If you’re thinking about becoming a self-employed freelance writer, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

Certain authorities on the subject will describe and exaggerate the positives – working the hours you choose, working from home, working in your pyjamas, working on assignments you prefer – without filling you in on the negatives. And make no mistake about it: there are plenty of them.

It takes a particular type of individual to spend the whole day working in isolation. Many have tried and failed, simply because they require the company of others. They need to be in the presence of other people, to have someone else to talk to, to debate ideas with, to give them encouragement or just to tell them what to do.

Freelancers can work at a pace that suits them, can take breaks whenever they want to, can enjoy walks or drives in the country when time and weather permit. But most freelancers have to work hard to earn enough to get by, and they can’t do that if they’re out swanning around all day. They need to be disciplined and organized or their careers are doomed.

They can enjoy a lie-in every so often if they’re so inclined. Starting work at 8 or 8.30 in the morning probably won’t make a huge difference to the average freelancer, especially if the office is just across the hall. A two-hour session at 3 in the afternoon can be just as productive as at any other time of the day. Other people prefer a solid stint in the early hours of the morning before the rest of the world intrudes. It doesn’t really matter when you work, as long as you do.

It’s a Job
Just like any other “job” the freelancer has to produce the goods. The work might be more pleasant than another person’s but it’s equally as time-consuming and demanding. There’s still the potential for stress, anxiety, and frustration, although a brisk walk along the canal can help to get rid of some of these issues.

According to WebMD sources, job-related stress is caused by a variety of factors, including:

• Lack of control – the biggest cause of stress in the normal workplace
• Too much responsibility – it’s often hard to say “no” to bosses face to face
• Too little job satisfaction – if your work isn’t rewarding it can make you depressed and miserable
• Lack of support –workers are often left to their own devices, only getting feedback when there’s a problem and receiving little or no real support
• Poor working conditions – badly lit rooms, noisy environments, long hours and infrequent breaks can lead to a whole range of health problems

Naturally you’d expect a freelance writer working from home to have a comfortable chair in a well-lit room, a sturdy desk with ample working space, a bookcase or two with a good supply of reference books, and a decent computer. You’d expect him or her to have control over the types of assignments accepted and fulfilled. You’d expect him or her to experience job satisfaction to varying degrees, depending on the subject chosen, the enjoyment writing about it, and the amount of remuneration.

It simply wouldn’t make sense for any freelancer to have to endure poor working conditions or settle for work that’s dissatisfying. After all, you can get that just about anywhere. Despite the fact that you frequently have to tout for business to keep projects and finances flowing smoothly, working for yourself is supposed to be liberating and enjoyable. If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong.

Freelance writers can work just about anywhere. If the office space begins to feel stale or claustrophobic, there’s always the local Internet café. If a particular job is tedious and draining, a walk in the woods with a notebook can help clear the brain and provide much-needed inspiration.

No More Clock-Watching
Working as a freelance writer from home was the best thing I ever did. As soon as I started, I took off my watch. I haven’t worn one in five years. I don’t have as many lie-ins as I’d like, but that’s because I can’t wait to get up and get to work. Weekends are precious, though, and work is rarely allowed to intrude.

As for my wardrobe, it consists of little more than the bare essentials (no pun intended). I don’t need “business” clothes for every day of the week, so most of what I wear is casual or semi-casual. If I need to meet clients face to face I wear something smart, always conscious that they’re paying me to write and not to appear in a commercial. Most of my work comes to me online, so I often don’t meet the people I write for.

Conclusion
Working for yourself isn’t a piece of cake. You get to be your own boss, but that means you have to continually motivate yourself. No-one else is going to do it. Either you work hard or you fail.

You need to balance your work life with your social life, or one will take over the other. You need to make sure the work you do is worth doing in the first place, and that the time you put in earns you a decent amount of compensation. You need to be determined to succeed, willing to learn, patient, committed, optimistic and resilient. You need to believe in yourself whole-heartedly and be willing to work to meet deadlines, even when the sun is splitting the rocks just outside your window.

