Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional's Guide to Independence is your road map to creative self-employment, providing tangible resources, inspiration and support for creating your own entrepreneurial lifestyle. Kiss Off Corporate America is the first book to address these changing career needs of the post-boomer generation, proving tangible resources, motivation and support to explore alternatives to the 9 to 5, mainstream work force. Combining information and inspiration, the book focuses on a step-by-step process on how to bust out of a corporate environment. Case study interviews support the tangible "how-to's" with qualitative, motivating examples of the struggles and successes of others searching for a life outside the corporate track.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
This down-to-earth road map for navigating out of corporate America's clutches is written by a former ad person in a deliberately breezy style, addressed to post^-baby boomers. Kivirist offers intriguing psychological insight into doing your own thing--peppered with language such as "cubiclethink" and "lifemarker." The author is best when helping others deal with the traumas of, first, divorcing the company, and, second, setting up one's own career. What does she offer? Good sidebars about books, "zines," and online information, as well as excerpted interviews from the 20-somethings who have chosen different working-world paths. Plus, she outlines strategies for coping with barriers--which include family, friends, media, and society--that will help cheer up any solo entrepreneur in a depressed mode. What is not so necessary here? Vague tips on home office equipment, investments, health insurance, and the like. Barbara Jacobs
From the Author
Too many "career" books today focus on traditional routes of employment within corporate settings. Resume paper stocks and power interview suits. But my generation, young professionals in their 20's and 30's, is searching for something more: we want to be our own boss and lead an independent, self-defined lifestyle. Making the move from corporate to creatively self-employed is not a piece of cake transition; it wasn't for me. It requires innovative thinking, determination, dealing with financial and peer pressure, and continually kicking your own butt. The idea for this book grew out of my own "kiss off" experience, leaving a cushy advertising job at age 26 to do "something else," not exactly sure what. This book is not only my story, but the thoughts and ideas of people like us across the country. If you feel stuck in the cubicle, a cookie cutter corporate clone, and don't know where to start to escape, find some inspiration in the pages of Kiss Off Corporate America.
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More About the Author
Farmer, author, agriculture advocate, innkeeper, parent, passionate food preserver and zucchini enthusiast. Lisa Kivirist thrives on wearing multiple hats under the sustainable agriculture umbrella, deeply rooted and based on her family's farm in southwestern Wisconsin.
Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of the new cookbook, Farmstead Chef, transforming traditional farmstead cooking skills for the modern kitchen gardener, urban homesteader and homestead cook in all of us. The duo also authored the award-winning book ECOpreneuring, a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking that blends protecting the planet with small business pragmatics and Rural Renaissance, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times.
A leading national advocate for championing the inspiring story of women farmers, Lisa serves as a distinguished Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). She founded and directs and the Rural Women's Project, a venture of the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) providing outreach and resources for women farmers and food-based business owners. Lisa also spearheads a new initiative called Plate to Politics, designed to help support more women to take on leadership roles in advocating for food system change. Lisa writes a column spotlighting national policy issues for the Women, Food & Agriculture Network (WFAN), is a lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories and writes for publications like Hobby Farms, Hobby Farm Home, Urban Farm and Edible Madison.
A pioneer in green travel, Lisa and her family run the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, considered among the "Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America," and featured in USA Today, MSNBC, ABC news, Newsweek and numerous other media. Powered by 100 percent renewable energy, the Inn was the recipient of the Energy Star Small Business Network Award from the EPA and is an example of a "carbon negative" business, sequestering more carbon dioxide annually than emitted from its carbon-free operations. She and her family raise diversified produce for local sale with a specialty in leeks and garlic.
www.farmsteadchef.com
www.ecopreneuring.biz
www.ruralrenaissance.org
www.innserendipity.com
Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of the new cookbook, Farmstead Chef, transforming traditional farmstead cooking skills for the modern kitchen gardener, urban homesteader and homestead cook in all of us. The duo also authored the award-winning book ECOpreneuring, a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking that blends protecting the planet with small business pragmatics and Rural Renaissance, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times.
A leading national advocate for championing the inspiring story of women farmers, Lisa serves as a distinguished Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). She founded and directs and the Rural Women's Project, a venture of the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) providing outreach and resources for women farmers and food-based business owners. Lisa also spearheads a new initiative called Plate to Politics, designed to help support more women to take on leadership roles in advocating for food system change. Lisa writes a column spotlighting national policy issues for the Women, Food & Agriculture Network (WFAN), is a lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories and writes for publications like Hobby Farms, Hobby Farm Home, Urban Farm and Edible Madison.
