Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur [Hardcover]

Pamela Slim (Author), Guy Kawasaki (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2009

Despite grim headlines about the economy, you DON'T have to stay in a job you intensely hate. There's a better opportunity waiting out there, and escaping from cubicle nation is easier than you think.

Pamela Slim spent a decade traveling all over the country as a self-employed trainer for large corporations. She was surprised to find that many of the most successful employees at these companies harbored secret dreams of breaking out to start their own business. They would pull her aside after a meeting and whisper, "I would love to work for myself, but have no idea how to get started. How did you do it?"

So Pamela started a blog-Escape from Cubicle Nation-to share her experience and advice. Soon, questions and stories poured in from corporate prisoners around the world. As her blog gained popularity, she also interviewed some of the brightest experts in entrepreneurship on topics from finance to branding to marketing via social networks.

This book includes Pamela's very best material, based on thousands of conversations and reader submissions. It provides everything you'll need to consider before making a major change-not just the nuts and bolts of starting a business, but a full discussion of the emotional issues involved. Pamela knows firsthand that leaving corporate life can be very scary, especially if you have a family and other obligations. Fears and self-defeating thoughts often hold people back from pursuing an extremely gratifying solo career.

Get ready to learn your real options, make an informed decision, and maybe, just maybe, escape from cubicle nation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inspired by her successful blog of the same name, life coach Slim shows readers how to navigate the terrifying yet gratifying transition from corporate drone to entrepreneur. She strikes a perfect balance between emotional encouragement and practical advice: Hating your job intensely, she writes, is not a business plan. What's here is: the nitty-gritty of getting a business off the ground, legal considerations, making the best use of social networking sites, the components of a business model, organized creative brainstorming, financial advice, shopping for self-paid insurance and benefits, and helpful anecdotes of real-life entrepreneurship. With her humorous insights into corporate life and an appealing no-nonsense yet empathic tone, Slim deals swiftly and incisively with anxiety, fear and hesitation. Readers will cheer as she teaches the tricks behind finding what makes you purr—what people will pay you to do, what you have a great passion for and what you are genetically encoded to do. This is a standout in the start-your-own business genre. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Of course Pam Slim is brilliant, funny, experienced, and thoughtful, but more than that: she's clear. Buy it."
- Martha Beck, bestselling author of Finding Your Own North Star

"What a treat! Imagine that Dilbert, Peter Drucker, and Dr. Phil did a mind meld and wrote a book that was funny, savvy, and chock full of empathy. Pamela Slim's masterpiece provides the best mind set and moves for making a clean getaway from the corporate grind."
- Robert I. Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule

"Just like Pam. She's true and her Escape from Cubicle Nation is, too. Pam gives you a process to add sanity to the scariest moment in your career - the day you realize that you want to stop working for the man and start running your own show. Practical, yep. Inspiring, uh-huh. Humorous, of course. Spot on for cube farmers, no doubt. Pam's lived it, observed it, coached it and now has captured it so you can make some of the most important decisions in your life - and just maybe escape from that cube farm."
- Rich Sloan, StartupNation

"When you decide to make the jail-break of a lifetime, you want Pam Slim by your side."
- John Jantsch, bestselling author of Duct Tape Marketing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (April 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842573
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842576
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pamela Slim is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Her blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, is one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web. A former corporate manager and entrepreneur herself for more than a decade, she deeply understands the questions and concerns faced by first-time entrepreneurs. Her expertise in personal and business change was developed through many years consulting inside corporations such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab, where she coached thousands of executives, managers and employees.

"Entrepreneurship at its heart is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea so compelling that you simply must do it, despite the fears that hold you back," says Pam. Her experience teaching martial arts for 10 years to thousands of students including former gang members has helped her clients deal with fear head-on. A world traveler, Pam speaks four languages and has lived and worked in Europe and South America.

Pam's book Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur was released in Spring, 2009 and won Best Small Business/Entrepreneur Book of 2009 by 800 CEO Read. Pam is frequently quoted as an expert on entrepreneurship in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Money Magazine and Psychology Today. Pam is married with three kids and lives in Mesa, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book on the subject of quitting your job and starting your own company. Three thumbs up!, April 30, 2009

By 

Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (Hardcover)

Just loved it. The book is well organized and well written. Its author has a background as a life coach and the book felt to me like it was presented from a life coach's perspective. I felt kinda like I probably was one of her clients and she was giving me the lowdown on so many things that have to be covered if I was to realistically stop collecting a W-2 and rejoin the ranks of the self-employed. The book is split into 4 sections and 16 chapters as follows:

Part 1. Operating up the opportunities (1-4)
Part 2 The reality of entrepreneurship (5-11)
Part 3. Make the money work (12-13)
Part 4. Making the leap (14-16)

