Despite some of my concerns about the freelancing ethic, I do have an affinity for the lifestyle, which is why I agreed to do an interview recently with FreelanceSwitch.com. I thought the interview had a lot of good topics in it, so I suggest you check out the entire piece on their site.

As part of the interview, writer Kristen Fischer asked me for some bullet points on freelancing success. (Which reminds me, since she referred to me as a “knowledge goldmine,” a rather unprecedented compliment, I need to work Kristen into my holiday shopping plans). As I looked through the list, I realized they made a pretty good list of my recommended business philosophies. In no particular order:

• Remain lean in operating costs but don’t be afraid to invest in tools or assets that will give you a competitive advantage.
• Aspire to world-class excellence in a specialized area that larger companies can’t easily fill; and
• Outsource everything beyond that specialty to trusted business partners.
• Don’t just chase lucrative markets; focus on “monetizing” an area you are passionate about, as this will be your life.
• Don’t be content to be a billable expert – productize your knowledge and create income-generating assets.
• Use the Internet whenever possible to market test ideas prior to major business launches.
• Become a thought leader in your field and create visibility via web presence and trade shows.
• Stay on the cutting edge of emerging trends and ruthlessly refine your focus as needed.
• Provide a level of personalized customer service and interaction larger companies can’t typically match.
• Continually invest in your own self-education.

There’s one big one I left off the list that really is a whopper though:

Don’t just think about what the market wants – start with a creative contribution to a community project or cause you care about.

Huge life-altering blunder: people who see business and personal values as “at odds with each other” – only if you concede the point, which is less likely to happen if you build a strategy around something you care about. That way, by the time you start creating content, setting up LinkedIn groups, Tweeting, or blogging, you won’t just be broadcasting for the sake of it or cynically building a niche. You’ll be raising the tide on an issue you care about.

If you have any doubt that this can work, look at how a commitment to sustainability has raised the industry profile of GreenMonk, the sustainability practice of RedMonk, featuring Lead Analyst Tom Raftery and RedMonk’s inimitable James Governor. These guys have turned sustainability commentary into visiblity, and that in turn leads them to worthy client projects – and it all started by giving away content on issues that mattered to them, or as James might say, that they cared a fuckload about.

Anyhow, after that FreelanceSwitch.com interview was published, I got a reader comment on the site which talked about the importance of finding a niche market. This is something I get into quite a bit my own book, but there’s more to say. Since I published my own book, I’ve been thinking even more about the success of some of the “microbrands” in the IT industry, such as my friends in the aforementioned open source analyst firm RedMonk. In fact, Hugh MacLeod, author of a recommended book on creativity and business, Ignore Everybody, is undertaking a new book on the impact of building a “global microbrand.”

This was reflected in my comment to the FreelanceSwitch.com reader:

I’m glad you like the interview. I totally agree with what you are saying about finding a niche market. I’ve been toying with a phrase called “verticalize your skills,” which is a fancy way of saying that focused niches have value. One person who has done a lot of thinking in this area is Hugh MacLeod, author of the book Ignore Everybody – @gapingvoid on Twitter. He talks about building a global microbrand as a lasting means of achieving success on your own terms. Hugh talks about how blogging is a great starting point for launching a global microbrand. I believe freelancers of all stripes can utilize those approaches to be more effective. Too many aspire to be an Internet celebrity in a generalized area, such as: “I’m an SEO expert” or “I’m a social media guru.”

Problem is, there is only room for a handful of those bigtime celebrities with tens of thousands of Twitter devotees, then there is a pretty steep dropoff. However, taking that expertise and applying it to a niche market can really help you to create your own path that is very effiective. Without being a social media celebrity, I’ve had very good success helping companies in my particular niche (SAP software market) with social networking projects. It’s the combination of the broader skill (social media) and the narrower industry focus (SAP) that gives me more value to my clients than a so-called “social media guru” would. I think you can apply this formula to many areas.

So these are key topics in my book, and Hugh MacLeod is defining this in a more vivid way than occured to me with his global microbrand strategy. I do have some differences with this model also, which I can get into further if readers would like me to. In brief, a couple concerns I have around the goal of building such a brand: yes, it does beat the corporate treadmill to have your own brand and monetize it yourself, but I find that as someone who is building such a brand in the SAP world, that in some ways, it’s just a new treadmill. Yes, it’s way better than filing TPS reports, but I’m still feeding that meter every day. Blogging, while a nice way of developing recognition and generating consulting business, is also a feed the meter scenario – you are then “feeding your blog” constantly.

Those who love to blog have no issue with this, but the business models I like best are a bit more passive. Passive income is superior because it requires less life energy to generate, and insulates you better from the obstacles life can throw in the way, such as a health problem or a marital crisis or anything that takes away from our ability to keep pushing our brand. Even the causes we care about most can consume us. That’s why even if we believe in what we are doing, generating web traffic based on resource-based materials can be vastly more profitable and “energy efficient” than constant blogging. See my “Defiant Guide to SEO” for more on that.

I’ll return to these themes in future posts, but for now, I wanted to share some emerging trends and offer a quick take.

Rusty was once my volunteer Big Brother and his family and mine remain lifelong friends. It’s one of the handful of stories in my life that truly is a little magical. I thought web site visitors might enjoy a bigger version of that pic with the bio text just as it appears in the book, but this time in color:

If you want to contrast that bio with the last book’s, here’s Rusty’s caricature from that project:

If you’d like to see a better resolution version of this second illustration, check out the PDF version.

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Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.
——

In Free From Corporate America, the globalization of the white collar worker is treated as a basic assumption. In chapters like “The Real Risk is Working 9 to 5″, Free From Corporate America treats the globalization of the white collar worker as a philosophical starting point. The rest of the book is a response to this circumstance. However, there was a time when the impact of the global labor pool was hotly debated. The book intentionally avoids a “footnotes and research” tone, so this section of our web site provides more context for the issue of outsourcing and also points readers towards places online where they can continue this conversation.

The research for this section revealed that most articles on globalization and offshoring written in the past few years no longer cite hard evidence to convince readers of this trend in business practices: the fact that U.S. companies are outsourcing not only blue collar manufacturing jobs but also white collar “skilled labor” jobs is globally acknowledged. The hot topics now pertain to its advantages and disadvantages for American and foreign economies; if and how to create regulations for these practices; and how companies and individuals can learn to compete with a global perspective. One look at the Facebook groups devoted to globalization and outsourcing will tell you that the question “Is it happening?” has undeniably shifted to “Is it good?” (read more below).

Section 1 is a list of online resources with some of the evidence you may want if you’re not yet convinced. You’ll read employment statistics, quotes from the heads of international companies, and reports on U.S. layoffs from companies with overseas branches. In Section 2, you’ll find discussion threads and videos posted by individuals debating the merits and consequences of this trend; whether for or against, the arguments are often heated and draw out the best and worst of global relations. One of the most thought-provoking offshoots of this discussion is where the U.S. can start in order to ensure Americans will stay ahead of the game: our children (see “Did You Know 2.0″ video below).