A pioneer in green travel, Lisa and her family run the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, considered among the "Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America," and featured in USA Today, MSNBC, ABC news, Newsweek and numerous other media. Powered by 100 percent renewable energy, the Inn was the recipient of the Energy Star Small Business Network Award from the EPA and is an example of a "carbon negative" business, sequestering more carbon dioxide annually than emitted from its carbon-free operations. She and her family raise diversified produce for local sale with a specialty in leeks and garlic.
www.farmsteadchef.com
www.ecopreneuring.biz
www.ruralrenaissance.org
www.innserendipity.com
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An inspirational book for all,
By ice-princess@mailexcite.com (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kiss Off Corporate America : A Young Professional's Guide to Independence (Paperback)
I purchased Lisa Kivirist's book in the " Stage 2: Toes on the Line" stage of my life. I have a very good job in " Corporate America" doing what I like, but I absolutely hate it. I am not new to the industry in which I work, but I have reached a level at which I must weed through, for lack of better word, tons of bull in a never-ending combination of house-of-cards and shell-game trying to accommodate several bosses at different levels with conflicting ideas, huge egos and , in my opinion, often unethical business practices. The final straw was a salary review in which I scored well, but was near the top of my range, so could only earn an additional $165. per year; and a promotion which received no monetary increase because I already make more than the other guys in my department and it wouldn't be fair to them. I was so angry, I quit on the spot, but was encouraged to think about it over the weekend and talk about it on Monday. Needless to say, my mind was made up, but I reconsidered and have decided to stay to the end of the calendar year (gives me time to formulate a great plan and execute it, allowing me to position myself more favorably financially).I spent the first 25 years of my career as a manager with little supervision and did very well. I know that I will be very good at working for myself. I am not 30 something, I am a 51 year old woman with a daughter in college, but I found Miss Kivirist's book to be truly inspirational and uplifting. She has helped me to take that much needed step toward financial freedom and "Life Outside the Corporate Track". Thank you, Lisa, for writing a very supportive book.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
get ready to "free" yourself from your job!,
By
This review is from: Kiss Off Corporate America : A Young Professional's Guide to Independence (Paperback)
an essential resource for anyone unhappily stuck at a job or company, this book supports the realization that many young people are coming to: that getting the "right" job, leading a safe and secure life, and gathering heaps of material goods isn't the answer for everyone. if you seek a job that actually makes you happy and that you feel good about--not just a job that pays the bills--you will find the tips in this book useful. the difference between "kiss off" and other career books is that the author discusses the emotional nature--and the roadblocks--of following your dreams. this book isn't about finding another job, it's about achieving an alternative lifestyle--where you control your time and seek to maintain a balance between work activities, relationships, and interests. since this lifestyle flies in the face of how our parents were raised, it often results in parents, friends, and co-workers saying, "you left your high-paying job with great benefits for WHAT?" the author offers advice about dealing with these as well as other pressures you will face when you kiss off. also provided is a framework for getting in touch with where you are now, where you want to go, and how to get there. i found the idea of a personal non-business business plan excellent for gathering my thoughts in a constructive and tangible way. as well, the idea of an "experiential sabbatical"--a period during which you try out a variety of potential ideas before committing to a final decision--is a creative way for people to transition out of the cubicle. stories of folks who have actually "kissed off," how they did it, and how they have fared, are sprinkled throughout the book. kivirist also uses humor and sniglet-like terms to describe the life of a "cookie cutter corporate clone," and coins appropro phrases that describe the plight of many corporate genx'ers.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to get out of your office and into your own business.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Kiss Off Corporate America : A Young Professional's Guide to Independence (Paperback)
This is a book about the nuts and bolts of how to "Kiss Off Corporate America" and be your own boss. Ms. Kivirist writes from a first-person point of view and incorporates the stories of others as she encourages you to follow your dreams and work for yourself. If you are curious as to how it is done or what to do in steps, this is your book. She covers the tax issues, the financial issues but most importantly, the personal issues of dealing with the people in your life. Sometimes, those we love most can hold us back more than our own reservations. Kiss Off Corporate America is more than a business book, it is a change-your-life book.
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