 |
This review is by Bud Bilanich:
Fortune and Freedom: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Success is written by Jim Hirshfield, a self described "old guy", with experience, not just theory. And, like you might expect from an old guy, Fortune and Freedom is full of anecdotes from Mr. Hirshfield’s life and career as an entrepreneur.
Fortune and Freedom covers four things important to every entrepreneur: 1) preparing yourself to own and run a business, 2) finding the right deal, 3) negotiating - with partners, suppliers, customers and government representatives, and 4) determining when to get in and when to get out of a business.
Of these four, I found the section on preparing yourself to own and run a business to be the most original and creative. This might be because it echoes a lot of my thinking on how to succeed in your life and career. In this section, Mr. Hirshfield suggests that prospective entrepreneurs should do things like selling door to door, working in a bank, managing a fast food operation, working in volunteer organizations and political campaigns and living well below your means. He calls these things "Training for the Summit". Mr. Hirshfield followed his own advice, and did all of these things and more, even though he has a Harvard MBA, supposedly a ticket to bypassing this type of grunt work.
I liked what he has to say here because I think that there are too many people promoting entrepreneurship as a way to get rich quick by not working all that hard. From my 20 years experience as an entrepreneur, I can tell you for a fact that in most cases, becoming an entrepreneur is not the way to get rich quick. It most certainly is not likely to result in you working "a little bit, and only when you want" as a lot of the e mails that clog my in box suggest.
Mr. Hirshfield is right when he suggests that successful entrepreneurs must first master the nuts and bolts of running a business prior to going into business. That's why I love the advice he dispenses in the first eight chapters of Fortune and Freedom.
I also like the way Fortune and Freedom is organized. Every chapter ends with a bullet point list of the key points covered, and advice on what to do to put these points into use in your life. The richness in this book comes from Mr. Hirshfield's stories about his life and experiences as an entrepreneur. You'd really be missing out if you choose to skim them. However, the "Key Points" and "What To Do" sections at the end of each chapter are excellent cliff notes for entrepreneurial success.
If you're looking for how to get rich quick, Fortune and Freedom is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you want solid advice on becoming a successful entrepreneur from someone who has been there and done that, read and study Fortune and Freedom. More importantly, put Jim Hirshfield's ideas to work.
________________________________________
Bud Bilanich is the author of seven books. His latest, Straight Talk For Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won't Let You Down, will be available in bookstores and at Amazon.com in April 2008.
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
|
|