Editor’s Note: We have also created a separate resources page for books that explore the themes of globalization.

1. Online Resources:

Sourcingmag.com’s “What is Offshoring?” - For an easy read to start you out on the topic of offshoring, try this brief history, beginning with the 70s and covering some newer terms, such as “nearshoring.”

Economic Policy Institute Guide to Offshoring by EPI economist L. Josh Bivens (May 2006) – Now that you have a good lay of the land, you’re ready for a little hard evidence. This guide offers information on the causes, consequences, impact and implications of the U.S.’s offshoring practices; you’ll find FAQs, statistics on employment rates and other relevant figures, web resources and further reading.

New York Times article, “I.B.M. Explores Shift of White-Collar Jobs Overseas” by Steven Greenhouse (July 22, 2003) – Prompted by a recorded conference call between top I.B.M. officials in March 2003, in which they projected three million service jobs would go overseas by 2015, this article provides an early look into the fears of U.S. white-collar workers and the responses by companies like I.B.M. to an increasing global talent pool, an attractive wage gap, and round-the-clock service and development potential.

BusinessWeek.com Special Report, “The Future of Outsourcing” by Pete Engardio, with Michael Arndt in Green Bay, Wis., and Dean Foust in Charlotte, N.C. (January 30, 2006) – According to this report, futurists have been predicting “hollow” corporations since the 80s, and it’s been over a decade since engineering jobs have gone overseas. Here you’ll find a discussion on the wage gap between U.S. workers and offshore workers, and company motivations beyond just saving some cash. There are also a few comments to browse at the bottom, a great example of the strong opinions the topic draws out.

From InformationWeek on management trends:

• “Nearly Half Of U.S. Tech Companies Outsource Offshore” by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (March 3, 2008) covers the results of a telephone survey by accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman, LLP, with 100 chief financial officers of U.S. technology companies making $100 million to $15 billion per year. The article reveals what percentage of these companies offshore work, the nature of the work being offshored, and what the CFOs’ biggest worries are as they look forward.

• “InformationWeek 500 Trends: Web 2.0, Globalization, Virtualization, And More” by Chris Murphy (September 16, 2008) gives readers the lowdown on buzzwords and IT trends. Of particular interest is the second section, Globalization: Something Happening Here, which shows offshoring markedly on the rise over the past several years, according to stats collected on InformationWeek 500 companies.

• “Down to Business: Core Businesses Are Changing: Are You Ready?” by Rob Preston (August 16, 2008) describes how companies are shifting their practices to succeed under the changing pressures of global competition. Preston offers links to recent books on the topic and the rather eye-opening example of GM’s old rubber plantations.

International Herald Tribune article, “In India, Outsourcing Moves to the Top Floor” by Anand Giridhadas (April 3, 2007), published on the Global Policy Forum online – Hear it from the company leaders themselves: this article includes interviews with heads of IBM, Cisco, and Infosys among others, and gives an excellent overview on where we stand now in the process of moving technology (traditionally “white collar”) jobs abroad, specifically to India.

From The Wall Street Journal online, “Outsourcing Looks Closer to Home” by Beckey Bright (July 7, 2008) – Bright cites the Black Book of Outsourcing by Scott Wilson and Doug Brown, a survey of 5,000 businesses’ outsourcing practices, focusing on results that reveal offshore businesses opening up new U.S. offices. It is a move attributed mostly to desiring better communication and may be an emerging trend in outsourcing practices.2. Online Discussion Threads and Videos:

On Facebook, there are over 500 groups pertaining to globalization as people from around the globe weigh in on the topic. The two most populated groups are one for and one against: “Against Globalization” with 418 members, and “A Celebration of Globalization” with 356 members. Then there’s the neutral stance of the group “Defining Globalization – What does it mean for the world we live in?” with 266 members and a host of links to related news articles. The most populated outsourcing group is “The Outsourcing Experts Group” with 1,909 members and 1,015 posted discussion topics. Second is “Create laws to control Outsourcing” with 755 members and 10 posted discussion topics; the group’s picture is a cartoon spoof of President Bush announcing a “no job left behind” initiative. (Note: a Facebook login may be required to access these groups.)

“Did You Know 2.0″ by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod - This video provides enlightening facts on education worldwide, specifically how globalization affects our education systems. If you started to take technology for granted, this video will remind you how amazing our advancements and social tools have become.

“The Other Side of Outsourcing” with Thomas Friedman (Discovery Channel special program) – Especially halfway through (27 minutes), this video gets into exactly what’s being outsourced to India and gives an interesting look into Indians’ thoughts on outsourcing American jobs. Even more significant is the argument back and forth in the 338 viewer comments.

“Future of Outsourcing and Offshoring” with Patrick Dixon – The video itself is on outsourcing from the EU, particularly regarding the wage inflations in China and India. But of more interest is the discussion in the comments section: from different global perspectives, and without holding back, these folks share thoughts on the pros and cons of outsourcing.

“Cheap Foreign Labor”, news report by Lou Dobbs and Bill Tucker on CNN, 6/19/2008 – Watch this report on the number of H-1B visas (non-immigrant visas for foreign guest workers) that were issued between 2003-2005, compared with the number of new computer jobs created in that timeframe. Clicking on “more info” at the top right corner will give you links related to this report, including a study by John Miano of the Center for Immigration Studies, quoted in this report, which finds that these visas show no relationship to economic need.

“America‘s Bogus Skilled Labor Shortage” - Linked from Facebook’s “Create laws to control Outsourcing” group, you’ll see an ironic animation of an American worker training an Indian worker to take her job because he’ll work for less. Over the top? Yes. But it aptly reflects the bitterness of many Americans toward outsourcing, especially those who have lost their jobs to outsourced labor.

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

In Free From Corporate America, the globalization of the white collar worker is treated as a given for the sake of the argument that “The Real Risk is Working 9 to 5″; however, there is a lot more to be said on the topic that could not be explored in that chapter. This resource section provides an opportunity to cite some related books that go more deeply into this topic.

The search for books on globalization and offshoring yielded a surprising number of how-to guides for businesses. As more companies go international, there is a growing need to share mistakes and successes of those who’ve already made the move. Another other top result was advice to individuals on how to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive job market; there is a growing belief that “creative thinkers” and problem-solvers are among those whose positions may be safer than others – that is, the least likely to be outsourced.

Topics explored in the books listed here include the nature of today’s in-demand jobs, the education and training required to compete with foreign workers, and the economic consequences of these practices worldwide.

Editor’s Note: We have also created a separate resources page for online articles, forums and videos that explore the themes of globalization.

