The Mindful Entrepreneur: How to rapidly grow your business while staying sane, focused and fulfilled

If you've read "E-myth" or "Built to Sell," you'll want to read "The Mindful Entrepreneur." This book is like an additional compendium book to those best-sellers; it fills the gap so they finally make sense.Both those books discuss the purposeful organization of the business. "The Mindful Entrepreneur" talks about this, but also discusses personal mindfulness and how it relates to owning a business."First of all, your business isn't a separate part of your life; it's part of an integrated whole."I absolutely agree with this sentence from the book. My mentor hammered this lesson into me time after time. "It's just a business" is an ugly myth. The string of broken marriages, nervous breakdowns and suicides caused by entrepreneurial pressure is long and widely publicized. It's not just business. It's your life and Joel Greschman makes an amazing job of explaining how you can integrate your business in your life and your personality into your business.A Single Fly in the OintmentThe only tiny weakness in this super book is that there is too much "sugar" in it. At least, that was my impression. The turnaround that Howard, the main character, experienced was so rapid and complete that it seemed he really didn't struggle. His home life seemed almost idyllic. Everyone supported him and every improvement he tried to bring home was instantly accepted and made everyone at home happy.But maybe Howard's life is just sweet? I don't know.All the GoodnessI can't properly highlight all the great features of this book. It's just too awesome! I can only hope that a few things I describe will attract you to the book and you read it and enjoy all its facets.1. Fiction Story that Works.This book is a masterpiece. I've read hundreds of business and personal development books and not a single one came even close to this level of mingling the story with actionable steps.For example, I read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and I hated its guts! The story was captivating and fascinating, the main theme was significant, but Kiyosaki ruined everything for me when I discovered that it was a fake story. A real life story of such degree of impact would have been incredible. The fiction story was just that, fiction.I felt the same when I read any other business/ personal development books which tried to use a fiction story to illustrate the main point. Sometimes authors used real cases in their books. 90% of the time it felt clumsy, sometimes downright embarrassing.In "The Mindful Entrepreneur" Joel uses a real story and it really reads like a fiction book. You'll want to flip the pages and find out how the story unfolds.At the same time, the book is packed with resources, methods, big picture concepts and practical techniques that break the story into very manageable pieces and illustrate how to use them in real life.This is the perfect mishmash of a story and charts, diagrams, detailed lists and action steps.2. Mindfulness.Life and business go hand in hand, but this simple fact eludes most of entrepreneurs. A business plan, systems and processes are not enough to move your business forward, if you are anxious and afraid of the future.Fixing your business is half the work. You also need to fix yourself and Joel tell you exactly how, in the same way he explains how you should improve your business: methodically and continually.It's so refreshing to see the same methodical approach applied to both life and business side of things. When the author of "The Mindful Entrepreneur" advises how to notice and correct your faulty thinking, he doesn't stop at a pep talk. You get step by step action plans, detailed and applicable in the same way the book provides business advice. Those mindfulness techniques are also included in the storyline, so you can relate to them better. You see another human being struggling with the same demons you struggle with and how he face them and win them.3. Habits.One additional point about the mindfulness techniques Joel teaches in the book that I love: they all come down to a regular practice. You cannot change, if your habits won't change. It's not enough to check yourself once when stupid and dark thoughts attack you. You need disciplines and rituals to overcome them.I'm a habit coach, so I appreciate the approach illustrated in "The Mindful Entrepreneur" very much. Whatever you try to incorporate into your life to improve yourself, you need to do it regularly. This applies to your physical health as well as to your mental and emotional health.4. Resources.I'm very impressed by the way the author presents all this awesome advice. It's all actionable, put in a sensible order, clear and concise. "The Mindful Entrepreneur" is filled with diagrams and tables that illustrate the relevant points. You don't need to guess or look for explanations in external sources. Everything is one place and makes sense.I started by mentioning "E-myth" and "Built to Sell;" I read those books and I think "The Mindful Entrepreneur" is better than them when it comes to implementation. You simply can't go wrong following the book's guidelines. You won't be confused or lost on what to do next. This is awesome!5. Solid Business Advice.Joel starts with the mission and vision for the business. It's a different way of thinking for entrepreneurs when it comes to their day to day business activities. Businessmen care about the bottom line, not about visions!Yet, it's the best advice a small business owner can get. Companies that have a mission, vision and values incorporated into their daily functioning outrank their competition by over 10 times.When you know your why, you will figure out your how and what without problem. It applies to personal life as well as to professional life.And it's just a single example out of dozens. "The Mindful Entrepreneur" does it all the time. It teaches the right things in the right order, so you can stop putting out fires in your business and actually start enjoying being an entrepreneur.6. Timespan.Another thing I loved about this book is how it deals with the overnight success myth. It took Howard well over a year to fix his business. There are no magic potions that will change everything in your business next week.What'smore, Howard's business functioned in the market for 10 years before he met Joel. He capitalized on his whole rich experience, he didn't create something from nothing. Because he had a business that worked for years, he could improve it.This book is a gem. I can give you one more reference - "Work the System" by Sam Carpenter. Both books tell a story and teach how to convert a business from a chaotic endeavor into a profitable and reliable one.Only Joel Greschman does it in 5 times less words. Don't get me wrong, Sam's story is still a powerful testimonial of the ordering power of systems. It can inspire you. But "The Mindful Entrepreneur" provides the tools you need to morph this inspiration into actionable steps.If you apply what this book tells you, you won't be an overnight success, but you will be a success.It's flatly impossible to list all the good points about this book. My final piece of advice is: if you already have business, read this book to find out how to make it better; if you don't have one, read it for the inspiring story.

