Not an Entrepreneur? You Should Read this Dragon's New Book

REVIEW

Driven: How to Succeed in Business and in Life
By Robert Herjavec
50 chapters
295 pages
$32.99 CAN / $19.49 at Costco
$$$$ out of $$$$$

When auditions for Dragons' Den came to Vancouver earlier this year more than a few close friends and family members suggested that I apply to be on the show. That was weird, I thought.

I'm a self-employed writer and storyteller. I don't have a boss. I am a ball of creative fire that has the ability to make contests, courses, workshops and stories go from idea to profitable reality in a relatively short period of time. I have sacrificed security for a risky, chaotic work-style that I would not trade for any amount of cash. The thought of settling for a job makes me want to cry.  But I am not an entrepreneur. That word does not apply to me. Or so I thought until I read this book and had a classic "aha" moment.

It's funny how things converge when you work really hard at what you love. And a bunch of random stuff has happened in the last four months that has lead me to this "aha" moment.

That random stuff consists of: taking my storytelling skills into the arena of financial literacy with my new YouTube show, Money & Me; a brief appearance on the Lang & O'Leary financial news show; talking on the phone with David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber, about kids and gold coins; launching this blog; being invited to speak at the upcoming BC Business Educators Conference on the topic of using social media to develop financial literacy; and now reading and reviewing this book. Aha! I am an entrepreneur and a business woman...not just a writer and storyteller.

And what's so cool about this revelation is that it drives home the truth that language shapes who we imagine ourselves to be and how we imagine ourselves operating in the world. I don't come from an entrepreneurial family and I didn't take business courses in high school or university, so entrepreneurship, and all the business vocabulary that goes with it, had never really penetrated my imagination until I could put this convergence of random stuff in my work-life within the context of entrepreneurship as Herjavec describes it in this book.

And speaking of convergence, as I have been reading and reviewing Driven, I have also been writing a story for episode six of Money and Me which is all about teaching kids what an entrepreneur is. After all, getting a job (see episode one of Money and Me) isn't the only option when it comes to making a living and we should talk about that with our kids. But it's hard to do that when you don't know the language, which is why this book is such a powerful financial literacy tool for parents who might not be entrepreneurs themselves.

For parents who are entrepreneurs (like me, I'm happy to know), there is lots of great advice for taking your business to the next level no matter where you happen to be on your never-ending journey toward that hypothetical and highly subjective finish line we call success.

Indeed, whether or not you are chasing Dragon-like success, Driven is well worth the full jacket price when it comes to exposing your imagination, and that of your kids, to the language of entrepreneurship.


Copyright 2010. Laura Thomas. All Rights Reserved.
To reprint contact Laura at money@agentstory.net