There are plenty of books on how to build a business. There are fewer books that show you how to live a bold life while building that business. Hack the Entrepreneur: How to Stop Procrastinating, Build a Business, and Do Work That Matters is one of those books. In “Hack the Entrepreneur”, punk rock drummer and business-building expert Jon Nastor shares the behind-the-scenes hacks to crafting a business that fits around the lifestyle you desire.
What is Hack the Entrepreneur About?
Jon Nastor’s goal in writing Hack the Entrepreneur isn’t to offer a get-rich-quick hack. It is about hacking business, but Nastor has something different in mind. He wants readers to upgrade their lives. Many prospective entrepreneurs only see the struggle. They ignore the behind-the-scenes story and instead only see the achievements of great business gurus. They don’t see the struggle, the pivots and the failures.
That is precisely the point Nastor is making. Most prospective entrepreneurs remain “wantrepreneurs” because they focus on someone else’s success and not their own potential. They get knocked down by obstacles in the long and winding journey to becoming an entrepreneur. Whether these obstacles come from within the entrepreneur or from the environment, it doesn’t matter. It is up to all entrepreneurs to remain focused and adaptable as they make the decisions and choices to define their own businesses.
Obstacles, in other words, are shaping your entrepreneur’s journey. The unique life you create because of your obstacles gives you a competitive advantage over others. That is the “hack”. For example, if you are a mother with a young child and a business owner, you may not have a lot of time or money. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. It means you have to work within a certain range of options. It is up to you to create within that range. By accepting that potential, you can move forward to the life and business of your dreams.
Nastor is a digital entrepreneur, writer, business coaching and drummer in a punk rock band. He is the creator of Hack the Entrepreneur, a podcast that has been downloaded 3.4 million times and Showlist.io, an online music platform.
What Was Best About Hack the Entrepreneur?
Nastor’s book is powerfully inspirational in a subtle way. It completely upends the traditional idea that you need to be a certain type of person to be a successful entrepreneur. That said, it doesn’t push readers into a naively optimistic world where you can make thousands of dollars sitting on your couch. Hack the Entrepreneur is big on work. Lots of work. The reward of that hard work, a fully lived journey as an entrepreneur on your own terms, is the reason that this book deserves a reader’s attention.
What Could Have Been Done Differently?
Hack the Entrepreneur is inspirational in the same way The Power of Broke, by Daymond John, is. Hack the Entrepreneur emphasizes creativity, persistence, and faith while stepping outside one’s comfort zone. Hack the Entrepreneur, however, does not delve into the more granular details of business like financing or pricing. It focuses squarely on the principles that move entrepreneurs to take that next step forward. The book briefly mentions success stories but does not go into detail about the behind-the-scenes details that led to that success. Nastor is focused squarely on sharing the inspiration entrepreneurs need to move.
Why Read Hack the Entrepreneur?
If you have a prospective entrepreneur in your life who needs a little more inspiration to keep pushing forward after a failure or exhaustion, this book offers that inspiration. Nastor pulls out the biggest lessons he’s learned about entrepreneurship from his own journeys and others. The book is peppered with digestible nuggets of wisdom that range from the common message you’ve heard (“Keep persisting”) to the not so common (“Stop going for niche markets”) ones. It is a positive and irreverent read that is perfect for any person who wants to reach a point where he or she is ready to transform an entrepreneurial struggle into a life of their own design.
This article, “Hack the Entrepreneur Inspires the Hard Work Business Owners Need” was first published on Small Business Trends