If you can do these things, your career will likely go from strength to strength, and then you can buy as many pairs of pyjamas as you want. Whether you choose to work in them or not is up to you.

The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you’ve gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?”
— Zhuangzi – 300 BC

Success begins in the mind. You need to set your mind to do something if you want to achieve anything. You need to set a fish trap to catch fish.

Modern motivational gurus tell us to dream big, and to have a “can do” attitude. In The Secret Rhonda Byrne tells us that everything is possible.

We are told that we need to set ambitious long term goals, and clear short term targets. Just as the greyhound runs faster when chasing the mechanical rabbit, people are more motivated when pursuing identifiable targets.

If we achieve these goals we feel good about ourselves. Few things make us as happy as performing a difficult task well, and doing something useful.

What is more, making up our minds to do something makes us healthier and happier, regardless of our age, according to Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer, in her recent interesting book Mindfulness.

Langer warns about the dangers of limiting our opportunities by adhering to preconceived conceptions. She refers to the “destructive state of mindlessness.”

But reality has a habit of putting obstacles in the way of our dreams. We are not going to win every race. We may travel a long way down a road, only to find that we cannot quite achieve our original objective. If we only focus on the final goal, we can become uptight. Not only may this affect our chances of success, it makes us less likely to enjoy our journey.

In fact relaxed mindlessness has its benefits. Familiar thoughts and habits help us cope with the new experiences that we face in life. It is not practical to judge every new situation from scratch. Preconceived ideas are comforting, and useful.

Whether at work, or playing sports, or learning a language, we cannot constantly second-guess ourselves. We need to trust our “instincts”, which are mostly not instincts at all, but habits, the result of repetition and experience.

Life is not a short dog race, but a long journey with many detours. if we are too focused on chasing the mechanical rabbit and worried about short term outcomes, we may miss the enjoyment of every rich moment in our lives. If we relax, we are more likely to continue in our projects and acquire experience, knowledge and important life skills.

We should not allow ourselves to become disappointed if our achievements do not match our dreams. We should seek to enjoy what we are experiencing and achieving. This does not mean overstating the level of our achievements in some kind of empty assertion of our own self-esteem. It just means being satisfied with what are and what we have.

If need to combine the mindfulness of the motivational gurus with an effortless appreciation of life, every single day.

The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.

Dao de jing – 600 BC

At some point in their lives, a lot of people will ask themselves whether they should get an MBA. The reason for this may be any of the following:

• They may be working for a small company or a large corporation and they’re looking for ways to become a greater asset for their employer and increase their chances of getting promoted.
• They have a business idea and they want to strike out on their own, but their lack of business knowledge is holding them back.
• They have a lot of technical experience and they want to know more about the business aspects of their work.

If you’re in any of these situations, you should be aware that going the traditional MBA route is not your only option. According to Josh Kaufman, owner of the blog, “The Personal MBA”, and author of the bestselling book of the same name, you can get a do-it-yourself MBA. Josh explains in The Personal MBA Manifesto that the process consists of the following:

• Read the best business books out there.
• Learn as much as you can from these books.
• Discuss what you learn with others.
• Go out into the real world and make great things happen.

There’s much more on getting a do-it-yourself MBA below.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Getting An MBA

Should you start looking into the GMAT and send away for business school brochures? Or should you embark on a self-study course of action? The first step in deciding whether or not to get an MBA is to brainstorm a list of pros, as well as a list of cons.

Here are some of the things in favor of getting an MBA:

• An MBA from a good business school is a status symbol.
• If you’re in a top 15 MBA program you’ll have access to recruiters from Fortune 50 companies, consulting firms, and investment banks.
• In this competitive market place, having an MBA could differentiate you from other candidates who don’t have one.
• In an MBA program you get to network with the potential future leaders of the business world.
• Many argue that the real value of an MBA is the discussion in the classroom: that is, learning from your classmates.
• If you’re in an MBA program you’ll have access to the school’s alumni association, which can mean job leads and other business opportunities.
• Some people consider that, today, not having an advanced degree is the equivalent of what not having a college degree was a decade ago.

