The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom [Hardcover]

Carrie Wilkerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2011

Carrie Wilkerson offers the opportunity to live life on your terms.  Want to start your workday with e-mail and coffee on the back patio?  Want the flexibility of joining your fourth grader on an all-day field trip? Are you ready to take that vacation you've been planning for years?  Then you have a choice to make, and The Barefoot Executive will help jump-start your transition.  You'll learn:

• Your "why."  The most important question. Why do you want to work for yourself?
• What type of business best suits your experience and talents.
• How to stay focused on your goal and avoid distractions.
• Where to find the support that will accelerate  your success.
• How to link your business to the right market.

Whether it's a service, a product, or your insight or expertise, you already have the raw materials necessary to transform your life.  Carrie will walk you through the process of building the business you need to achieve the life you want.  Her guidance is practical.  No philosophical silliness, no theoretical abstractions- just concrete action steps alongside insights from fellow entrepreneurs, interactive exercises, and links to Carrie's online video coaching segments.  It's the next best thing to working one-on-one with her.  The Barefoot Executive will have you energized by the possibilities and embracing the extraordinary life that is well within your reach.

DISCOVER what you already have to offer, how to use it to your advantage, and where to find the people who are eager to buy it.  The Barefoot Executive will pull you over the hurdle of uncertainty and get you moving, planning, doing.

What Others Are Saying:

"Carrie Wilkerson has done a great job with this book, and she's personally helped me make tons of money with my business. I highly recommend this book!" - Chris Brogan, president, Human Business Works, and publisher of chrisbrogan.com

"There has never been a better time to turn your passions into income. But just having an idea doesn't mean you're ready to order business cards just yet. Carrie Wilkerson's The Barefoot Executive walks you through the process of developing your idea, finding your audience, and setting yourself up for a lifetime of success doing the work you love for the hardest boss you'll ever have... yourself!" - Dave Ramsey, host of The Dave Ramsey Show and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover

"One of the best ways to achieve success is to learn from someone who has already done it.  If you are looking to build a viable, sustainable, and lucrative business from home- or anywhere else- Carrie Wilkerson is your example, and her new book will show you the way." - Tim Sanders, author of Today We Are Rich and former CSO at Yahoo!

"A lot of books can fire up an entrepreneur.  But a lot of those books leave readers high and dry when it comes to practical application.  Enthusiasm isn't enough.  You need a plan and the tools to build with.  Carrie Wilkerson's guidance provides just that.  Combine that with her enthusiasm, warmth, and core values, and you have someone very real to learn from.  As my dad says, 'a great book needs to cover the Why and the How.'  This is a great book.  I know that when Carrie advises Ziglar, Inc. on marketing ideas, we get results." - Tom Ziglar, CEO and proud son of Zig Ziglar

"Packed with real-world case studies, action items, business models and links to free coaching videos, The Barefoot Executive isn't just a book, it's a multimedia road map that takes you by the hand and walks you down the road to earning a living on your terms and reclaiming ownership of your life." - Jonathan Fields, author of Career Renegade

"If you're dreaming of building a business on your terms, then you'll absolutely love Carrie Wilkerson." - Tory Johnson, CEO, Women For Hire and New York Times best-selling author

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

As “The Barefoot Executive,” Carrie Wilkerson has  become the definitive resource for helping others achieve extra income and career goals while working from home and keeping their priorities intact. She is a mentor/coach/advisor to more than one hundred thousand men and women as The Barefoot Executive through videos, podcasts, masterminding, mentoring, and live speaking. She lives outside of Fort Worth, Texas, with her family. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (August 23, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159555369X
• ISBN-13: 978-1595553690
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carrie is a wife and mom of four who is juggling life. Just like you she has the demands of health, family, finances and community. After finding herself over six figures in debt, overweight & overwhelmed, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Being denied for job interviews and feeling hopeless, she started her first profitable business at home.

With no official business training, 2 little ones at home, a husband traveling with his job and zero start up capital, Carrie launched a small business that grew to the six figures its first year.

She has now founded & sold several companies, paid off every dime of debt, added 2 more kids to the mix and believes you can create a part time or full time business on your terms.

A popular speaker and trainer, Carrie's style is easy to understand and hard to misinterpret. She tells you in simple terms her 5 favorite business models and helps you understand which is best for you, where your market is and how to get started right now.

No hype. No boasting. No 'instant solutions.' Just dozens of examples, real stories and actionable tips for today.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved The Barefoot Executive book. Here's why: August 16, 2011

By Michelle D. Barry Franco

Format:Hardcover

Length: 2:03 Mins

Interesting real-life case stories
Writing style that feels like you're sitting together in a coaching session, just you and Carrie
Processes you can do TODAY to refine your ideas and set clear priority
My favorite part: a focus on the importance of a clear "why" for all the hard work

Bonus: so fun to read, it's like reading fiction (though it's not.) You might find yourself pulling it out in the middle of the night, like I did.