I approached Howard’s story as a lecture, stopping after every chapter to reflect on what was written and how my feelings and thoughts were affected by what I read. Almost like a mindfulness exercise in itself. This approach helped me to get down to the root of the book, and the problems I faced in my own business. It made me realize my own mindfulness blocks and what I need to do to get things moving. I was surprised to see how much of Howard I noticed in myself, and how many of the same challenges that Howard experienced, I am facing in my own business. I have already implemented many of the practical steps from the book in my business, and I must admit I am a bit surprised at how quickly I am seeing results. I am actually quite excited to work more on my business and not just in my business. What I really appreciate about Gerschman as an author is that he takes information that is vital to a well run business and presents it in a practical, meaningful way that is immediately and easily applicable, even for busy harried CEOs like me. The payoff is immediate, and therefore it is self-motivating to keep implementing more of the practical steps. Thank you for giving me back a large chunk of my life and sanity!

Hallelujah! Finally, a book that differentiates itself from the usual ho-hum self help business books out on the shelves. Truth is, the title looked interesting enough (Mindful is quite the word these days) but I wasn't sure I could gain from reading ANOTHER business book of how the author succeeded and I THE READER ,obviously yet had not despite having read other books like this before.! ...But here I was wrong as it is off the beaten path and different from other books in its genre!. It takes off quickly and soon enough I was hooked. I was intrigued to discover that I loved careening wildly down the path of Howard's slippery slope of a journey as he almost burns and crashes...and then gets back up again to watch his business grow and inner life flourish. The insights were real, and valuable (thank you Howard for baring your soul) and his simultaneous juggling the balls of business and family without losing his mind were enlightening . The colleagues he consulted with during the roller coaster of change to keep the business afloat, provided, high level, practical tidbits I could grasp without needing the handy MBA calculator, ensuring a smooth, uplifting and enjoyable read. DON'T MISS IT!!!

I look forward to implementing the strategies to find my purpose, and that of the business I'm in. I see what value the advice in this book can bring to a seat-of-your-pants style run business, to make it one with systems, predictable cash flow and an outlook for the future, not just day-to-day survival.While I'll not follow the mindfulness principals, the concepts touched on, reminded me to take more from the meditation method I'm already familiar with, to develop my self-awareness. So I still appreciate how this book looks to integrate personal well-being, with business growth.

This is a nonfiction business book, but it reads more like a story. Joel will take you through his journey of working with one of his clients, Howard Finger, using heavy dialog. It's as if you're a fly on the wall, watching the action unfold and eavesdropping on the conversation. The result is an engaging book that gets into the nitty-gritty details of how to successfully run a business.The title explains the theory behind Joel's methods. He mixes standard business practices with mindfulness techniques to ensure your actions are aligned with your goals and that you won't get overwhelmed or burnt out while making progress toward the outcomes you seek. I'd recommend this book to anyone running their own business. It will help you both from a tactical perspective--AND in terms of your overall mindset. Great read!