Some of the reasons not to get an MBA are the following:

• MBAs are very expensive–upwards of $80,000 in tuition–and a lot of people pay for an MBA with debt. This means that it will take you several years just to break even.
• You’re taking two years off from work. This means you won’t be earning a salary, and you may be missing out on valuable work experience.
• While you’re paying back your tuition debt you’re basically an indentured servant: you can’t leave your job, even if you hate it and the hours are ridiculous, because you have loans to pay.
• Although having an MBA may give you a leg up in the job market, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get a high-paying job.
• There’s the opportunity cost of all the other things you could have been doing with your time instead of sitting in a classroom gorging on case studies and listening to lectures.
• A lot of the things that you learn in an MBA program are outdated.
• While one of the best ways to learn is by doing, an MBA program is mostly just learning theory.

It’s up to each individual to weigh the pros and cons for themselves and apply the results to their own situation. But, in general, if all you want is to learn the stuff that you’ll need in order to do well in business, you’ll probably be better off by getting a library card and embarking on a self-study program.

How to Get a Do-It-Yourself MBA

If you decide to get a do-it-yourself MBA, or at least look further into the possibility, you should do the following:

1. Read Kaufman’s book, “The Personal MBA”, in order to master the fundamental principles of sound business practice. Kaufman calls these principles, mental models, and he lays out 226 of these mental models in his book. With “The Personal MBA” you’re going to acquire a solid core of principles to work from, and then, later, you’re going to refer to other books in order to build upon that knowledge.

“The Personal MBA” covers the following three areas:

• How Businesses Work: You’ll learn about the five business processes which are at the core of any business. These are value creation, marketing, sales, value delivery, and finance.
• How People Work: A business is created by people to service people. It’s therefore important to understand how people make decisions and communicate with others.
• How Systems Work: Businesses are complex systems with many moving parts, and you should understand how complex systems work.

This book won’t give you all the answers. What it will do is give you the knowledge that you need in order to ask the right questions. Then, by asking the right questions, you can gather more information.

2. If there’s a particular topic that you want to know more about, refer to the books that Kaufman recommends in “The Personal MBA”, as well as the recommended reading list which is posted on his blog (The 99 Best Business Books). Choose 2 or 3 of these books in order to learn more about the particular area or skill that you’re interested in.

3. Look through the speed reading books and courses that are available (I recommend PhotoReading), and choose one that appeals to you. Obviously, this is so that you can get through the material quickly. Also, get the classic “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler, which will show you how to read analytically and syntopically.

4. Create a mind map and/or summary of everything that you read as part of your personal MBA program. Make sure that you include your own opinions, interpretations, and conclusions in your summary. Come up with a plan of action based on what you’ve read.

5. Discuss your conclusions with others.

6. Apply your newly acquired knowledge in the real world. Anything that you do will have an effect; that is, it will generate feedback. By acting you’ll either have more information on what works, or you’ll have more information on what doesn’t work.

7. Once you’ve acted and received feedback, you need to analyze the results that you got. Ask yourself questions such as the following:

• What worked?
• What didn’t work?
• What could be improved?
• What needs to be done differently?

8. Based on your analysis of the feedback, decide how you need to modify your approach.

9. Act once again.

10. Keep going through this cycle–plan, act, analyze the feedback, and modify your approach–until you’ve reached the desired outcome, or until you’re happy with the results.

11. Then, move on to the next topic that interests you, and do the same thing all over again.

Conclusion

Kaufman uses quotes throughout his book to help illustrate the different points that he makes. One of the quotes he uses is the following by Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric: “People always overestimate how complex business is. This isn’t rocket science–we’ve chosen one of the world’s most simple professions.”

A lot of people who have never been to business school are intimidated by business. However, as Welch points out, business is not rocket science. Go ahead and give it a shot: embark on the journey toward getting your own personal MBA.

