Book Review: Making a Living Without a Job

When I was stuck in an office building, looking out at the blue sky, wishing I were free to come and go as I please, I often dreamed of being self-employed again. One of my biggest inspirations was this book by Barbara J. Winter.

She subtitled the book "Winning ways for creating work that you love." In the first chapter of the book Barbara makes the observation that everyone used to be self-employed, until the Industrial Revolution took hold and people started moving from farm to factory. Then she tells the story of how she launched herself into the world of the self-employed. Barbara adds some really helpful lists of questions to get you thinking about what kind of work you might like to do, and she really helps you understand how your life will change and what new thoughts and experiences you will have as a self-employed person.

One of the strong points of the book is that Barbara uses lots of real-life examples of people who have made the move to self-employment. I'm not talking about lots of "rags-to-riches" stories, but stories of people you can identify with.

Barbara really stresses that you should do what you love, what you are passionate about. And, she helps you figure out what that might be. There are so many different ways to make a living, and Barbara does a great job of giving examples and opening up your mind to the possibilities. Most of the business ideas she talks about don't require much in the way of start-up money or a lot of know-how.

One of my favorite chapters is "Overcoming the Obstacles." There are many things that stand in the way of us taking that leap to the self-employed life. This chapter's sub-headings reveal the most difficult obstacles we encounter:

• You Get Erroneous Advice From People Whom You Care About


• You're Afraid To Try Something You've Never Done


• You Don't Believe You Can Make Money by Having Fun


• Your Ego is in the Way


• You Have Too Much Money or Current Comfort


• You're Stopped by Not Knowing How

Barbara is a proponent of creating "multiple profit centers." The idea is that you can have more than one profit-making activity in your life. For instance, after I quit my job with the accounting firm, I taught salsa dance group lessons and private lessons, prepared tax returns and did accounting work, and did contract writing work and paid blogging.

Eventually what happened is that the tax/accounting and writing/blogging gradually became much more profitable and I phased out the dance instruction. It's hard to juggle multiple businesses for a long period of time.

In Chapter 8, Considering the Possibilities, Barbara goes over the advantages and disadvantages of providing personal services, selling information, landlording and leasing, mail order, and selling a product.

Overall, this is THE most inspirational book on becoming self-employed that I've ever read. But it is not just inspirational, it is filled with real-life examples and practical advice that will pay for the book many, many times over. In fact, when I bought the book, I already had over 10 years of experience being self-employed, although it had been a number of years prior. I learned a lot.

This book is one of the most tattered and worn on my bookshelf because I carried it everywhere I went for years and read and re-read it. Even now I still find it inspirational and practical.

Barbara has a great website for the joyfully jobless!