Learn how to stay sane and ensure both you and your business thrive for years. You run a business. And running a business is hard. It can ruin your health. It can ruin your relationships. It can ruin your life. But only if you don't equip yourself for the journey. The responsibility, stress and loneliness of being an entrepreneur are a far cry from your friends who work salaried jobs. The path of least resistance is to let the stress and isolation of starting, running and growing a business infiltrate most aspects of your life. Over and over we've watched our fellow entrepreneurs succumb to the mental toll and chaos of running a business. We've also experienced it firsthand as we've launched and grown our own businesses. Odds are good that you've been overwhelmed at some point. Maybe you've read self help books only to find that books about stress management typically don't take into account the unique experience of entrepreneurs. Or they're 'lifehacks' written by a blogger with no formal training, offering advice based on anecdotes. Why do I need this book? You want to invest in yourself (and consequently, your business). You want to learn proven strategies, tactics and techniques to overcome the challenges that cause you heartburn and headaches. You want to get off the treadmill of stress, anxiety and isolation that entrepreneurship brings. You want to prevent burnout, depression, isolation, and the emergence of damaging coping strategies and self-sabotaging choices. Every aspect of this book is a pairing of psychological expertise with decades of entrepreneurial experience. Author, Seth Godin calls it, "A personal, generous and incredibly useful guide to staying sane and changing the world at the same time. Read it before you think you need it." Here are just a few things you will take away: New ways to deal with the responsibility and fear that go along with being an entrepreneur Why knowing yourself and where you came from is crucial to your success How to succeed as an entrepreneur no matter your personality type How to keep stress from ruining your relationships Dealing with depression, anxiety, burnout, ADHD and other common psychological burdens How to get more things done - and faster - by dealing with procrastination, distraction and muddled priorities How to deal with overwhelming (seemingly) massive failures How to find personal calm in the midst of chaos And much more... Love the book? Read a review! And join the conversation by joining our Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/zenfounder/

Start Small, Stay Small is a step-by-step guide to launching a self-funded startup. If you're a desktop, mobile or web developer, this book is your blueprint to getting your startup off the ground with no outside investment.This book intentionally avoids topics restricted to venture-backed startups such as: honing your investment pitch, securing funding, and figuring out how to use the piles of cash investors keep placing in your lap.This book assumes: You don't have $6M of investor funds sitting in your bank account You're not going to relocate to the handful of startup hubs in the world You're not going to work 70 hour weeks for low pay with the hope of someday making millions from stock options There's nothing wrong with pursuing venture funding and attempting to grow fast like Amazon, Google, Twitter, and Facebook. It just so happened that most people are not in a place to do this.Start Small, Stay Small also focuses on the single most important element of a startup that most developers avoid: marketing. There are many great resources for learning how to write code, organize source control, or connect to a database. This book does not cover the technical aspects developers already know or can learn elsewhere. It focuses on finding your idea, testing it before you build, and getting it into the hands of your customers.

As soon as the Web became viable for entrepreneur marketers in the early 2000's, John Carlton surfaced as the go-to teacher for writing everything required to find prospects and persuade them to become eager customers...... as well as being The Dude for solving almost any biz problem holding things up. For decades, he was a notoriously-successful freelance direct-response copywriter with a global reputation for creating ads that brought home the bacon in almost every possible media (particularly direct mail, magazines and newspapers). And his street-savvy, close-the-deal style of salesmanship has now helped mobs of new entrepreneurs dominate niches online.This book is a collection of his best (and most recent) lesson-dense private articles to insider colleagues. What you're about to discover is the timeless advice and first-choice strategies that can help rookie entrepreneurs murder their competition, and veteran marketers re-establish dominance in their niche. No theory here. Every lesson is from the front trenches of the business world, where fortunes are won or lost through your ability to craft superior marketing in crowded business environments... and produce jaw-dropping results regardless of the economy, the competition, or any problem currently holding you up.If you have a great product or service, then shame on you if you don't learn and use the reality-tested, results-proven toolkit of advice and tactics packed into this sizzling tome. It's your best First Step to becoming an awesome entrepreneur, no matter where you are now or what your experience is or how broke/disadvantaged/clueless you are. You start here, and the greatest adventure of your life can finally begin in earnest.About the author:John Carlton's notorious 30-year career has become something of a legend among modern marketers. Just some of the highlights:He started out as the "bad boy" freelance copywriter snuck through the back doors of Los Angeles advertising agencies to do the hard-core sales jobs their staff writers couldn't pull off (because they didn't understand street-level salesmanship)... He penned game-changing packages for the largest direct response mailers in the world (like Rodale Press)... while single-handedly also completely transforming the way print ads worked in a number of markets (through sizzling long-copy ads the magazine owners hated, but which worked like crazy)... And he pioneered the now-common use of killer "old school" persuasive ad-writing models for online markets when the Web finally became a viable vehicle for entrepreneurs. John's been called "the most respected and ripped-off copywriting wizard alive", because so many of his ads are still used as templates by other marketers. (Yes, even the ads written before the Web became a viable marketing medium.) And for over a decade now, John has been the "go-to-teacher" for helping entrepreneurs learn how to craft ads that get results. His first book, "Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel", is still cited as a primary resource by the best writers working today.

