Making a Living Without a Job, revised edition: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love [Paperback]

Barbara Winter (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 25, 2009

For all of the millions of Americans who are out of work, soon to be out of work, or wishing to be freed from unrewarding work—here is the must-have book that will show you how you can make a living by working when, where, and how you want.

Newly revised and updated, Barbara J. Winter’s guide to successful self-employment is now more relevant than ever before. Drawing on the techniques and ideas of her popular seminars as well as her own thirty years of business expertise and that of other successful entrepreneurs, Winter offers the practical, proven way to launch your own profitable venture. Her indispensable advice ranges from why creativity is more important than capital to how to avoid the most common pitfalls of self-employment and how to develop multiple profit centers.

And for this new edition, she has added timely advice on topics including:
•how to find opportunity in a chaotic economy
•why smart, small and spunky is the 21st Century business model
•using the Internet to open the door to fresh opportunities
•the best resources to help you create and grow a business that is uniquely your own
•how to leave Employee Thinking behind and build an Entrepreneur’s Mindset
•and much more

Here are all of the tools you need for getting the most profit out of life both professionally and personally.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur or an I-might-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-when-I-grow-up entrepreneur, Barbara [J. Winter]'s wise work is for you!"—Huffington Post

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Revised edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553386603
• ISBN-13: 978-0553386608
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara J. Winter grew up in a small town in southern Minnesota dreaming of a life of adventure and travel. After several miserable attempts at being a good employee she realized that she wasn't getting any closer to the life of her dreams. On the day her daughter set off for kindergarten, Barbara started her first business. The Successful Woman was a training and publishing company that she founded and ran for several years from home. Gradually it dawned on her that her real passion was for helping others become creatively self-employed. In addition to being the author of Making a Living Without a Job, Barbara is also the publisher of Winning Ways, the longest-running self-employment newsletter. She travels throughout the US, Canada and Europe speaking and conducting seminars and retreats, all designed to increase the joyfully jobless population. She also blogs at her website http://joyfullyjobless.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

118 of 120 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars a great resource August 1, 2004

By Jon Norris TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a remarkably interesting book about how to approach self-employment. It is not a cookbook or listing of readymade businesses, but rather a guidebook about the entire process of moving into self-employment.

Published in 1993, some of the information is a bit dated, but since the primary thrust of the book is not to provide the reader with specific current opportunities, the book holds up very well over time.

There are many examples of people building different types of businesses, and advice from some well-known success stories. The book is broken into five parts, each with two or three chapters. Each chapter starts with a relevant quote, and treats a specific area of focus, such as; Doing First Things First, Uncovering Your Assets, Creating Multiple Profit Centers, Marketing On A Shoestring, etc.

While there is plenty of advice on creating and starting a business (or multiple businesses), the thing that I think is most important in this book is how the author deals with the psychological issues. Most books on starting your own business will mention the emotional and mental obstacles involved, but seldom give the reader much in the way of concrete methods for dealing with them. This book gives you the tools for dealing with the most difficult part of running your own business - your own habits and attitudes. Winter spends a great deal of time covering the psychological groundwork necessary to succeed at being your own boss. She does this in a clear manner, with examples from the real world. There is also a booklist in the back with resources for different areas, such as Personal Growth, Marketing, Entrepeneurial Inspiration, and so on.

I found this book one of the most useful in working on my attitude about being self-employed. It is a positive, uplifting read without being unrealistic and full of fluff. This may well be one of the best books around for preparing a person to start their own business. While there is not a laundry list of business ideas nor a lot of technical detail like legal issues and such, I think that creating the kind of mindset that allows one to succeed is the first and most important step in reaching that success, regardless of the venture. This book will be a very great help in establishing the kind of mindset that will allow one to succeed. I think the author's approach will also allow this book to be of use for decades to come, regardless of how technologies and markets change. This information is basic to all business ventures.

244 of 258 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Roots and Wings January 22, 2002

By Mila Jacob Stetser

Format:Paperback

Barbara Winter's Making a Living Without A Job casts self-employment as a liberating experience - one that frees the "joyfully jobless" to pursue her dream as she sees fit, not tied to the whims of managers or other creativity-killing institutions. As a result, she spends a lot of time focusing on the ideas surrounding self-employment, rather than the how-to.

She sprinkled exercises designed to seek out my passions and to brainstorm "profit centers" throughout the book. I didn't take the time to go through them this time around; I wanted to finish the book first and then go back and do them. Still, during my reading I did realize that I definitely want to write and philosophize, and I've come up with several ideas for Profit Centers. In that regard, the book stimulated me to think critically about my financial future.
Moreover, the author doesn't focus entirely on the theory of self-employment. With suggestions such as the $100 Hour (where you promise yourself to spend an hour per day brainstorming ways to make another $100, visualizations and affirmations, and advice on business cards and marketing, she provides a good "jumping-in" point for people (such as myself) considering the idea of becoming "joyfully jobless."

She paints making the plunge as an act of faith and describes her own life as one of "Roots and Wings". She attempts to balance putting down roots (living a stable, secure life) and growing wings (seeking her dreams, living with passion and excitement). I found myself thinking that the people who can successfully do both often lift up on the ground in which they've taken root. They try to pull their loves up with them.

Buckminster Fuller, contemplating suicide at 32, stood on the edge of Lake Michigan asking himself: "Do I know best, or does God know best whether I may be of value to the universe?" The answer that presented itself to him, the mere fact of his existence, proved to him that he had some purpose of being. As a result, he spent the next fifty-six years living a daVincean life. Winters asks us to find our own passions and make them our jobs. How, then, can we go wrong?

I'd definitely recommend anyone serious about starting their own business purchase other books in addition to this one (conveniently, she provides a recommended reading list in the back), because I know that I need more information than Winters provides here, about running a business, keeping books, and dealing with all the details. I need to know how to get started. Winter's book can help you define your ideas, get excited for the change, and know in general what's in store, as well as how to deal with the new life.

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your thinking about what "work" means December 5, 2001

By P. Lozar

Format:Paperback

My work history has ranged the spectrum from Corporate Clone to short-term contracting, and even when I was employed full-time at a "real job" I always had one or two other businesses going on the side. But, like most Americans, I'd been brainwashed into thinking everyone should have a well-defined and well-thought-out CAREER, so I didn't take my "sidelines" seriously. And, after thirty-plus years in the work force, I was still searching for the One Perfect Job that would best utilize my abilities and satisfy my soul. This book changed my thinking: Barbara Winter shows how to evaluate your talents, interests, and skills, and turn what you already like to do into multiple income streams. She gives inspiring examples, provides tools for self-analysis, and offers encouragement; she doesn't give specifics on how to create your perfect work, but she can't because everyone's combination of abilities and knowledge is unique. The book started me thinking on how I could create income sources from the things I enjoy doing, and convinced me that I don't need to find that elusive Perfect Job after all. I recommend it highly to anyone searching for a better way to work.