(The Personal MBA is courtesy of Bego).

Don't panic if your month is full of red marks!

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

Douglas Adams, 1952-2001

Do you love deadlines? I bet you don’t. In fact, I can’t name anyone who loves them… Except it is in the witty sense that Mr. Adams puts into them. In fact, I hate the sound of them whooshing as they pass, luckily I’ve learnt how to live with them, and you can too.

Dealing with deadlines

Visualise them: This should be a no-brainer, but you’d be amazed at how many people fall in this trap. You need some calendaring system to track your deadlines. It does not matter if it is a fancy iPad application that syncs through Dropbox with your office server or a sheet attached with duct tape to your front door. Anything will work as long as you are consistent and use it.

The best tool should have at least a monthly view, to have a clear map of what waits to be done in the next 30 days. It should also be effortless to add a new task or check what is left to do: if it requires even a little of your energy or time, you’ll end up not doing and the dreared whoosh will come again.

Don’t fret out as they approach: The worse thing you can do when deadlines are looming is enter panic mode. If you think you can make it to the deadline there is no reason to get nervous… And if you don’t think you can make it, try anyway. A missed deadline is not the end of the world, but your boss/client will be happier if he knows you’ve given it everything you got.

Plan ahead of time: Another no-brainer that people tend to miss. As soon as you have a deadline for a project, start planning how you will solve it within this deadline. This can be working every day non-stop for 8 hours (a sign that this deadline was a too harsh) or doing X before Y.

If you don’t have a plan you’ll end up working twice as much as you would with a plan. And probably will add a few sleepless nights due to the anxiety of not knowing exactly what is left. More about this in the next tip.

Break the big into the simple: When you have long-winded deadlines (anything bigger than two weeks should go in this category), you should split the project into smaller sub-projects, and assign each of them their own mini-deadline. This goes together with planning: you turn a big and hairy project into a set of small furry balls you can always keep under control.

Don’t overdo this: there is no point in having a deadline each day for a certain project, but it will help having at least something to finish every 3 or 4 days.

Be flexible: Before agreeing to a deadline, estimate how much time this project will eat… And add half that to the result. In other words, if you think a project will only need one week, try to get a 10 day deadline. This is not to help your slacking, mind you. This is to allow for unplanned emergencies. Everybody has a tendency to underestimate a task’s difficulty, and even if you are just lucky and the deadline is very sharp, life can always get in the way. Very tight deadlines can be broken just by waking up to a strong migraine.

If you always add a small security gap to your deadlines, most of your projects will be delivered before the agreed deadline. This will put you ahead of the competition, nobody ever delivers before a deadline!

Do you know how to deal with your deadlines? Or are you just hanging from them?

Think of your last hell task week. What exactly constitutes a “HTW”? Think of those weeks when you have to deliver that huge, vital project. You know, while also dealing with a computer crash, 40 urgent emails per day and your boss giving you a ton of ‘I want this by tomorrow’ tasks. That’s “HTW”.

You probably fear these weeks, and barely remember how you dealt with them after they are over. I want to share with you my method to dealing with them systematically.

To deal with “HTW” I use a method I call Stop, look & listen. It is very simple, and you can apply it to every stressful situation.

Stop

Shut your door, and put up a huge paper sign with “Do not disturb” on it. You can add the drawing of a skull, or the international signs for danger or death. Be creative, but make sure no one will open your door until you remove the sign unless the building is on fire or Godzilla is destroying the city.

If you have office mates, make clear to them you will be unavailable for a while. You can put your earphones in, (I personally love headphones that cancel ambient noise. For example, I use a pair of in-ear Sennheiser). Keep a baseball bat or some other menacing piece of office supplies just in case someone wants to ask you something. If you work in an open office, try wearing something that indicates ‘don’t disturb’. My girlfriend, for example, wears a hat when she can’t be interrupted, as a cue to her office mates.