A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink - Daniel Pink, influential author of Free Agent Nation, has written a guide to the importance of developing creative “right brain” skills in order to avoid the threat of outsourcing, which many “information workers” are facing. Pink details six new conceptual skills to master in the “world is flat” economy.

 The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman – This is the updated and expanded 2007 version of the New York Times journalist’s 2005 publication by the same name (minus the “3.0″). In an Amazon.com interview about the expanded “3.0″ version, Friedman says he started the book in March 2004 and focused on the following questions: What are the new jobs going to be in the flat (i.e., leveled or accessible) world? What is the right education for the new jobs? Are there schools promoting this education? Further, Friedman says his book has triggered discussion about education, particularly asking why we are falling behind.

Chindia edited by Peter Engardio - A senior editor at BusinessWeek, Engardio combines reporting and analysis of the emerging markets in China and India, as well as strategies businesses can take to compete in the global economy. Each chapter offers a different perspective.

What’s This India Business? by Paul Davies - This March 2008 book discusses the value of offshoring American back office jobs to India. Further, it is a guide to successfully navigating the offshoring process, going through the benefits as well as the dangers, so you will get a strong background in the pros and cons of this practice.

Take This Job and Ship It by Byron L. Dorgan – U.S. Senator (D-ND) Dorgan’s 2006 title explores the turnover trend seen in America’s workforce as it relates to our country’s economic strength. Dorgan cites a list of U.S. companies that have operations overseas and focuses on the political ramifications of offshoring American jobs, as well as his own solutions for bringing them back home. Bonus: watch Dorgan spar with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report and learn what might be in your Fig Newtons.

Rise of the Creative Class and Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent by Richard Florida - Written in 2002 and 2005 respectively, Florida’s books explore the topic of the “reverse brain drain,” where talent is leaving the U.S. to either expatriate or return to their home countries for better opportunities. Like Pink and Friedman, Florida asserts that we’re losing our skilled workers and thinkers, whose jobs were previously safe from being outsourced like blue-collar jobs. In Flight, Florida backs up his assertions with a variety of statistics on living in the U.S. and the outsourcing practices of U.S. companies. For a quick look into the “reverse brain drain” idea and Florida’s books, check out this USA Today article by Alan M. Webber: “Reverse brain drain threatens U.S. economy” (February 23, 2004).

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

Recommending business books is a ridiculous task. There are so many to consider, from the bland to the compelling. You can take something useful from most, and a grain of salt is advised as well. I have already noted, on separate pages, the two business titles that I think are most relevant to the development of Free From Corporate America: the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series and Your Money or Your Life. I have also added sections for books and online resources that explore the topic of globalization.

My book attempts to integrate creative themes, philosophy, and business, so my book recommendations will eventually go beyond a business focus. For now, I’ll use this reference page to select the most important business books in a variety of categories. This list is not yet finished, so feel free to ask me about titles you don’t see here.

In order to compile my recommendations, I did some cross-checks with other lists of the best business books.

This list from Entrepreneur.com of the best business books ever written was pretty cool. I like the way they talk about the historical significance of each selection.

This compilation from the US News and World Report is also instructive. You can click on the pic of each individual to get their annotated “best business books” list. This is a great illustration of just how much the superlative “best” depends on your own business agenda as well as your background.

Another issue with business books is that they are faddish. Even the classic business biographies, like Lee Iacocca’s, lose their sheen as they age. Trends can fade unfairly. For example, no one talks about “positioning” anymore, but I would maintain that any aspiring businessperson needs to read the book Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout, which is billed as the “most important book about advertising ever written,” but even that may undersell its broader importance to a business education. Today’s trend is yesterday’s fad, but many of yesterday’s books are still crucial even if their terminology has lost buzz.

Having said that, I still find that virtually all of the arrogant books from the peak of the 90s Internet bubble are a complete waste of time except as a document of a bloated era. I don’t know that they will ever age well in the sense of being useful to future generations, except as cautionary tales. After all, would you want to read a book on the 1850s gold rush that said “just pick up a shovel and start digging”? So, no books from the Internet Bubble are on this list. If you must read one, Fucked Company by Phillip “Pud” Kaplan is a very funny chronicle of dotcoms gone bad with a surprising amount of wisdom.

We can also consider business books whose titles are probably the only concepts you need to know. For example, did we need to read The Tipping Point to understand its central point? Same goes for The Wisdom of Crowds and books with sexy images leased from nature about why we should be more like sharks or lions or cobras. This is not to say that books with a simple, powerful concept are not valuable, but most won’t make the cut for this list.

I learned way more from hands-on business than I ever did in books. Whether you are a senior executive or a pottery maker, you learn about business in the streets of the marketplace. The ideal way to use this list is to focus on the titles that are most relevant to the work you are doing now. This way, you can test their validity in the practical reality of your work day. Each book title will link to its Amazon profile where you can read more reviews and publisher information, and we’ll usually include a least one other online forum where you can find more people talking about the title in question.

I’m also not recommending books in every business category. For example, I don’t have a real estate investing book I endorse as the top book in that area. Some of it depends on your focus – those who are interested in winning foreclosure auctions should be reading different books than the fix-and-flip crowd. Same goes with negotiation – lots of great books out there, and you should read one of them, but I don’t have one I would currently single out over the others.

In addition to this list, I hope to do another list of “books to avoid” where I lay into a few popular titles that are not up to snuff. Then, I’ll continue to add book references to the chapters. I’m thinking I will add some as comments after the chapter in question, so those who are reading a chapter online will know where to turn next. You can also add your own comments to the end of chapters or email me besides. For those who make it to the end, there is a fun “guilty pleasures” category.

White Collar Skills in Transition
Perhaps the most relevant category for my own book, there is a growing body of work about the shift in white collar skills and the impact of global outsourcing on “information worker” job stability.

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

• Reason for Selection:My favorite book in this genre to date, Daniel Pink, influential author of Free Agent Nation, has written a terrific guide to the importance of developing creative “right brain” skills in order to avoid the threat of outsourcing, which many “information workers” are facing. Pink details six new conceptual skills to master in the “world is flat” economy.

• Got 60 minutes? Hear Pink discuss the book’s concepts in this June 2007 podcast on EconTalk.org. There are a few comments from listeners.

Leadership
We’re not all meant to lead organizations, but you can’t possibly apply the principles in my book without some exploration on leadership. We can’t move forward without taking proper action. That means forming our own conception of power and how we’re going to wield it. Sometimes that means exercising power over others, and that’s where the fun starts, because there is a range of ways to do that, from uplifting to oppressive.

