Breakthrough

"Only when we enter our sixties do we start to think about the future and suddenly realize we won't be retiring anytime soon." After reading another of this author’s books ‘Serve No Master’, this one phrase stood out and stuck firmly in my mind.

You may, or may not, yet be in your sixties but one day you're going to wake up and you'll look back on a life full of regrets. It's true. Most people go through life on autopilot, dreaming that, one day, something is magically going to happen that will transport them to the life they always imagined they would lead. If that's you, dream on or...
read Breakthrough!

Breakthrough is designed to prompt you to stop dreaming and start taking action to get you taking steps towards your dream life. Be forewarned; there's no magic pill, you won't become a millionaire just by reading this book, you won't even be in a better position after you finish it. But you might just have broken through the wall of inactivity that is holding you back from achieving the life you've always wanted.

This isn't a 'how to' book. Don't expect it to lay out some sort of life plan for you to follow as though you had a life coach. What this book sets out to do is to start you off in the right direction by changing your mindset about what you've been schooled to do all your life. It's meant to wake you up to the reality that society is drowning you and enable you to make the breakthrough to start taking the steps you need to create the life you really desire.

What this book will show you is why you have to commit and be focused if you want to achieve anything worthwhile. You'll learn what a real goal is, not something as airy-fairy as 'I want to be rich' but real, attainable goals within a timeframe that is achievable. You'll discover why failure isn't an option and what it can teach you, why you mustn't treat your new business like a hobby, why you often think you're not clever enough and why that's just not true, even if everybody tells you that you're useless and will never amount to anything.

Initially, I was concerned by the brevity of many of the chapters in this book. But then I realised that each was followed by a suggested plan of action. The point is to prompt you to take action, rather than ploughing through long and verbose writing that will just keep you reading rather than doing.

This book largely deals with the mental barriers that you've erected in your mind that have stopped you achieving what you set out to achieve when you left school or college. Like it or not, believe it or not, it is these self-created walls that have prevented you from moving forward in your life. You might not think of yourself as an expert but this book will help you discover what you're expert at.

Breakthrough ends with ideas for business models that you can use to get ideas for the aim of the business that you're going to set up. These ideas are illustrated with case studies that might just provoke your imagination. Because imagination is what you'll need in order to envisage how your life is going to change after reading this book. If you don't have that imagination, if you can't start believing in yourself and what you want to accomplish, then this book isn't for you.

In addition, you'll need other books after this one. You can, if you wish, stick with the same author who has written other accompanying volumes on goal setting, cracking the procrastination cycle, dealing with anxiety and how to influence and persuade people. Or turn to other authors who have more specialised titles. You may also need to avail yourself of extra training that will give you the abilities you need to build and scale your business. Breakthrough is just the beginning - don't let it be the end.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is essentially a book on how to make money online and start your own business. Having read many other similar books but taken little action, I was keen to see if this offered any new insights and actually got me doing something to make some money.

The book promises it will show you how to make real money fast, as well as teaching some strategies for longer term income streams. There are several online business models discussed, all of which the author states he has had success with.

Being realistic, you’re unlikely to be raking in the millions within a few weeks. This isn’t a get-rich-quick book, and there are no ‘secret systems’ revealed. Whatever path you choose to follow, it’s going to involve massive and consistent effort, starting at the bottom for little money and working your way up. It’s going to take time to build skills, experience and a client base.

Having said that, going in with the right expectations, the right plan (which the book provides) and a lot of persistence, I can see no reason why any of the business models described here wouldn’t work. Where I found this book significantly better than similar ones is that there is a pretty comprehensive section on analysing what skills and equipment you already have that you could put to use immediately. I particularly enjoyed this section, and it got me thinking creatively about what unique combinations of attributes, skills and interests I can bring that would be of use to someone, and what types of jobs I would actually enjoy doing. The author’s suggested business model is all about using what you’ve already got to generate money to fund the next part of your business - scaling up gradually without going into debt.

There is a huge section on overcoming potential barriers that may be holding you back - great for those procrastinators amongst us that are always finding an excuse not to dive in and take action. Some useful tips here.

There are plenty of questions to think about and action steps to take. The author insists that you work through the book with a pen and notebook (or there’s a free journal that you can download and fill in as you go), and having quickly read through the book initially, I am looking forward to re-reading it and going through the exercises. The author’s intention is clear - to get you to actually take action, rather than just to enjoy the book or be inspired. It’s well written and easy to read just as a book, with plenty of stories, anecdotes and examples of success and failures from the author's own life.

After reading dozens of entrepreneurial books, I have come to realise that you had all the information you needed after the first two or three - you just need to pick one and do what it says. This book is as good as any for that. It’s well structured, practical and easy to follow. If you can’t make money after doing everything this book says, then no other entrepreneurial book is going to help much.

Overall, a very enjoyable read - full of practical advice, and as good as any that I’ve read in this genre.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.