Disconnect your office phone and your cell phone. Don’t worry, this will only take half an hour or so, the likelihood of something really critical happening are much like 0. Of course, Murphy’s law can decide to trick you and you lose an important call. Don’t worry, they’ll call again. Close your email, Twitter, chat and whatever things connect you to the outside world.

Give your mind at least 5 minutes of relaxation. No stressful calls, no deliveries, nothing. Just relax for a while and think about nothing. You need it. You know you need it, too. Just do it, now is the moment. Think about your favourite relaxing place, think of you as a rock: unmovable by external forces.

Look

Write down all your outstanding tasks. All that stuff that you need to get done this week, no matter who you have to kidnap or how many nights without sleeping you need to endure. Write down your appointments (dinner with X, kids game, vet visit) and usual time consuming commitments (prepare company newsletter, take the dog out).

Take a look at this list, and then remove at least 20% of the tasks. Either delegate them, postpone them, or just remove them.

Now, see if you can get rid of another 20% of that same list.

Delegate as many as you can, even if you need to ask for some favour from your coworkers (please find me the numbers for this report and next Monday I’ll take care of the server problems) or your family (This week I can’t take the dog out, but I’ll compensate next week by also preparing dinner).

Listen

Now, although it sounds a little new-age, listen to your heart and add tasks you need to do. Add the stuff you pospone in your life for the sake of your work.

The first few times you follow this procedure, in the “Look” step you are likely to remove all life stuff just to leave work stuff. You think about your big project and put it against watching the soccer match with your father, and put off calling your dad until next week.

Work and life should be balanced. You need to avoid reaching the point that your work starts to eat into your personal time, and vice versa. If your boss is overworking you, talk to him. If the big project is conflicting with the tasks he asks you to get done from one day to the other, ask him to help you prioritize.

With this sense of control most of your stress will just fade away, because the oppressing feeling of tasks hanging over our heads without control is why we get overwhelmed. This method gives you control, and with control comes a sense of calm and diminished stress.

You can get in control by starting to manage your tasks instead of your time. When you are overwhelmed time management is usually pointless: there is a certain number of tasks that need to be done soon, and the only think you need is a piece of paper to have all them written down, but you won’t need any fancy timeboxing or split time strategy.

Pretend you are a post office worker. As tasks are assigned to you, return them to the sender, delegate to the appropriate person (or bribe/ask for a favour/task exchange) or in extreme cases, put in your list of do it.

This week, try to gain some control over your stress. By next week, I’m sure things will be different…in a good way.

What is the difference between a successful company and an unsuccessful company? Why do some entrepreneurs succeed where others have failed miserably?

What makes someone successful?

Everyone is looking for the answers to these questions; everyone wants to find the keys to succeed, the shortcut that will make it all easier.

The problem is in that word, shortcut.
The real key, the real secret is that there is no shortcut.
You need to work hard, endure long hours, and maintain focus if you want success.

You can succeed

Many studies have been made to why some entrepreneurs succeed while others don’t.
In many cases, it all comes down to planning.

There’s an old saying: every minute spent on planning saves up to 10 minutes in execution. Even though we know this, very few people spend enough time planning.

Spending time before you start your business making plans is tiresome to many. You are essentially working without getting paid, in the short run. But when you plan you create a roadmap; you build yourself a guide that will help you on your entire journey towards success.

Successful entrepreneurs plan and then do something completely different

The hard part about planning is getting it right. When you plan you try to foresee circumstances in the future, to predict how things will play out and make plans for how you will react and what you will need, you can’t always get a 100% success rate. Since no one knows what the future brings, most plans become obsolete as soon as the entrepreneur starts his business.

All successful entrepreneurs started off with a set of plans, but many ended up doing something completely different. (But they all had a plan).

Unsuccessful entrepreneurs fail because of lack of planning

Because studies show that many original business plans become obsolete soon after the business gets off the ground, some entrepreneurs decide to skip the whole planning process. But without an exact idea of what they are going to do, what they need, what opportunities to look for and without a frame of reference to evaluate situations by, they fail.