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence byDaniel Goleman

• Reason for Selection: Too often, when people read the phrase “emotional intelligence,” they think “empathy” or “active listening.” To me, emotional intelligence is the secret to effective leadership, but not because of clichés about active listening. It comes down to two things: (1) developing mastery of your own emotions so that you do not sabotage your own opportunities (and emotional mastery is very different than emotional repression, which is the state that many, especially men, mistake for mastery), and (2) having the emotional force to step in the middle of difficult situations and broker settlements with complicated personalities.We can debate the different components of business success and how to weight each factor, such as talent, market opportunity, timing, and interpersonal skills. My opinion could change tomorrow, but when it comes to which skills are most important, I’d put interpersonal skills at the 50 percent or higher level for all but the insanely talented (if you’re in the top 1 percent of your industry, you can often get away with some interpersonal sloppiness). There’s no better place to learn about these skills than in Daniel Goleman’s genre-starting “Emotional Intelligence” book series. He has a couple of books on emotional intelligence in the workplace, but the best place to start might be his “Primal Leadership” book.
• Browse 85 customer reviews on Amazon.com for pros and cons on the book and the topic.

Sales
In my book, I devoted a chapter to how we are all fundamentally salespeople. Those who make a big deal about their contempt for salespeople and how they are not selling anything are some of the biggest salespeople of all. For that reason, anyone who lives in a market economy should put down any remaining snobbery about sales and learn the art of getting what you want.

The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage by B. Joseph Pine and James H Gilmore

• Reason for Selection: This is one of the least known books on this list; it came and went without fanfare. In fairness, it wasn’t all that well written. But the central concept is critical: customers are now looking for “experiences” more than they are looking for products or even the best price. An example that came out after this book was published: the iPhone. Is it the cheapest? No. Is it the best? Arguable. But does it create a unique experience for the customer? Definitely. There is a sex appeal to the iPhone and a user-friendly interaction that other products can’t get near.This concept of “selling experiences” is essential for us “Free From Corporate America” types, because we don’t have the capability to get into WalMart-style mass production and sell millions of products on tight margins. But in the “experience economy,” none of that matters. We can create “value” for our customers by giving them things that no one else can – and in exchange, they will (hopefully) pay us more than enough to make our own living.
• Karen Schultz’s Personal Development Support blog comments on the latest from the authors with startling examples of the “experiences” that are being sold today.

Print on Demand Publishing
In a variety of industries, technological advancements have lowered the bar for enterprising people who want to step out and test the merits of their work and the mettle of their marketing – the latter, of course, being far more important. In my industry, print on demand (POD) publishing has changed the playing field by allowing publishers to test the marketplace without having to worry about getting bogged down with a warehouse full of books. In any business context, when we can dramatically reduce inventory and still serve our customers, our chances for success improve. I do think we have to be wary of over-idealizing new technology, as an exchange I published on this site has shown. But for those of you who want to learn more about POD publishing tactics, these books are a good place to start.

Print on Demand Book Publishing by Morris Rosenthal

• Reason for Selection: Morris’ book is not only an influential guide to Print on Demand publishing, it’s a great overview of business fundamentals – in any industry. The most valuable part of Morris’ approach is his emphasis on developing web sites into marketing platforms, and test-marketing your ideas before you get into a heavy investment cycle – cornerstones of the so-called “Free From Corporate America” approach.
• Small Press Blog interviews Rosenthal’s blog for some additional answers to success with POD.

Aiming at Amazon: The New Business of Self-Publishing by Aaron Shepard

• Reason for Selection: I view Aaron Shepard’s “Aiming at Amazon” as a vital companion book to Rosenthal’s POD Publishing book. Aaron’s book contains some of the same POD fundamentals, but Aaron has more tips on maximizing your results within Amazon.com – the most important book sales channel today, especially for the self-publisher. In my own bookselling approach, I believe in focusing more on my own web site and less on marketing within Amazon, but “Aiming at Amazon” has still been an excellent resource for me.

• Grumpy Old Bookman, Michael Allen, gives a short and sweet outline of who should or shouldn’t read this book and why.
• Small Press Blog interviews Shepard for more secrets to success.

Guilty Pleasures
Whenever you venture into the realm of “success literature,” you come out with some guilty pleasures. Guilty pleasures in this context means books you wouldn’t necessarily recommend to others at a dinner party – but not because they didn’t help you.Â

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra

• Reason for Selection: I have a love/hate relationship with my New Age buddy Deepak. “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” is the perhaps the best “spiritual” book on business, and Deepak’s simple lessons on expanding your prosperity through, basically, opening your mind and being a good person, goes counter to a lot of the “business is full of sharks”/ “business as battlefield” clichés that imply you have to slay your foes and leave carcasses behind.New Age “thinkers” would criticize the “last man standing” approach to business as a “scarcity” model. In contrast, Chopra’s book may be the most concise expression of “abundance” thinking. He basically says that if you have the right intentions and an openness to prosperity, and you conduct yourself in the right Dharmic and Karmic way, you’ll find success on every level, and guess what: financial wealth will be the natural byproduct!The biggest problem with Chopra’s approach? If for some reason you haven’t found the kind of “effortless” success he has, you end up blaming yourself, because for Chopra, it is your own limited thinking that prevents you from obtaining the wealth that is right there for the taking (or the giving, as he would say) if you can only expand your mind and open yourself to the possibilities. If I’ve learned only one thing in my forty years of toil on this planet, it’s that what I just wrote is pure bunk.Chopra doesn’t allow for the possibility that the universe is imperfect and that good people can find themselves in predicaments not of their own making. And while I agree with Chopra that you can be successful in business while conducting yourself with integrity, in my experience, this usually means a harder road with tighter profit margins. There are a lot of skeezy business people out there making pretty darn good money who are not, as far as I can tell, accountable to whatever universal laws Chopra fantasizes about. And when they read his book, I’m sure they pat themselves on the back – another damaging byproduct of this kind of literature. Having said that, I’ve read this book several times and will probably read it again. Taken with a dash of skepticism, there is plenty of wisdom to be had here.
• The book is taken with a big grain of salt by Viki Babbles Gonia, who gives it an honest review on Newsvine.com. The 25 comments that follow her post range from skeptical to sold on Chopra’s “Laws of Success.”

Conclusion
I hope this reference list gives you some options for further study as well as a sense of the context my own book was written in. One thing I did not mention is that many of these books have multiple offshoots, including book sequels, audio books, and intensive study courses, giving you many options for “continuing education” in the areas I have recommended. I’ll also be adding more titles to this list as time permits.

Curious to hear my opinion on a particular business book? Email me – I may well add it to this list.

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

Jon Reed’s Intro: When I wrote Free From Corporate America, I intentionally kept any references and academic-style footnotes out of the text. My goal was to keep the ideas simple and to flow from chapter to chapter. My plan was to use the web site to provide more background on particular chapters as needed. Over time, I hope to add more links from the chapters themselves to other sources of information. For example, the assumption that more white collar work is being outsourced globally is widely accepted, but I hope to link to more studies that explore that assumption.