1. I have a fancy title, steady paycheck, & good benefits. Why am I so miserable?
2. If it is so bad, then why am I so afraid to leave?
3. Detox from corporate life
4. What's really involved in moving from employee to entrepreneur?
5. What are all the ways to be self-employed?
6. How do I choose a good business idea?
7. Recruit your tribe
8. Rethink your life: Options for scaling back, downshifting, & relocating
9. Do I really have to do a business plan?
10. Define the spirit of your brand
11. Test often & fail fast: The art of prototypes & samples
12. Look your finances in the eye
13. How to shop for benefits
14. Dealing with your friends & family
15. Line your ducks in a row
16. When is it time to leave?

I would have liked Chapter 9 more if the author had said unconditionally "Yes!" But she hedged her bets on both sides of the fence and did an adequate job explaining herself. I honestly cannot say I disagree with what she says in the chapter.

In my humble opinion this is one of the best, if not the best, career book I've read on how to realistically approach and tackle the important life event of quitting your job and starting a business of your own. 5 stars!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good guidebook for making the leap, May 9, 2009

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (Hardcover)

Escape from Cubicle Nation definitely is a cut above most books on starting a business -- increasingly a necessary step as companies cut back and executives face age discrimination. Author Slim manages to be realistic without scaring readers and her upbeat humorous writing is delightful.

Slim has studied with Martha Beck and the first part of the book reminded me of Beck's own book, Finding Your Own North Star. The chapter on "Reality of Entrepreneurship" was excellent. I like the refreshing way Slim is not afraid to criticize icons, such as those who say "follow your passion" as well as the whole MLM scene. It's about time someone said those things in a business book.

I also liked the section on telling friends and family. I'm not an expert on families so I can't evaluate the suggested discussion scripts. I'd like to see even more emphasis on the challenges of losing a familiar support group and dealing with the in-between time before another one shows up.

Slim rightly emphasizes the need to sock away six months of living expenses (I'd say two years). Her specific money-saving tips are excellent.

Quibbles are:

(1) Slim acknowledges that she spends 90% of her time with clients discussing choosing a market. In my experience, successful entrepreneurs have a gift for finding the sweet spot where what a market wants meets what they can offer. I'd have liked to see far more emphasis on market and marketing. The section on prototypes is very good but doesn't go far enough, especially with the sub-head of finding a niche.

(2) I don't know any successful people who will serve as mentors without charging. You have to be prepared to pay. One of my own clients wanted a mentor for a retail business. Having been successful in one arena, he knew what to do. He found a successful business owner in another city (so he wouldn't be competing) and offered to pay a significant sum for mentoring. He never attempted to get free help.

Agencies (such as the SBA in the US) and adult education courses offer help but the quality is uneven. You may get lucky or you may waste a lot of time.

The section on outsourcing mentions coaches but hiring a coach can be a critical decision - on a totally different level from hiring a virtual assistant or designer. I would say that after knowing the market, choosing the right mentors is the biggest and most critical decision you can make.

(3) I'd like to see more discussion of actually leaving the cubicle nation. My own clients talk about challenges like finding time to get started while you're working long hours, dealing with conflict of interest requirements (some companies have draconian policies on part time work), and shifting your mindset from employee to entrepreneur. You really need to keep your plans secret till you've gotten enough momentum for liftoff. And some people need an in-between job that brings in income without being too distracting.

(4) I agree that a "live anywhere" business offers many attractive choices. But you need to investigate specific aspects of business tax and regulatory policies before moving. You also have to recognize the dangers of feeling isolated when you're surrounded by people with different values. Sadly, when there's a lower cost of living, there's usually a reason. This topic could be a whole book, too.

Bottom line: It's a good starting place with lots of practical advice and food for thought. The value of a comprehensive book is that you get a fast overview of just about all the issues. Just be aware that you'll need to go into much greater depth as you move along.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything a New Entrepreneur Needs to Know, April 30, 2009

By 

W. A. Carpenter (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (Hardcover)

Pamela Slim makes a successful transition from blogger to author with this book which takes you step-by-step through the process of turning your dreams of independence into actuality.

She covers it all - coming up with a good business idea, recruiting help and support, defining your brand, getting your finances in order, doing the dreaded marketing plan, and actually starting a business.

Throughout, the author somehow manages to be both encouraging and hard-headed, always urging the reader to take small steps to make their plans real and to try things out in a small way before committing to the big jumps. As an advocate of pilot projects and prototyping, I find her advice to be both reasonable and inspiring - and she has a delightful sense of humor too!

In addition to her very useful advice, the author provides the reader with many good related resources. Highly recommended for the budding entrepreneur!