How This Kid Managed to Quit His Job and Start a Small Business After Reading These 5 Books
If you’re interested in personal development, success or how to make money, you’ve probably read a lot of those “rags to riches” stories.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against them.
My problem with them is that:
- They’re often not true;
- They present an ideal situation to convince you to buy a course.
So how does this article win a price?
First, I’m not a millionaire. I don’t drive a Lamborghini and I don’t own a yacht and a penthouse.
What I did manage to achieve though, is to:
- Quit the 9 to 5 race;
- Achieve a decent financial independence;
- And build a location independent small business (while having a fulltime job)
How?
Well, I used a magic pill called “A lot of Work™.
I’ve read a lot of books. I’ve watched hundreds of hours of videos. I went to events. And I tried to put into action most of the things I’ve read.
But what I want to tell you about is how these 5 books completely changed my life.
They’ve taught me how to:
- Have the same mindset 99% of billionaires have
- Persuade almost anyone, from customers to friends and family
- Double my productivity
- Start a small business even if I had a 9 to 5 job
- Always keep my motivation levels high and feel happy and good about myself (even during hard times)
And now I want to share with you some key lessons from each book and (I hope) convince you to read them too.
They’ve opened a whole new world for me and I’m 100% sure that will change your life too.
But there’s something more.
Theory is great. But practice is what kills us, right?
So I want to show you some actionable examples of how I applied each lesson to get new clients, to quit my job etc.
You’ll even find some useful templates you can steal and adapt for your own life or business.
So let’s dive right in.
The 5 Books That Changed My Career Trajectory
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
Do you dream of becoming your own boss one day? Do you want to have multiple income streams and learn how billionaires think?
You should start with Rich Dad Poor Dad.
What’s so special about it?
It’s about something people don’t realize.
Getting rich isn’t just about information. If it were, everyone would be fit and healthy, right?
After all, everybody knows what you need to do to stay fit and healthy, right? A simple Google search will give us all we need.
What is it then?
It’s the mindset. Successful people have a different attitude about money.
Here are some key lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad:
Work to learn. Don’t work for money
Most people try to go where they think the money is.
I used to do this too. Until I’ve heard Kiyosaki’s version too.
He says that rich people first decide what is the person they want to become and then work to learn the skills they need become that way.
If you want to become an NBA star, you don’t go to work in a financial corporation just because that’s where you earn the most money as quick as possible.
When I first read about this, I didn’t have a goal. Nor I knew how to set them up properly.
So I started thinking what would the perfect life or the perfect job be for me.
Of course, I tried not to go wild and dream about yachts and so on.
It was far from perfect, but it’s better than not having any, right?
Next, I tried to figure out what do almost all entrepreneurs have in common.
One thing: they all know how to sell. Sell themselves, sell products, sell services, it doesn’t matter. They know how to influence people in some way.
But I didn’t stop here.
I thought to myself: “What’s the number one skill that can help me in any area of my life – from selling stuff to getting a better-paid job or even get a girl’s number?”
The common answer I found for anything was: communication and persuasion.
So I said to myself “What the heck. If this guy is a millionaire, he must know something, right?”
So I didn’t wait much and I got an unpaid internship at a marketing company because I thought this is a great way to learn how to influence people.
And I’m glad I did! Because today I use the same skills to start and work for my own company.
You see, the free work paid off because it was just a step to achieve my goal.
Spend money on assets, not on liabilities
Did you notice this?
Probably 90% of people work hard, 8 hours a day to make a living. With that money they buy stuff expensive stuff, a lot of times just to keep up with the Joneses – a bigger car, a bigger house, a big TV etc.
Then they have to work even harder to pay for all the new stuff. And they just get caught up in this hamster wheel.
You know what rich people do?
Quite the opposite. They invest in things that make them money. Like renting an apartment. investing in a new business, buying stock or else.
Here’s how I tried to apply this lesson:
As a student, I had around $1000 in savings, money earned mainly from my scholarship. At that time I was in a dog lovers Facebook group.
I used the money to buy the group and I started selling dog clothes to that existing community.
You see, it’s not about the money I made. Because I didn’t buy a yacht from that gig.
It’s the mentality stuck with me to this day.
Now instead of investing all my money in a luxurious car, for example, I reinvest the money to grow the business and get more clients.
Then I can buy the car or whatever, without having to work my ass off to pay for it.
Be the dumbest person in the room
If you observe people who have a lot of money, you’ll notice something very interesting:
They all have rich friends. Actually richer friends.
And this is common sense.
If you want to start a business, hang out with people who already own one. You’re not going to learn how to run a business from people who don’t own one, right?
So start making friends that can teach you something. Friends that can help you grow in the direction you want to grow.
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends and Influence People is gold.
You’ll find some principles that can help you in any area of your life, from making more money to becoming the most popular guy in any party/event/conference or influencing people.
Here are some key takeaways:
Never criticize, condemn or complain.
Nobody likes being criticized, right? Even if the other person is right, we still hate it.
So why do something people will resent you for it? Why should you put people on the defense mode by condemning them?
Here’s a better alternative.
I used this tactic when colleagues at work did something I didn’t agree with.
Step #1:
I tried to put myself in the other person’s shoes and even come up with an excuse for them.
“I should forgive him or her for this because …” and I ended up this sentence with an open mind.
Step #2:
Then I began by letting the other person know that I understand them.
“Hey, John, I noticed you [insert what he did wrong]. I guess it was probably because [insert some excuse they would tell themselves].
Step #3:
Next, I suggested a way of improvement.
“Here’s an alternative how we could improve this.”
Did you notice the difference?
It’s not me vs. him anymore. It’s we. And we don’t try to fix something bad, but we try to improve something.
Here’s another example. This is an email I sent to one of my designers I work with: