The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success

by Jeffrey Shaw

Overview

From the host of the wildly popular The Self-Employed Life Podcast comes a compelling guide for self-employed business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, on creating a purpose-driven, heart-centered lifestyle.

To be self-employed means more than employing oneself. It's putting your entire self into your business with a willingness to grow personally and to take action towards building the successful life of your dreams.

Small business consultant, photographer and host of The Self-Employed Life podcast Jeffrey Shaw believes we must develop ourselves personally first in order to increase our capacity for the success in business we want. Then all our hard work pays off!

What self-employed business owners need is both business strategies and personal development to reach and maintain that success. In The Self-Employed Life, Shaw offers a three-part ecosystem for success:

- Personal development: Remove limited thinking and establish forward-thinking mindsets

- Business strategies: marketing, business model, systems and other key tools for growing your business

- Daily habits: Efficient and effective habits to even out the ups and downs of being self-employed

This holistic approach will equip you over the long haul, beyond the mechanics of setting up and running a business.

Whereas Shaw's previous book, LINGO, was about creating the secret language to attract ideal customers, this book is all about creating the environment to attract the business success and life you want―through thought-provoking questions, supportive coaching concepts, and actionable business strategies.

Jeffrey Shaw plots a path forward for self-employed and small business owners who know that a successful life is only limited by how big you can dream. He shows you how you can set up your environment to create the success you want. You may be in business for yourself, but you're not in business by yourself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774585337
Publisher:	Page Two Books, Inc.
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

How many people can say they've never worked for anyone else? Selling eggs door-to-door at fourteen years of age began a lifetime of self-employment. Now, as an experienced speaker and small-business consultant, Jeffrey Shaw helps self-employed and small-business owners gain control of their business in what otherwise seems like uncontrollable circumstances. Drawing on his expertise as a renowned portrait photographer, Jeffrey shows business owners how to view business through a different lens and offers proven strategies for arranging the often chaotic pieces of life and business into a composition of sustainable success. From a very early age, Jeffrey read self-help books, hiding them from his family so they didn't think he was weird. One of his favorites is The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale. Many years later, having the honor to photograph Dr. Peale and his wife, Ruth, was a career milestone. That portrait now prominently hangs in the entrance of The Norman Vincent Peale Center. Jeffrey's portraits have also appeared on Oprah and CBS News, in People magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine, and hang at other prestigious places such as Harvard University. Jeffrey's TEDxLincolnSquare talk, "The Validation Paradox: Finding Your Best Through Others," is featured on TED.com. He's the host of the top-rated podcast The Self-Employed Life, author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible and The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies that Create Sustainable Success. Jeffrey is also founder of Voices of The Self-Employed advocacy group and creator of The Self-Employed Business School. Jeffrey has three adult kids, and when he's not traveling, he's often hosting Waffle Sundays at his home in Miami, where friends old and new gather for homemade waffles, a mimosa or two, camaraderie, and genuine connection.

Read an Excerpt

I have always made marketing a priority. It has to be. It also has to be done in a way that feels good for you so that you stick with it. The good news is marketing has evolved to be much more aligned with the behaviors and desires of most self-employed and small business owners. Marketing has become much more honest, authentic and transparent. When you are your business, how could this not be a better way to market your business? Many people used to think of marketing as dishonest, manipulative and kind of gross. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that tobacco manufacturers were marketing cigarettes as cool and glamorous, knowing full well they were killing people. Of course, similar manipulative marketing goes on today. But thankfully, consumers have a whole new standard. Minimally, consumers require honesty and transparency in marketing. If they find out otherwise, it’s all over social media. Rightfully so. Or if there’s a discrepancy between a brand’s public image and how they treat their employees, it’s not likely to stay a secret for very long. Decency is the minimum requirement in marketing today.

But we don’t want to meet the minimum requirement. To excel at marketing today, think about it as moving people, emotionally. Emotionally moving them from where they are, perhaps from being a stranger, to becoming a customer. Emotionally moving them from being unsure which of your products or services to choose, to being able to make a clear decision. When you begin to think about all your marketing actions and even sales actions as needing to emotionally move people, marketing and sales will never feel creepy again.

