New book offers daily lessons to develop an entrepreneurial mindset
In The Entrepreneurial Way, Jacob Busani takes readers on a month-long journey through the world of entrepreneurship. Each chapter is meant to be read on a different day over the course of thirty days, and each day is dedicated to a different topic relevant to being an entrepreneur. The book is intended for the busy person who may only have five or ten minutes a day to read, so each chapter is only a few pages long, but it brings a topic to the front of the reader’s mind, offers inspirational quotes to support the theme, and then a series of exercise questions so that the reader can take action on that day’s theme.
The book begins with what may be the most important topic of all: Mindset. Busani begins by quoting Henry Ford’s famous saying, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Busani says that Ford was absolutely right in this statement. If we want to be entrepreneurs, we must take control of our minds. We have to believe that we can be entrepreneurs and we have to learn to be our own bosses.
Many other themes follow. For example, day 2 is about vision. In it, Busani outlines the importance of communicating to customers why you do what you do in order to provide the best experience for your customers. Day 8: Without guarantees he analyzes the importance of working because you are passionate about what you do and believe in your business. Busani reminds entrepreneurs that, especially in the beginning, 80 percent of what they do won’t get paid, but those who only do what they get paid for never get rich. If you put in the time to build your business, you will eventually reap the rewards. One of the most important themes is Day 10: Focus. Here, Busani dismisses the multitasking myth because it destroys focus and also makes tasks take longer. Instead, he tells us to focus on one task at a time if we want to make progress on our goals and manage our time properly. Other daily themes include Day 13: Commitment, Day 15: Procrastination, and Day 25: Leadership, where Busani recommends: “Always say, ‘I want my people to earn more than I want them to earn for me.’ That’s valuable. There’s a lot of ROI (return on investment) in seeing your people succeed. Sometimes, it means they leave the company to pursue their own passions.”
Some statements like the last one may come as a surprise, but as a former call center manager and entrepreneur for a dozen years, I completely agree with Busani. The more he supports his employees, the happier and more prosperous everyone will be. Therefore, I appreciate that throughout these pages, Busani offers practical and honest advice, based on experience, that will definitely benefit anyone who adopts it.
Adopting and applying the material is easy for readers because each day is followed by a short exercise. The exercises help readers think about what they have learned from that day’s lesson and move forward in taking action to succeed as an entrepreneur. For example, Day 20: Finding the Right Mentor asks you to think about how a mentor might help you. He then asks you to list five mentors in your field and do some research on each of them to see how they might help you. Day 26: Residual Income asks you to brainstorm ways you could build residual income, and then outline a plan for doing so. None of the exercises are too taxing on the brain, rather they make the brain think in an entrepreneurial way and ultimately the result will be that that thinking will become habitual.
Finally, each chapter ends with several wonderful inspirational quotes. Yes, Busani quotes famous people like Thomas Jefferson who said, “It seems to me that the harder I work, the luckier I seem to get” and Mark Twain: “Stay away from little people who try to belittle your ambitions. Little people always do that.” , but the really great ones make you feel that you too can become great”. But my two favorite quotes in the book are actually from Anonymous: “You can’t have a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic” and “No matter how busy you are, or how busy you think you are, the Work will always be there tomorrow, but your friends might not be. Yes, work-life balance is also a topic on The Entrepreneurial Way, and one of the most important for entrepreneurs who tend to be workaholics.
I encourage you to embark on the journey of The Entrepreneurial Way. Since reading this book and applying its concepts will only take you five to ten minutes a day, your investment will be minimal, but the return on that investment will likely be immeasurable.