Successful entrepreneurs have a plan to update

When you have a plan, you can modify it, you can evaluate things happening around you and compare them to your plans. You will be able to see if this opportunity is in line with your goals, values and dreams. If it isn’t, you know it is a bad idea to follow. Thanks to this whole planning process, you will have a long term mindset, you will constantly be thinking about what the things you are doing today will have for affects on your future.

This mindset is a precious commodity and one of the most important parts of being an entrepreneur. Remember, all successful entrepreneurs have made business plans, even if they didn’t always do exactly what they expected.

Action Exercises

1. Create a business plan
Ask yourself the following questions – What do you plan on doing? Who is it you are selling to? What do you need to be successful at it? How much do you need to sell to brake even? What costs will you have? How many employees do you need? What kind of office space will you require? What can you delegate? What do you need to do yourself?

2. Create a vision
Try to crystallize the values you want your company to stand for in simple terms. Make sure everyone who joins the company learns about what the company stands for, and prove it to them by living by those values.
Let the employees be a part of the creative process, come back to it once in a while, look it over, and let them give you their input.

3. Never be afraid to update your plan
You will need to update your plan many times, you might even change to a new industry after some time has passed. Don’t be afraid of this, but make sure that the change is in line with your goals and your vision. If the path you are on won’t lead you to your goals, change that path now to one that is more suitable.

Stress is a poison in today’s society.

The negative effects of stress are numerous. It weakens our immune system, which causes sickness. Because of stress, people produce less. When stressed people are less creative. The list goes on and on.

Problems caused by stress cost our society billions of dollars every year.

On the flip side, this means that anyone who can lower their stress levels and produce at a high level is at an advantage in the workplace. Those people will quickly become the most valued assets in any organization.

Looking to the Future

For many, there doesn’t seem to be any end to the stress. Companies and organizations keep expecting more for less which means we have to work harder, produce more, and get better results.

This means that if we are to solve the situation we cannot look to the outer world. We have to look inside ourselves and make a change.

When I Learned the 80/20 Rule

Most of us get caught up in tasks that really don’t have much of an impact on our future.

I started to think about it this way: 20 percent of the activities we do stand for 80% of the results we produce.

Another way of putting it is that if you have a list of 10 actions, 2 of those actions will have a greater effect on your future than the other 8 put together.

When I looked at my own work schedule this was really obvious.

When I first started thinking about the 80/20 rule, I was working as a sales manager with 5 sales people under me. My task list was as follows:

1. Making sales calls
2. Coach sales people
3. Sitting in meetings with my bosses
4. Prepare marketing and sales campaigns
5. Answer and reply to emails
6. Write standardized offers
7. Create campaign banners
And a few other unimportant things.

When I looked through this list, I realized that 80 percent of the value I created for my company came from coaching sales people and making my own sales calls. Most of the others were unimportant or easy to delegate.

Once I started focusing on those 2 tasks, my numbers and value skyrocketed…which quickly got me a promotion.

How to Focus Your Efforts

A few years ago I was taught a great method for decreasing stress. This guide will help you by getting thoughts, deals and commitments out of your head and on to paper, someplace you know you will be able to go back and review it regularly and that you know you will not forget it.

By not having to keep everything in your mind, you will be able to review it and decide which are activities comprise that crucial 20%, and you will be able to focus single-mindedly on those tasks without having to remember lots of other thoughts and ideas.

Step 1 – What is taking up a lot of your focus and energy?
Write down a list of everything you are thinking about and stressing about.

Step 2 – What would be a successful outcome to this situation?
To each point on the list, visualize what a perfect solution would be and then write it down.

Step 3 – How important is it that this task is done?
By answering this question, you learn if this task is something you need and should do or if it really isn’t that important and can be eliminated.

Step 4 – What action could you take to move the project towards that goal?
Once you know that the idea is an important one, write down what the next action you can take to move the goal towards its perfect solution.

Step 5 – Decide when you are going to do the action
Write it down in your calendar.

Let Go and Relax

Do you feel how much more relaxed you are now that you don’t have to remember all your ideas? Now that you know that they will be done?