Table of Contents

Introduction Being Self-Employed 1

1 Why We Work for Ourselves 11

2 The Self-Employed Ecosystem 23

Part 1 The Self-Employed Ecosystem: Personal Development 39

3 Get Out of Your Own Way 45

4 What Moves You Forward 65

Part 2 The Self-Employed Ecosystem: Business Strategies 79

5 Embrace Hug Marketing 83

6 Create an Emotional journey 95

7 Build a Business Model of Multiples 113

8 Set Up Systems for Success 125

9 Develop Loyalty, Advocates, and Referrals 135

10 Spread the Word with Podcasts 149

Part 3 The Self-Employed Ecosystem: Daily Habits 167

11 Create a Steady Foundation 171

12 Create a What's Going Right Journal 179

13 Expand Your Thinking 187

14 Switch It Up 199

15 What's Next? 213

Conclusion A Beginning 233

Acknowledgments 237

Recommended Resources 239

Editorial Reviews

Becoming self-employed is a dream for many. But without the right strategies in place, the reality can sometimes be confusing and frustrating. Jeffrey Shaw's new book provides a valuable resource that will guide any entrepreneur—new or experienced—to sustainable success.” —Dorie Clark, author of Entrepreneurial You and executive education faculty, Duke University Fuqua School of Business

“Jeffrey Shaw shows you the critical link between your own growth and that of your business. This book is your guide to pulling off both.” —Mike Michalowicz, author of Fix This Next and Profit First

“This book will be worthwhile for anyone running their own business or thinking of starting one. Candid, refreshing advice for self-guided businesspeople.” —Kirkus Review

“As an association that supports small business owners, we are always looking for ways to encourage, inspire and educate our members. Jeffrey Shaw’s The Self-Employed Life is exactly what our members need to hear. Jeffrey’s approach to helping small business owners take control of their lives and their businesses is inspired yet practical. Readers are provided with great takeaways, actions and ideas they can implement right away. His three-pronged approach to success can help a small business owner reframe the way they think to create true and lasting change. This book provides a mindset shift that entrepreneurs truly need.” —Angela Kurkian, Director of Education, Professional Photographers of America

“The Self-Employed Life gives business owners the integrated perspective and tools they need to not only build a powerful business model, but to enjoy their lives while building it. A fun and accessible read that will help you awaken your creativity, change your habits, and strengthen your brand.” —Pam Slim, author of Body of Work

“While being self-employed has long been a dream for a lot of people, most have no clue where to begin. Jeffrey Shaw offers practical advice that’s rooted in deep experience running his own businesses. The Self-Employed Life will provide you with the tactics and mindset you need to thrive as a small business owner.” —Todd Henry, author of The Motivation Code

“Welcome to your very own business mentor disguised as a book. Jeffrey Shaw asks you the questions you are often afraid to ask yourself. Let The Self-Employed Life be your best friend on the bumpy road of entrepreneurship.” —Phil M Jones, self-employed since fourteen years old and bestselling author of Exactly What to Say

“The Self-Employed Life is a breath of fresh air. Instead of offering up the same list of clichéd (not to mention exhausting) practices, Jeffrey Shaw’s book provides a grounded, holistic alternative approach to achieving sustainable success in the full spectrum of your life as a business owner. Through an approach that combines personal development, business strategies, and several powerful daily habits, The Self-Employed Life will help you become a bigger, bolder version of yourself—helping you to embody the whole reason you went into business in the first place.” —Denise Jacobs, author of Banish Your Inner Critic

“Jeffrey Shaw has created the definitive guidebook to being successfully self-employed. You’ll return to its wisdom time and time again—guaranteed.” —Leslie Ehm, author of Swagger

From the Publisher

2022-05-17
A book of inspiration and practical tips for self-employed business owners that goes beyond the usual.

Shaw, a photographer, podcaster, speaker, coach, and consultant, has been self-employed for his entire career—from age 14 through midlife—and works with clients who are also self-employed. In this debut guide he introduces a “self-employment ecosystem” with the aim of providing everything necessary to create a sustainable business and lifestyle for oneself. An introductory section describes the paradox of self-employment: wanting to control one’s own destiny, while finding oneself in uncontrollable circumstances. It goes on to list symptoms of work-life imbalance and to present his ecosystem concept. The main text is organized into three parts: “Personal Development,” “Business Strategies,” and “Daily Habits.” Each offers the author’s personal experiences and client success stories as well as useful explanations and pithy, practical advice. The “Personal Development” section covers such topics as one’s mindset regarding money and how to deal with obstacles and limiting beliefs. Clear, memorable explanations abound; for example, he encourages readers to think of letting go of one thing to reach another as like Tarzan swinging from vine to vine. “Business Strategies” includes an explication of what the author calls “hug marketing,” pictured as a series of concentric circles. Shaw offers a novel, step-by-step way to conceptualize a website that’s refreshingly easy to grasp, explaining it as an emotional journey. The section also covers such elements as defining one’s niche and inspiring referrals. “Daily Habits” suggests ways to sustain growth, creativity, and work-life balance through various techniques and how to handle rejection and self-employment in midlife. The book’s tone is immediately relatable; self-employed people in creative fields will feel seen. Throughout, the author’s style is personal, candid, and conversational, sometimes reading like a pep talk tinged with self-deprecating humor. Several brief exercises and worksheets will help readers think through the author’s principles, and an additional workbook (not seen) is available on the author’s website. Overall, this book will be worthwhile for anyone running their own business or thinking of starting one.

Candid, refreshing advice for self-guided businesspeople.

Kirkus Reviews