But for now, what I’d like to do is to share a few of the books that were most influential to my own. Most of the ideas in Free From Corporate America are not unique to me; the only thing that may be original is how I have brought together different perspectives into a methodology that is my own. So, now is the chance to pay tribute to some key influences and also point readers to different resources to further their own thinking.

With that said, here is the second entry in my list of key resources:

Book Title: Your Money or Your Life

Authors: Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

Reason for Selection: Your Money or Your Life is one of the most important books about money ever published. It contrasts strongly against the sloppy thinking of the “do what you love and the money will follow” crowd. As far as I know, this may be the first book that defined wealth in terms of the ability to buy time to pursue happiness, or as this book defines happiness, a purposeful existence in the world. This may sound like a simple distinction, but it’s not. If the purpose of accumulating wealth is to buy time, then each of us have a certain hourly level of money that we need to account for in order to purchase our lives back.

Your Money or Your Life is refreshing in its acknowledgement that many of us are not ever going to turn work into a source of fulfillment, and that pursuing so-called “fulfilling work” can actually be self-defeating, tying us to low-paying, idealistic jobs that don’t further our longer-term dreams. And since the problem of buying time involves both revenues and expenses, this book helps us to make useful assessments of how to lower our expenses in order to reduce our cost of living, thereby empowering us to buy more time with less money.

The other big lightning-bolt-level insight from Your Money or Your Life is that saving dutifully for our retirement, that arbitrary time in the future where we might truly live our dream, is a hugely flawed approach. Authors Dominguez and Robin point out that if your income from investments meets the amount of money you need from your current employment, at that point, you’re at a “crossover” where you can actually focus on any type of pursuit you want, because you’ll have enough cash flow to cover.

The book contains many true stories of people who downshifted their lifestyles, sold off a few heirlooms, and found a way to move into a happier lifestyle sooner rather than later, focused on the work they want to do. Once you have bought your time back, you can spend it however you wish, and that beats working your tail off for some hypothetical retirement any day. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book is its brash willingness to “fall behind” and not bother spending time and money to keep up with the Joneses, which is mocked as a hamster wheel approach to work.

The concepts in this book are sophisticated and not easily summarized; those who are curious should go to the source. I do have some problems with the authors’ methods, however. One bone of contention: even though their “lean and thrifty” mentality is one I can appreciate, it does seem like they are advocating one set of values in their book (think liberal/progressive/green). I am convinced that people who don’t share all of my values can still benefit from my ideas, so in my book, I have attempted to do a better job of separating the two, and, hopefully, not being as heavy-handed, something I also admittedly have some trouble with. I also find the budgeting process advocated in Your Money or Your Life tedious and archaic; the same goals can be achieved through online banking without the fussiness of writing down every pack of chewing gum you buy into a ledger. My book explains how that’s done.

I’m also not crazy about how the authors classify certain things as “assets” that I don’t consider to be assets, and this can affect the all-important calculations of when your crossover point is, so if you’re curious about that key distinction, read the financial chapters in my own book. Another criticism: while being thrifty is an important strategy, the bottom line is that modern life is expensive. I don’t think the authors did nearly enough to focus on the revenue-generating tactics needed to boost income levels, nor are they able to consider the increasing instability of white collar work, a trend that took hold largely after this book was first published in 1992.

Finally, the authors’ obsession with government treasury bonds as the investment vehicle of choice is almost cult-like. Having said that, my own book could not have been written without the theoretical landmark of Your Money or Your Life. I think it’s interesting that the two references that influenced my book the most, Kiyosaki and Dominguez/Robin, serve as kind of a corrective to each other. I suggest reading both.

Related Web Sites and Discussion Threads:

More from the Authors:

• Transforming Your Relationship With Money, Dominguez’s workbook & audio CD course: In 4.75 hours, you’ll walk through Dominguez’s 9-step seminar program that began Your Money or Your Life. The goal is to transform the way you earn, spend and think about money. Comes with a 132-page workbook, and all profits are donated to non-profit organizations.

• Collection of articles by Dominguez and Robin, originally written for and published in Simple Living Journal: This sidebar on Your Money or Your Life‘s web site offers snippets of thoughts from the authors, from light essays that question American values to adaptations of the book’s concepts and excerpts from the authors’ related presentations.

Criticism for the book:

• Philip Brewer on the personal finance blog community Wise Bread, “Book Review: Your Money or Your Life“: Brewer’s review is favorable, though mostly a summary of the book’s points. He touches on the book’s controversial investment advice and responds to readers’ comments about it.

• Trent Hamm’s personal finance blog The Simple Dollar, a 5-part, detailed review: Hamm is candid about his take on the Your Money philosophy: “The book has a lot of New Age-style ‘get in touch with yourself’ sentimentality to it.” But his in-depth review says that’s what sets it apart from other personal finance books. If you’re looking to read the book without reading the book, it’s all here. So are readers’ comments.

What other folks are saying:

• Rob Bennett’s Passion Saving blog: “Why Your Money or Your Life Rocked the World“: Better said, why Your Money or Your Life rocked Bennett’s world (it’s on page 274). He also compares the book’s approach to 7 others: “8 Paths to Financial Independence.”

• The Motley Fool discussion boards: Check out people’s thoughts on personal inflation rates and retiring early as described in Your Money or Your Life. Watch out for a tangent on reusing plastic baggies – er, frugality.

• Early-Retirement.org forum discussion thread, “Retired by 50: What it really takes“: Begun after the MSN Money article with the same title, readers offer their own experiences with the advice in Your Money or Your Life as well as links to other reviews not listed here.

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

Note: Editor Jennifer Gabrielle assisted with the compilation and write up of these book references.

Jon Reed’s Intro: When I wrote Free From Corporate America, I intentionally kept any references and academic-style footnotes out of the text. My goal was to keep the ideas simple and to flow from chapter to chapter. My plan was to use the web site to provide more background on particular chapters as needed. Over time, I hope to add more links from the chapters themselves to other sources of information. For example, the assumption that more white collar work is being outsourced globally is widely accepted, but I hope to link to more studies that explore that assumption.

But for now, what I’d like to do is to share a few of the books that were most influential to my own. Many of the ideas in Free From Corporate America are not unique to me. One thing that I hope is original is how I have brought together a range of perspectives into a methodology that is my own. So, now is the chance to pay tribute to some key influences and also point readers to different resources to further their own thinking.

With that said, here is the first entry in my list of key resources, which I’ll be adding to in the future:

Book Title: The Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book Series

Author: Robert Kiyosaki

Reason for Selection: The Robert Kiyosaki books have been criticized for being too simplistic, and perhaps dangerously so. I don’t see it that way, though I think it’s important to combine Kiyosaki’s books with other perspectives that provide balance. However, Kiyosaki’s primary distinction between working as an employee versus working as an owner, and why it’s important to create assets that generate income, have never been more effectively explained. And if you get the companion books to the original, you can get deeper into the explanations that support his theories. I do have some other criticisms of Kiyosaki’s work. I always felt his definition of what constituted an asset was too narrow, for example. I suppose you could say I wrote my book because I felt that Kiyosaki left some important topics untouched. In some ways, I find his thinking limited, or perhaps narrowly focused on the acquisition of wealth without acknowledging  of the pitfalls of such a narrow approach – especially when many approaches to wealth acquisition are, if not morally bankrupt, at least shallow. His concepts, however, are powerful, and can be applied to a context broader or different than the one he lays out.