Trying to start a business in this economy? Struggling with little or no cash? Have no experience, no baseline to judge your progress against? Whether you’re just starting out or have been at it for years, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur's "get real", actionable approach to business is a much-needed swift kick in the pants.

Real-life “wildpreneur” Tamara Jacobi shares her insights on what it takes to successfully make the leap from a safe yet soul-crushing day job to chasing your dreams. This book illuminates how surf guides, ski builders, yoga and wellness instructors, environmental activists, nature lovers, podcasters, artisans, and other creatives achieve an adventurous lifestyle and financial viability. Whether you’re stuck in the nine-to-five grind, are an enterprising college grad, a dynamic retiree, or are just an out-of-the-box thinker, it’s time to embrace your free spirit and become a Wildpreneur! Entrepreneur and author Tamara Jacobi understands the challenge and reward of turning your passion into a business. Over ten years ago, she and her family started the Tailwind Jungle Lodge, a treehouse style eco-lodge in the jungle on the Mexican Pacific coastline. Jacobi shares the lessons she’s learned, alongside stories and wisdom from other Wildpreneurs. In Wildpreneurs, you will: Access a practical blueprint for starting and managing an unconventional business. Receive the support needed to stay on track with what can be a difficult path filled with unexpected challenges and is worth it in the end. Gain insights into the world of Wildpreneurship, its characters, and the lifestyle that is within anyone’s grasp. Discover an alternative to living on autopilot, an opportunity to move beyond fear, come alive, and tune into inspiration while also making a living. Let Wildpreneurs help you blaze the path to your own journey of meaning, purposefulness, and adventure—and start living the life of your dreams.

The Wall Street Journal Bestseller featured in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Masters of Scale, the Motley Fool, Marketplace and more. An indispensable guide to building a startup and breaking down the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs from the visionary venture capitalist and pioneering entrepreneur Kathryn Finney. Build the Damn Thing is a hard-won, battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has left out. Finney, an investor and startup champion, explains how to build a business from the ground up, from developing a business plan to finding investors, growing a team, and refining a product. Finney empowers entrepreneurs to take advantage of their unique networks and resources; arms readers with responses to investors who say, “great pitch but I just don’t do Black women”; and inspires them to overcome naysayers while remaining “100% That B*tch.” Don’t wait for the system to let you in—break down the door and build your damn thing. For all the Builders striving to build their businesses in a world that has overlooked and underestimated them: this is the essential guide to knowing, breaking, remaking and building your own rules of entrepreneurship in a startup and investing world designed for and by the “Entitleds.”

Bestselling author Harvey Mackay reveals his techniques for the most essential tool in business--networking, the indispensable art of building contacts. Now in paperback, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty is Harvey Mackay's last word on how to get what you want from the world through networking. For everyone from the sales rep facing a career-making deal to the entrepreneur in search of capital, Dig Your Well explains how meeting these needs should be no more than a few calls away. This shrewdly practical book distills Mackay's wisdom gleaned from years of "swimming with sharks," including: What kinds of networks exist How to start a network, and how to wring the most from it The smart way to downsize your list--who to keep, who to dump How to keep track of favors done and favors owed--Is it my lunch or yours? What you can do if you are not good at small talk Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty is a must for anyone who wants to get ahead by reaching out.