BORN FOR THIS - BOOK REVIEW

I’ve been following Chris Guillebeau’s blog for years now, I’ve read his books and I often recommend people to check his website for various ideas and inspiration. I often think of Chris when I travel, I’ve twitted him (and got a reply) to ask for best things to do in a destination or airport and I am hoping that when he announces the date for his London stopover during the Born for This book tour, the dates will be different to my quick Italian escape I’ve scheduled months ago.

Why read Born for This?

The goal of the book says it all: “help you win the career lottery and find the work you were meant to do.”

While many people think they are stuck in whatever job or business they work in, with this book you meet other people, just like you, who took the leap and changed their lives by choosing to do work that matters to them. The stories Chris shares are a wealth of inspiration in themselves, and they prove that nomatter where you come from or what background you have, you can still find and do the work you were born to do.

What’s more, Born for This is a guide, your guide to finding your ideal job / business, how to transition towards it from your current situation and what to do once you’re there.

A headline from the Onion proclaimed ‘Man Convinces Himself He Has the Job of His Dreams.’ The job, as you might expect from a satirical newspaper, is a soul-crushing and tedious one. Yet because the man sees no alternative, he decides he really likes it. ‘It’s wonderful that I am trapped here for the foreseeable future,’ he says. – Plan of attack

More about the book…

Chris starts off, and comes back to throughout the book, with this simple formula that defines the job you were Born to Do. When that job / business venture satisfies all three components, you know you’re doing the right kind of work for you.

The three characteristics are:

JOY – doing the work that makes you happy
MONEY – while being financially viable and
FLOW – maximising your unique skills.

In the first section, he presents a series of options and people who have found their Joy-Money-Flow Formula, people like you and me, who built side hustles along their 9 – 5 jobs, who quit their jobs unexpectedly, without a backup plan and still made it, and even someone who created his job the way he wanted, right under the nose of his employers – and became indispensable along the way.

The second section focuses more on the how to, and provides a series of options, strategies and action steps for various ways of earning cash alongside a full time job, backing everything up with examples of success stories. He introduces a brief plan for building a side hustle in 19 days, how to focus on and shift between more ideas at one time (workshifting), how to build a fan base, etc.

Some of the people you meet throughout the book:

Vanessa, a social psychologist who partnered up with a business and lifestyle online platform not by means of referrals but by emailing her offering to the platform’s customer support team and allowing the emails to travel within the company all the way to the top, thus earning the support of the entire company before even signing the partnership.
Daniel, an electrician and Marketing Ma who quit his job on the whim and built a business in managing rental properties, earning more and working flexible hours.
Shenee, a brand strategist who went from “bloke and client-less” to good income in four months by offering 100 free strategy calls – an initiative she named 100 Person Project – page1206, I wanna do this
Benny, who made over $100,000 by designing T-Shirts and selling them on Facebook
Leon, the self-employed employee, who designed his job

If you want to build a side hustle or replace your job with a business, and you don’t have encouraging friends and family around you (and even if you do), these people provide a wealth of inspiration and prove you are not alone.

What I loved about Born for this

The book is packed with practical advice which can be implemented immediately
Chris proves that starting a business is simpler than most people believe
The proof is in the pudding – he gives concrete examples of how people have achieved everything that Chris says is achievable
All the actions steps and strategies he provides
Getting to know about these people: Jason Zoos, Devin Galaudet, Lewis Howes, Ann Handley
The Appendix section