Related Web Sites and Discussion Threads:

More from Kiyosaki:

• Kiyosaki’s Yahoo! Finance column, “Why the Rich Get Richer”: If his books aren’t enough, you can catch Kiyosaki’s financial solutions and advice on Yahoo! every other Tuesday. While everyone else is busy criticizing, you can read what he has to say and decide for yourself.

• Kiyosaki on YouTube: See Kiyosaki in action, explaining the basic concepts of why it’s better to be the boss than an employee. Warning: this is framed by an admittedly cheesy soundtrack and setting, so don’t be surprised when Kiyosaki parcels out his nuggets of wisdom from an armchair in front of a roaring fire.

Criticism for the book:

• John T. Reed, real-estate investor and writer: This is apparently the scathing review to read, since it’s mentioned so often in other reviews as the most acridly critical of Kiyosaki’s advice.

• Rob Walker on Slate.com, “If I Were a Rich Dad”: A less scathing review, Walker points to reasons why the book has managed to become so popular despite its contested advice.

What other folks are saying:

• N. Gifford’s “Bring the Cash Flow” blog entry, “John T. Reed vs. Robert Kyosaki”: Check out Gifford’s post and readers’ comments to see what others have to say on the topic. (Hint: it’s somewhere between the two.)

• Personal finance blog “Get Rich Slowly”: This entry offers readers the opportunity to ask Kiyosaki their questions. You’ll find a range of lovers and haters alike.

• MSN Money message board thread, “Is Kiyosaki a hoax? Is he helping or hurting people?”: Over 300 people responded to this thread, offering a variety of interesting points on the topic.

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

Jon Reed notes: As “Free From Corporate America” gets closer to publication, it’s a great time to share some of the late-arriving material. I’m pleased to have the chance to share this book foreword from Rachel Meyers, my co-author from Resumes from Hell. This is not an easy book to sum up – Rachel put forth a stellar effort to capture the key themes of the book and her experience as a reader. What follows is the foreword as it is now, in its near-final state. Keep in mind that Rachel is referring to a final draft of the book that is about five rewrites beyond the versions you can read on this site. But even the raw versions of the chapters I’ve already posted should give you a good idea of the themes Rachel is referring to.

If you want to be told “do what you love and the money will follow,” put this book down immediately. Building a life that integrates passion and financial intelligence requires unflinching honesty, tough choices, and a creative approach to your career. Dogged belief in a simplistic motto won’t get you there. What follows is “Free from Corporate America,” Jon Reed’s tactical guide to moving beyond dependence on the corporate world. One way to think of this book is as a life preserver for 9-to-5ers in peril.

So why are 9-to-5ers in peril? Because as Jon and others have noted, “the corporate contract is broken.” The new reality of the American worker is that pension funds are shaky, jobs are being outsourced overseas, and “the company” no longer has our best interests in mind. We are all “free agents,” and it’s time we start behaving accordingly.

Conventional wisdom is that we’re too busy working to achieve financial freedom and pursue our dreams. But if you’re beholden to a paycheck, every last ounce of time and energy will be spent trying to please your boss, make ends meet, or both. Days will turn into months, months will turn into years, and you’ll turn into a different person than you wanted to be.

Many people accept that tradeoff because they assume that retirement will afford them the opportunity to pursue their interests, whether it’s write a novel, travel to exotic places, or learn to speak Spanish. But what if you haven’t saved enough to retire comfortably? What if you aren’t healthy when you get there? And what are we supposed to feel passionately about in the meantime?

“Free from Corporate America” is about integrating the pursuit of dreams into your current life. Jon provides an actual game plan for re-inventing our careers and pursuing our passions now.

Acutely aware of the shortcomings of the scrimping and saving mentality, Jon provides a tactical plan for (1) building an economic foundation comprised of your own assets, and (2) integrating dream-chasing into your daily life. The subtitle of this book sums it up: it’s all about success on your own terms.

To get us there, Jon will introduce a number of fresh concepts:

- The redefinition of the word “asset” to include creative projects that could lead to income streams, and to exclude “false assets,” such as homes that we are emotionally attached to and cars that offer more pleasure than value.

- “Stealing time” from your day-to-day life to ensure that you are building your own assets, and not just assets for your employer and debts for your creditors.

- Jon’s “Law of Accumulation” that cuts both ways: what you focus on is what you will become. Spend a few hours each week on your own asset, and you’ve got something that could lead to financial self-sufficiency; spend a few hours each weekend pulling weeds, and you’ve become a de facto crabgrass aficionado.

- The “feedback loop” that will gauge marketplace demand for your asset, and ultimately mitigate risk.

- Getting in touch with your inner salesperson, whether or not you think you’ve got one or need one.

- “Personal branding” that puts your career ahead of your employer.

- “Barriers to entry” that are both obstacles to our dreams, and tools we can use to keep the competition at bay once we’ve entered a marketplace.

- Getting through “lag time,” that stomach-churning, doubt-filled period between creating an asset and reaping its rewards.

- How to borrow “balance sheets” and other financial statements primarily used by businesses, and use them to take your own financial snapshot, assess the viability of assets you’ve created, and benchmark your progress over the years.

Jon learned these concepts the hard way. He wrote this book in response to all the bad ideas he accumulated over the years, much of which came from institutions that were supposedly charged with “educating” him. This, too, is something most of us can relate to: family “advice” that backfired, degrees that proved either irrelevant or inadequate, and employers that reaped the benefit of our work ethic but had a pink slip waiting for us.

When I first met Jon Reed eleven years ago, he was a rising star in the dot-com boom. He had built a lucrative niche in the world of SAP as a career counselor and market analyst. He was well on his way to an early retirement, when he would finally begin the process of fulfilling his dreams. Like many of us who were riding high in the dotcom glory days, there were a few bumps in the road ahead for Jon – not the least of which would be the realization that postponing his creative life came at a high personal cost.

After the dot-com bust, Jon found himself self-employed, but facing similar challenges. This time, he was beholden to his clients instead of an employer. It was an improvement, but something was still missing. What he lacked was a methodology for achieving financial autonomy that integrated his passions into his daily life. Thus began Jon’s journey into asset creation. For him, this included real estate, screenplays, and books, though he analyzed many other asset development paths as well.