This exercise has helped people all over the world get their ideas in writing, find actionable steps to take on their workloads, and start moving towards their major goals. It is a great cure to procrastination and a great way to increase your productivity start living a stress-free life.

If you are working as a consultant, speaker, trainer, business leader or expert in a field then I recommend that you write a book and get it published.  A work published in your name can prove a great asset in building your credibility and reputation with clients.

Before I launched my business as a speaker and facilitator in creativity and innovation I wrote a book, The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills.  I spent considerable efforts in researching and writing the book, and then in finding a publisher for it. After that I had to wait to see it in print.  But the wait was worthwhile.   I use the book as my calling card and leave a copy with a customer or serious prospect.   I have found that it helps me to open doors, get speaking engagements, build rapport with clients and win business.   Since then I have gone on to publish three further business books with the same publisher, Kogan-Page.

Here are some hints and tips to help you write your business book:

1. Choose a topic that fascinates you. You are going to spend some time researching, writing and rewriting the book so choose a subject on which you are knowledgeable and which really interests you. You will learn a lot by organising your thoughts and researching the subject.

2. Come at it from a different angle.  Read other books on the topic and then choose a different approach if you can.   It will help if you can position your book differently.

3. Get a publisher before you write the book. You do not have to write the book first.   Most publishers want to see a synopsis, chapter list, sample chapter, short marketing piece and bio.   Do this first.   You may need to write to 20 to 30 publishers before you succeed but you will learn a lot along the way. Many will reject your idea but give you useful advice.   As a last resort you can self-publish.   It is quite straightforward but if you self-publish you lose the help, marketing and distribution that a publisher can offer.

4. Don’t write a book, write a chapter. If you find the thought of writing 50,000 words daunting then don’t try to do that.   I found it easier to focus on writing a chapter.   I then sometimes published part or all of the chapter on a blog to get some instant gratification and some useful feedback.   Gradually all the different chapters build into your book.

5. Set yourself a deadline. Plan how many chapters you will write each month and give yourself milestones to complete the work.

6. Promote the book everywhere. Once your book is published do not assume that the publisher will do all the marketing.   They will do some but it is up to you, the author, to promote it furiously.   I gave away review copies, gave radio interviews, gave it to friends and clients, blogged about it and so on.

The monetary rewards are small compared to the effort of writing the book.   But the satisfaction of seeing your work in print is reward in itself.   The book will then help you to successfully project your status as an expert on the subject.

Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PaulSloane.

If you are working as a consultant, speaker, trainer, business leader or expert in a field then I recommend that you write a book and get it published.  A work published in your name can prove a great asset in building your credibility and reputation with clients.

Before I launched my business as a speaker and facilitator in creativity and innovation I wrote a book, The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills.  I spent considerable efforts in researching and writing the book, and then in finding a publisher for it. After that I had to wait to see it in print.  But the wait was worthwhile.   I use the book as my calling card and leave a copy with a customer or serious prospect.   I have found that it helps me to open doors, get speaking engagements, build rapport with clients and win business.   Since then I have gone on to publish three further business books with the same publisher, Kogan-Page.

Here are some hints and tips to help you write your business book:

1. Choose a topic that fascinates you. You are going to spend some time researching, writing and rewriting the book so choose a subject on which you are knowledgeable and which really interests you. You will learn a lot by organising your thoughts and researching the subject.

2. Come at it from a different angle.  Read other books on the topic and then choose a different approach if you can.   It will help if you can position your book differently.

3. Get a publisher before you write the book. You do not have to write the book first.   Most publishers want to see a synopsis, chapter list, sample chapter, short marketing piece and bio.   Do this first.   You may need to write to 20 to 30 publishers before you succeed but you will learn a lot along the way. Many will reject your idea but give you useful advice.   As a last resort you can self-publish.   It is quite straightforward but if you self-publish you lose the help, marketing and distribution that a publisher can offer.