Order the book. You'll be very glad you did. I sure am.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Delay! August 5, 2011

By James Palmer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like you, I often scroll down to see what other people are saying about the book you're considering. I have just finished reading The Barefoot Executive and my best advice to you is to scroll back up and buy it NOW! Here's the deal, the faster you get this book in your hands, and read it, the faster you will make money in your own business. It's quite rare when you read a business book that not only educates you and opens your eyes as to what's possible, but it also inspires you and leaves you feeling that, "Yes, I can do that too!" Carrie Wilkerson is not only a gifted writer, her book clearly demonstrates that she is a generous giver too, because she `pulls back the curtain' on her own business and shares what she's been able to accomplish in her life, so you can do it too. Enough said, scroll back up and buy this book now!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great step by step guide September 7, 2011

By Michael D. Bowers

Format:Hardcover

Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive, has built a step by step guide for starting a business that will allow you to achieve your professional and personal goals. The great thing about Carrie is that she has been there and done that. Carrie has overcome numerous obstacles to build the kind of life she wanted for her and her family. For the past several years she has been sharing her tips for business success through various blogs, social media outlets and from stages across the county but now she has pulled her lessons learned into a great guide for those seeking to build an on-line business. This book breaks the process down into very manageable steps from Why to start a business to How to start a business and How YOU can start a business. Each chapter has action steps from Carrie and case studies from people that have developed businesses to make their dreams come true. The book is very results oriented and real. There is no sugar coating here. Building a business takes work and Carrie is clear that you have to work, no get rich quick stuff here just real world "how to" steps that you can apply.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps You Put One Bare Foot In Front Of The Other (Bravely) November 11, 2011

By Tara Street

Format:Hardcover

At first I cracked open this book with a bit of skepticism and maybe with more than just one grain of salt (a sprinkling of salt, lets say). I was afraid that this self-help book was going to be for just moms who are trying to figure out some crafty way to stay home or burned out corporate-types who have shed the tie (and apparently the shoes) and gone all crazy "free to be me." And it is. It's really for anyone who is braving out into the unknown territory of being self-employed for the first time. But I imagine this book can also be very clarifying for people who have been braving it out for years.

My business is a brand creative and consulting partnership based on my fourteen years of previous advertising agency experience. As a creative director you've got to know your stuff and be creative and do it all with "swagger" let's say. But being your own boss and building your own dream (rather than someone else's) requires a whole different type of swagger.

So my biggest takeaway from Barefoot, is how Carrie Wilkerson tells us that one of the most common mistakes we make as we brave out into our own business, is doubting or undervaluing our own expertise. That we look to the rock stars of our industry or other entrepreneurs that are just making waves out there doing what we want to do, and we get frozen in our tracks. We just can't rate. But she then makes the point that as we are looking up to these amazing people, that in turn, someone is looking up to us. That we are a "fourth grader" to somebody's "third grader." Basically, you are somebody's rock star, too. So I suppose, this book helped me remember my swagger as I bravely go where no man has gone... (well, actually thousands and thousands have gone before)... but where I will not be swayed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good NOT Great.... July 18, 2012

By Mike

Format:Hardcover

I wouldn't call it the ultimate guide to anything other than Carrie Wilkerson self promotion. However I do think it was worth the money. I think her loyal and rabid fans will keep her review count high, however this is my first experience with her and I have mixed feelings. And I'm not the only one, check out the Audible.com reviews.

The book is not a straight road-map from business idea to creation to profit. She presents ideas and concepts in a non-linear fashion and often repeats herself. The repetition of ideas is very common in self-help/biz development books so I expected it. What I didn't expect was the shameless self promotion.

She mentions her 100lb weight loss, adopted kids, mountains of debt, professional contacts (Zig Ziglar, etc) a lot! Her story is very inspiring! I applaud her will, dedication and commitment to success. However, rather than hearing about all of the things she had to overcome, I'd like to hear HOW she overcame them. I was expecting a more in depth discussion about how she built her business, the hurdles, the successes, the choices, etc. She briefly mentions her first business and extensively covers how her current business can help us reach new heights but never peels back the curtain.

I'm always leery about authors/speakers/teachers who make their living from teaching people how to make money. I find it a bit disingenuous for people who've never built a business outside of the "make money online" industry to claim to be able to help people how to make money outside of this industry. I don't think that describes Carrie 100%. I think she used the steps she outlines in this book to grow her business to the point where she expanded in to this industry.... However, I wish she would have spent more time talking about THAT part of her growth.

Every chapter references how her current business and products can help us do the things she is teaching us to do. It is clear that the book is a marketing vehicle for her business. And for that reason I wanted to give this book 1 star. However, after listening objectively and ignoring the self promotion, I definitely see the value in the book.

This book is great for someone who is considering getting in to business for themselves and is not sure how or why. The action steps she gives will help you get an idea of what YOU can do to build a business that you are good at and care about.

It is not technical, so it is great for beginners and not so great for experienced business owners. There are a few insights for current biz owners but I think the greatest value in this book is in finding, evaluating and starting your business idea.

This book gave me ideas that will allow me to make 100 times the cost of the book within the next 6 months, so it was definitely worth reading. However, It could have been a 2 hour book without all the self-promotion and marketing, but then she wouldn't be following her own advice from the last chapter.

I prefer books that give the history of a business or CEO and talks about the tactics, ideas and tools they used to start and grow their business. (see Tony Hsieh, Steve Jobs, Starbucks, etc)

READ THIS BOOK but take notes so you don't have to go through it again. **side note: I listened to the audio book, she was a great narrator. Read more ›