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There are many financial resources available on the market. And many are finance and business books. but if you’re not an avid reader, or finance topics are not your usual choice of reading material, then here is a summary of some very useful books. And in reading about them, it may spark some curiosity around how you can do things differently, more easefully, your way.
This article will be a living document, one that is updated as I read more books, and it may change as I find more resources and ideas around ‘making and managing money differently’ in your business.
I hope you find these resources helpful!
LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING:
The Education of a Reluctant Businessman- Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard has been describe previously as an ‘anti-businessman’, so why would I bother reading his book? Because his philosophies have worked and continue to show that you can prioritise the planet and people and still run a profitable business. Patagonia doesn’t make outdoor-wear,
“it makes products for a deeper, less distracted experience of the world and its wild places…”
and this part memoir, part manual for business covers a lot, from the history of his business, to their mission, to their philosophies and manuals on how to do business.
Some take-aways for me include:
– businesses need to encourage customers to be owners of their goods, not creating a society of consumers where items are thrown away instead of repaired. His company makes all items with ‘repair-ability’ at the forefront of design and has a facility that repairs items to prolong the life of each item.
– creating an Earth Tax on themselves, understanding running a business can not be done without some harm to the environment. They give 1% of sales (not profit which is a smaller figure and can be manipulated) to grassroots conservation causes.
– products must be intrinsically valuable in their own right. When I read this I thought, when did we last question that each and every item sold should be valuable, useful, of quality and improves our life and lifestyle. In the past this has been taken for granted, but nowadays, is every item on the shelves intrinsically valuable?
With too many amazing quotes to type here, I’m going to just put the one that most jumped out to me. In our goal-obsessed, high achieving, constantly striving world, I have struggled with finding the right amount of focus to give goals, be it profit, monetary or lifestyle based. And Chouinard below so perfectly solidified what I had been settling on:
…like the zen approach to archery or anything else, you identify the goal and then forget about it and concentrate on the process.
And this is a great note for any business owner that finds profit goals not motivating, because they seem shallow, pointless, not within their philosophies or too hard to reach. It fits right in with my idea of being profit-aware instead of profit-driven.
COMPANY OF ONE – Paul Jarvis
Have you ever looked at a colleague or similar business ‘building their empire’, focused on growth and ‘scaling up’ their business and thought, ‘I may never be financially successful or seen as an industry expert because I don’t want to be a huge corporation’?
Well, this book discusses the idea that you can grow a fulfilling and abundant company (of one) without doing it the conventional way.
“The real key to richer and more fulfilling work could be to not create and scale something into a massive corporation, but rather, to work for yourself, determine your own hours, and become a (highly profitable) and sustainable company of one.”
Jarvis talks about the idea of blind and exponential growth being the cause of much stress and that “you can scale up revenue, enjoyment, raving fans, autonomy and experiences while resisting the urge to blindy scale up employee payroll, expenses and stress levels.” These are customer-centric and profit-driven businesses that look past the idea of being big and instead create their businesses, their way.
YOU ARE A BADASS AT MAKING MONEY – Jen Sincero
This easy-to-read book is the one to turn to if you suspect you have even a little bit of resistance holding back your financial success, abundance, freedom or ability to thrive – whatever you would like to call it. Jen demonstrates this point over and over through her hilarious stories. This book is beyond funny, and if you’re after a non-traditional self-help book that makes you reflect introspectively on yourself and how you view money in your world, this is it!
THE ART OF EARNING – Tara Gentile
Tara speaks to the idea that “making money should be beautiful. Making money should be liberating, fortifying, and joyous. Making money isn’t what defines you but it shouldn’t be bewildering either.” And she does it in a way that makes you feel like you’re sitting with a friend who is giving you the pep-talk of a lifetime but not in an overly-serious manner.
She addresses topics of:
– feeling shame for wanting more money, more time and more freedom while recognising that ‘by having less, I was helping nothing and no-one.’
– working more doesn’t equate to earning more
– that you need to get clear on how your business fits into your life
– people’s buying habits are linked to their priorities more than how much money they have. Those who truly need or desire what you offer will find the money to pay for it.
Words of wisdom, I say. Sometimes we need to really hear these things. Even if we innately know them, a reminder is always useful.
And as this is a ‘living’ post (i.e. it will be updated and added to), bookmark it to come back for more inspiration!
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