4. Don’t write a book, write a chapter. If you find the thought of writing 50,000 words daunting then don’t try to do that.   I found it easier to focus on writing a chapter.   I then sometimes published part or all of the chapter on a blog to get some instant gratification and some useful feedback.   Gradually all the different chapters build into your book.

5. Set yourself a deadline. Plan how many chapters you will write each month and give yourself milestones to complete the work.

6. Promote the book everywhere. Once your book is published do not assume that the publisher will do all the marketing.   They will do some but it is up to you, the author, to promote it furiously.   I gave away review copies, gave radio interviews, gave it to friends and clients, blogged about it and so on.

The monetary rewards are small compared to the effort of writing the book.   But the satisfaction of seeing your work in print is reward in itself.   The book will then help you to successfully project your status as an expert on the subject.

Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PaulSloane.

If you want to make the big bucks, you’ve got to be willing to put in a little overtime. And while we’re generally all about working smarter (not longer), it’s worth noting that tons of America’s richest business owners earned their billions only after putting their noses to the grindstones and becoming serious workaholics.

But being a workaholic alone doesn’t guarantee major earnings. Here’s a list of 4 famous American workaholics, along with their “secret weapon” for success.

1. Thomas Edison

Major Accomplishments: 1,093 US patents at the time of his death (plus more in several other countries around the globe), often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Oh yeah, and that whole “inventing” the lightbulb thing.

Secret Weapon: Never being reluctant to work long hours or work hard.

“I never did anything worth doing entirely by accident…. Almost none of my inventions were derived in that manner. They were achieved by having trained myself to be analytical and to endure and tolerate hard work.”

Edison wasn’t about working smarter, just working harder. And that doesn’t come as much of a surprise to us today, given that one of Edison’s most famous quotes is “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

But most people don’t realize that that’s only half the quote. Just like the New Hampshire state motto of “Live Free or Die”, there’s more to the quote than just the most frequently repeated bits. Here’s the whole Edison quote:

“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a  ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”  

(Incidentally, the full quote that “Live Free or Die” was extracted from comes from General John Stark, who once wrote, “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of all evils.”)

2. Oprah

Major Accomplishments: Winner of multiple Emmy awards, author, humanitarian, and a net worth of around $2.7 billion.

Secret Weapon: Do what you love, and work doesn’t feel like work.

“What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.”

Oprah works crazy long hours, has a magazine and a TV show and now a whole TV network;. The secret to her success has to be loving what she does, and when she can bring so much good to charities and other good causes, it’s easy to see why she’s happy to work so hard.

3. Donald Trump

Major Accomplishments: Real estate magnate, TV show host, casino owner, and operator of numerous national beauty pageants.

Secret Weapon: Seeing work as a way to get a rush of adrenaline

“Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”

Trump’s made his position on workaholics very clear. After a 2007 study found that America was “a nation of workaholics”, Trump told the New York Post that “They don’t want to miss what’s going on. Although vacations are supposed to be about de-stressing, some people admitted it would be more stressful not knowing what was going on at work while they were away. And those are the kind of people I want working for me.”

It’s easy for someone with Trump’s level of success to love working, because he gets a rush from sealing a deal. If work is fun, perhaps even addictive, then it’s no wonder he’s a workaholic.

4. Bill Gates

Major Accomplishments: Making the computer a common household appliance, forming the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and accumulating a net worth of over $50 billion.

Secret Weapon: Not being a control freak, and soliciting ideas from a talented team of employees.

“At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top – I’m afraid that’s not quite right.”

A company is only as strong as the sum of its parts, and it’s refreshing to see that Gates is willing to credit Microsoft’s success to his co-workers and employees.

As Gates has said in past interviews, “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.”

Conclusion

Working hard is all well and good, but make sure to play hard, too. While the workaholic lifestyle was right for these famous faces, it can put a major strain on your heart and your personal life. And the last thing you want is to be too invested in your work, like P.T. Barnum. As he lay dying, Barnum’s last words were, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?”

Are you a workaholic? What other famous workaholics do you look up to? Tell us in the comments below!