Joel Comm and John Rampton
Self Employed: 50 Signs That You Might Be An Entrepreneur
ISBN: 978-1-68350-173-2
One of my favorite things about attending entrepreneurial conventions is walking away with new books in hand, or new additions to my list of books to acquire. At the second Young Entrepreneur Convention in 2017, Joel Comm gave a talk in conjunction with the release of his book Self Employed: 50 Signs That You Might Be An Entrepreneur. It was his first talk at YEC – he returned with his podcasting partner the following year to promote the Bad Crypto Podcast, which focuses on blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Comm has written several books over the years, mostly focusing on entrepreneurship and technology, focusing on e-commerce and social media. John Rampton, the other author of this book, has a plethora of experience in entrepreneurship and digital marketing. Together, the two created a fun, easy-reading book that I really enjoyed. Like many other books on entrepreneurship, the chapters and sections were brief and the entire book only took a couple of hours to read.
Self Employed is organized like many “listicles” that you find littered across the Internet – 10 ways to do this, 8 ways to do that, 15 ways something is something. Each of the fifty signs is a chapter of the book, grouped into sections by overarching topic, like “people” and “lifestyle.” Many of the chapters either made me chuckle or left me nodding in agreement. Entrepreneurs really are their own tribe, and it was fun to see how well I matched up with the “typical” entrepreneur as described in the book.
While most of the fifty signs applied to me, there were a few that I didn’t necessarily disagree with, but weren’t part of my journey as an entrepreneur. I wasn’t raised by entrepreneurs, I’ve never been fired, and Steve Jobs isn’t my imaginary friend. However, I still enjoyed reading the authors’ perspectives in these chapters. One of the main reason I pick up so many books by other entrepreneurs – other than writing these book reviews – is to gain the perspectives of those who have both failed and succeeded before me, and finding out why they came to their own conclusions along the way. It’s almost a form of literary people-watching, and it’s a lot of fun.
Even if some (or many) of the fifty signs don’t apply to you, there are definite takeaways from each chapter that you can apply to whatever project on which you’re working. Maybe you’re developing the next great social media technology, or a product that will revolutionize the Internet of Things. Perhaps you haven’t yet made the leap into entrepreneurship, but have the passion to create something amazing. In any of these scenarios, there are points in this book that could apply to you.
Overall, 8/10, would recommend as a great read for someone traveling on business and has a couple of hours to kill waiting in an airport or on a flight. You won’t have any problem making it through this book in one sitting. The content was witty and quite humorous at times, and it’s worth picking up a copy if you want to take your eyes off of your screens for a while – not something a lot of entrepreneurs want to do, but should occasionally.