genre, it will probably be most helpful to those who are outgoing and confident in themselves and their skills. To his credit, the author does try to help the reader reflect and identify his/her particular interests. Depending on your abilities, interests, personal situation, and mental state, this may or may not work for you.
The book has some limitations of course. For example, it doesn't delve into how a sixty year old middle manager who spent 17 years with a company only to be dumped on the sidewalk might go about resurrecting a career and a modicum of self-esteem. But of course that's not the intent of the book.
There is quite a bit of focus on "modern" (as of early 2009) communication modes and the use of social media to promote one's business. For the most part, the information seems sound and well-organized. Because web technology changes so rapidly, I think this book will need to be revised every three years or so, but for now it is a good guide.
Jonathan Fields has created a 'how to' book that goes far beyond the borders of explaining a plan for self-improvement. CAREER RENEGADE: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love is a timely transfusion for many people caught in the current economic stagnation or those who face the enforced retirement package. In a smart, very readable book Fields gets real about infusing a sense of well being and confidence in every reader who takes the time to pick up this friendly manual.
Somewhere along the way each of us was told that our lives could/should be divided between career and hobby, that making a living was key in allowing us to find space to live out the dreams in little sheltered moments. The work ethic has become the beastie that governs our lives and too often leads to fractured relationships and even physical distress.
Enter Jonathan Fields, a man who at the peak of success in law and fortune fell ill enough to have that wake up call to change. And change he did, embracing all the things he loved doing, finding (surprisingly enough!) that he could (and did) make a fine living from following his dreams. This book is about taking the risk of stepping out of the corporate cubicle or its equivalent and jumping into the middle of a fountain of youth via discovering what it is we really love and committing ourselves to pursue that which makes us happy to the point that it is the source of our income.
Yes, there are well-devised steps outlined in this book: it is after all a guide to taking control of life. But it is the manner in which Fields writes and offers examples and suggestions in such a user-friendly way that makes this book so valuable. It challenges the reader to follow dreams and it backs up that challenge with some excellent resource data to assist the willing to fulfill their desire. This is a happy book and could not come at a better time! Grady Harp
Jonathan Fields, mega-firm lawyer and entrepreneur has written a compelling, well-researched book about how to replace your mundane job with a lucrative career doing the things you love the most. It is not full of nebulous advice that goes nowhere but rather a guide detailing the tools, techniques and resources you will need to get off the corporate treadmill and really start living life as it was meant to be.
Career Renegade really struck a cord with me for two reasons. First, as a corporate director for a fortune 500 company I am witnessing first-hand the devastating impact the current recession is having on people¿s lives. As livelihoods are snatched away overnight, many people find that they had put all of their eggs in one basket. Placing false hope in loyalty to their employer, they find themselves without a plan, without a lifeline. They stumble around in the shadows of their former passions and ambitions. This book will rekindle those passions. Put forth is a blunt, easy-reading style, the ideas in the book will provide guidance and hope for those that have had the rug jerked from under them.
Second, from a personal perceptive, I totally agree with the subject of this important book. While I still maintain my 9 to 5 life in the corporate world, last year I signed a contract to publish my first business book - Wingtips with Spurs. Now two others are in the works. I only wish that I had read Career Renegade several years ago thereby inspiring me to put my energy and time in the things I have passion about.
Jonathan Fields has produced a work that is, authoritative, comprehensive and extremely relevant.
I hope you find this review helpful.
Michael L. Gooch, SPHR
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Overview
There’s a revolution brewing across the nation--a movement that’s changing lives and revealing little known paths to passion and prosperity.It’s about building a great living around what you love to do most. Once you’ve been touched by it, you’ll never be the same. This book is your way in, your admission ticket to the world of the career renegade.
Jonathan Fields, mega-firm lawyer turned successful lifestyle entrepreneur, blogger and writer ...