Those of you who follow Robert Kiyosaki and his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books will recall that Kiyosaki touches on similar themes, in terms of creating income-generating assets, and the need to shift from an employee’s mentality to an owner’s mentality. Kiyosaki addresses his readers from atop the mountain of professional and financial success.

“Free from Corporate America” comes from Jon’s significantly different perspective, halfway up an altogether different kind of mountain. It’s a climb that has exacted a cost, but has also afforded Jon the opportunity to analyze paths of ascension and identify the secrets of those who succeeded and those who failed in their attempts.

Jon wants us to learn from the mistakes he and others have made along the way: debt he acquired for the wrong reasons, feeling a sense of ownership of businesses he did not own, and back-burnering dreams for too long – dreams that contained important clues about a way forward that combined passion and marketability.

Jon took a different route for a reason: he wanted to chart out another kind of success, one that would allow us to define our own terms of engagement with the corporate world. Jon also wanted to see if the narrow definition of “assets” some books endorse could be expanded to include a more creative view of the kinds of assets you can cultivate and the kind of life you can construct around those assets.

After all, what is the use of becoming rich if you never feel any freer? And what is the point of accumulating wealth if doing so requires you to sign over your time, your values, and in some cases, your physical health in exchange for too many years in a cube?

The result is “Free from Corporate America.” Yes, integrating your dreams into your daily life is an ambitious task, but Jon has a plan. This does not necessarily mean quitting your day job and starting your own business. The “Free from Corporate America” methodology is about developing a new mindset about your relationship to work, time, and your dreams, and wresting your fate from the Enrons (and future Enrons) of the world. And it’s also about having a shoulder to lean on when the going gets tough.

This is one of those rare books on success where the author openly acknowledges his own defects and flaws. It comes as a bit of shock, perhaps, that Jon does not minimize the adversity we will face and the odds we may (or may not) overcome. Jon doesn’t romanticize our chances, but he gives us something better than happy talk: a strategy that is strong enough for life as it really is.

“Free from Corporate America” is an entertaining read, but not necessarily a comfortable one. It may even make you squirm. There will be a direct correlation between how much you are squirming and how much work you need to do. You’ll know you have already mastered a concept when you breeze through a chapter. You’ll know you have room for improvement when you trip on a sentence, re-read, and feel a little shaken. Jon’s goal is not to scare us into quitting our day jobs and selling our stamp collections, but he does want to inspire us into action.

This is a book for people like me who lie awake at night, dwelling on our financial future and dreams postponed, which is to say, 99% of the people I know. Whether you are an artist, an executive, or a stay-at-home mother, there is a “Free from Corporate America” concept you can integrate into your life today.

Rachel Meyers
Co-Author, Resumes from Hell
Westhampton, MA

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

With each passing birthday, I am struck by the gaps between the life I had once envisioned and the life I am living. This had led me to attempt a better definition of success than the one I had before.

At one point, I viewed “success” primarily in terms of material accomplishments, or trophies of various kinds I could point to in my life as a sign that I was successful.

But I’ve now realized that I need a different version of success – one that fits my life every day, no matter how that day turns out. One that gives me a strong internal compass through life’s twists and turns, without bashing myself when things don’t go my way.

I realized I needed to consciously redefine success and give myself something to aspire to that is more closely tied to what I truly admire in other people and try to foster in myself.

What I came up with was a list of characteristics I could try to cultivate no matter what was going on in my life or how difficult certain periods had become. Ironically enough, some of the things on the following list, such as “has line in sand (can’t be bought for a price)” actually, in some cases, openly conflict with a path towards an easier and more conventional success. Those are not easy dilemmas.

So it may be possible that aspiring to “true success” actually makes other “less true” forms of success more difficult to come by. Maybe that would explain why it’s so difficult to find success on all the levels we seek. We hear all the time about celebrities who are having massive personal struggles despite the superficial “success” they have achieved.

One thing I really go after in my book is the polarized and inaccurate cliches about success that you run into. There is still a widespread belief that any kind of significant professional success involves some level of corruption. I also run into a lot of people who think that there is no way to achieve financial success without undue compromise. If only there were such an easy rationalization for our shortcomings.

The truth is that you can find success on your own terms, but it’s a much tougher accomplishment than setting out to make money no matter what compromises that may entail.

With my book almost complete, I have decided to add this kind of content to this web site until the book is out. I wanted to share this list because I personally find too many people worry about being nice, fitting in, and pursuing a much more conventional form of success than would truly suit them. So maybe there are others who believe that life is about pushing the envelope and not just being nice and behaving well, but aggressively pursuing a path to unleash their best selves into this messed-up world.

What I found after doing this list is that it’s way more personal than I was expecting, so much so that I held off on publishing it for a pretty long time.

So, in a strange way, this list has become the most personal thing on this site. I hope it is not too generic and that you find it thought-provoking. I tried to keep the list as concise as possible by focusing only on the most important aspects. Please email me your feedback.

“Characteristics of True Success” List

• fierce and passionate conviction
• has line in sand (can’t be bought for a price)
• dedicated to self-care and emotional/physical well-being
• working towards biggest dreams, dreams still alive in head and heart
• clear and deep self-knowledge
• lifelong commitment to self-education
• opportunist, able to listen and adapt to possibilities of moment instead of just imposing agenda
• makes most of time and opportunities given
• has faced demons and openly confronted self-destructive and self-sabotaging impulses
• has struck balance between internal work and external accomplishments
• compassionate and truthful self-acceptance
• has reckoned with any damage of the past and is on course of self-improvement
• has something to fight for and protect
• is aggressively loving and caretaking of those around them
• understands generosity of spirit is returned in kind
• sees bigger picture of world while working towards personal passion
• has not given up on pursuing unique talents and manifesting them in the worldÂ
• has creative approach to shaping their own life
• has spiritual self-acceptance and peace of mind about the limits of their own willpower
• has a spark in their eyes and does not give up in the face of adversity
• will walk through fire for the people in life they have committed to – does not get spread too thin
• stands for things that are worth living and dying for
• consistent: is able to be there for others consistently despite their own ups and downs
• treats everyone they encounter well, as opposed to offering different personas to people based on what they need from them

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.

Earlier in this book, we talked about the goal of being the best in the world at whatever it is you do. It’s a key objective for anyone who wants to move freely in and out of corporate circles. When you are the best, or at least in the top tier, you can operate in the business world from a position of strength.

But here’s the catch: you want to have some competition. If you’re the only person in the world who is good at what you do, chances are there isn’t much of a marketplace for your services. I joke about being one of the best in the world at writing about forgotten hair bands; no one is knocking on my door about that. The best businesses attract competition because their market is attractive. I would go so far as to say that if you have no aspiring competition, there’s a problem with your business model.

To a point, competition is a good thing – a sign that whatever you do has a quantifiable market. On the other hand, you don’t want to make it easy for competitors to move in and do what you do. You want your specialty to be perceived as attractive, but to remain a little beyond the reach of those who want a piece of it. You do this by creating “barriers to entry.” Corporate America is incredibly good at that. Large companies are well versed at locking smaller entities out through exclusives that no one else can breach.

One remote-tossing example is Direct TV’s role as the sole provider of the NFL Sunday Ticket. How many football fans have switched from cable to satellite because they had no access to games they wanted? This must drive the cable companies nuts – I know it drives me nuts – but all cable can do is lose football fans until the NFL’s contract with Direct TV expires. Sure, Comcast can tell their customers that “we have a bunch of obscure college football games every weekend,” but for fans of the NFL, those games are an inferior product.

The level playing field is a myth. You’ve earned your market share. No way are you going to expose it to another business in search of green pastures. This is why it’s better to master the rules of the game than to sit on the sidelines resenting the corporate entities that apply these rules to their advantage. To an extent, we can serve up the same medicine.

There are five barriers to entry that we can take advantage of: innovation, exclusivity, patent, reputation, and location. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Innovation is the most subtle of the barriers to entry. Innovation is important because most companies are better at copying an effective strategy than developing their own. That’s why most people who stay ahead of the corporate game are natural innovators. Instead of resting on the revenues of their accomplishments, they are always tweaking and improving. Not because they are obsessive – well, maybe they are – but because they have a passion for what they do and a desire to excel. That means committing to a continuous state of improvement and re-invention. Innovation is a great tactic for those of us who are looking to free ourselves from corporate structures.

Corporations pay big lip service to innovation – just turn on a TV and you’ll see plenty of commercials that trumpet corporate innovation – but the fact is that larger companies, by definition, move more slowly than smaller ones. Companies are not unlike ships. Yachts might be more comfortable, and they can certainly serve more passengers, but they can’t change direction as fast as a little dingy. Dingies can get caught in the wake of a big ship, but if you stay ahead of the weather, it’s not so bad being small and maneuverable.

Innovation is a valuable practice, but it’s even more effective in conjunction with other tactics. We’ve already talked about exclusivity; there are few business tools more powerful than exclusive relationships. New businesses typically have trouble getting clients to agree to “exclusive provider” relationships, but as your business relationships deepen and you gain a track record, asking for an exclusive relationship can be an important step. Sometimes incentives are given to the other party in exchange for granting the exclusive, other times, the value of the exclusive is in knowing that they only have to turn to you for their needs and don’t have to waste time fielding inquiries from other firms.

Exclusives can be applied to almost any field, and the definition of an exclusive can be expanded to include any form of creative control. For example, a small publishing company might sign a deal with an author that grants them exclusive rights or “first options” on any film rights or subsequent editions of the book title. In the headhunting field, it is common to obtain an exclusive with a hiring manager for certain kinds of openings. This kind of relationship improves your chances of closing deals significantly. Whenever we are pursuing our business interests, we should be on the lookout opportunities to deepen our business relationships through some sort of exclusive terms.

Patents are another excellent barrier to entry, and when we use the term “patents” here, we’re talking about all forms of copyrighting and control over inventions and other creative products. In some cases, control over these products falls automatically to the creator, but in others, you need to file the paperwork in order to claim that work yourself. I have known technical consultants who were able obtain ownership of work they performed as an employee that their employer was not interested in owning. Some of these folks are now doing very well selling their own product.

If you dig into the history of the biggest software companies in the world, some of the founders did the same thing, either purchasing the original software after developing it, or building it on the side and owning it from the beginning. Patents and copyrights are powerful because you don’t necessarily have to build a business and marketing engine around them in order to benefit.

In some cases, such as a songwriter who has written a winning track, you don’t have any further work to do, except wait for the checks to come in each time your invention or creative work is used in a commercial or in some kind of work context. And the best thing of all: your competitors can’t use or mimic your inventions without getting an intimidating letter from your lawyer.

Reputation is another barrier to entry. Think of reputation as an extension of the branding concept. If you have a good reputation in a particular market, that means that the repetition of your marketing efforts have paid off – you now have an inherent “name recognition” advantage over competitors. Other companies might try to tap into your market, but you are the one that your market knows and trusts.

In some fields, the “trust factor” can play a defining role in sales. Reputation has an impact in subtle ways also, including word-of-mouth referrals. Once I did some marketing for a band in search of a major record deal. I got the most interest from executives who had heard of the band from previous albums and promotions. Reputation played a big role in the relative “warmth” of the cold calls.

The final barrier to entry is location. We can all appreciate the power of location, whether it’s the mega-Walmart sitting on top of a town we drive through on the way to work, or a restaurant that’s nabbed the busiest corner of a major intersection. But we can expand the term “location” to apply to virtual locations as well, including preferred web site destinations and even the order web site comes up on search engines. Anytime you can get a corner on a popular location, you’ve simultaneously helped your chances and made it that much harder for someone else to copy you.

Let’s look at how these concepts apply to my own market position. In the SAP field, I am known as the “SAP career expert.” Others have tried to move into this turf over the years. To be fair, it’s not the most coveted niche in the business world. But it has been a real asset to me in terms of professional opportunities and book sales. The fact that I have done this for upwards of ten years carries some weight. There is definitely name recognition there, which fits into reputation.

I have copyright/patent power in my first SAP book and the second one I am wrapping up now. I have exclusivity in my role as the career expert on one of the most frequented sites for SAP professionals. In terms of innovation, my new SAP web site will be a “Web 2.0″ kind of site with a daily career blog and podcasts. I have some useful online locations that come into play also, one example being that for the last two years, my SAP consulting book has appeared in the top five results on Amazon when the term “SAP” is typed in.

So when you look at my market niche, all of the main barriers to entry come into play. It doesn’t mean that other people can’t make money in my areas of specialization – in fact, some do, and that is mostly a good thing, though I do have to keep a wary eye on the competition from time to time. In the SAP arena, the efforts I have made to make it tougher for others to duplicate what I do have definitely paid off. I doubt it is a coincidence that I have had more success in this area than in my other so-called market niches where my barriers to entry are not nearly as comprehensive.

For some readers, the idea of constructing barriers to entry might seem like a hardcore tactic better suited for big businesses. But there is a ruthlessness to good business that cannot be denied. Big business tactics work for a reason. No, we don’t have to endorse ugly monopolistic practices or use them to bludgeon our competition.

Some business practices may be legal, but they just feel wrong. We should all draw lines that we can live with. The tactics I have described here are generally fair as long as they are fairly used. More often than not, we are the only ones looking out for our own interests. Knowing how to do that can make the difference between long term prosperity and an all-too-brief glimpse of the top.

Want to buy Free From Corporate America or see reviews of the final published version from readers like yourself? The printed book is now available on Amazon.com with product reviews.

You can also get a discounted version of the final book in eBook (PDF) format, or you can pick up a copy on the Kindle. The published version of the book is significantly enhanced from the web version available on this site.