Tag Archives: #solopreneur

Books for Those Who Are Going Out on their Own in Business

Perhaps it’s the recent taste of Working from Home; or perhaps you want to diversify your income stream; perhaps you’ve retired, but don’t want to feel idle; or perhaps you want work that fits better with your lifestyle choices. There are lots of good reasons to start your own business, and there are more tools and support for budding entrepreneurs than ever before.  So if you think that now is the time to work on that business idea, we have the right guides to inspire you to stop dreaming and start doing!

Side Hustle: Build a Side Business and Make Extra Money without Quitting your Day Job by Chris Guillebeau

The author of the New York Times bestseller The $100 Startup shows you how to launch a profitable side hustle in just 27 days. Side hustles are income streams that supplement your regular paychecks – it may be your first taste of starting your own business, or you may simply want to diversify your income in these uncertain times.  In Side Hustle, Chris Guillebeau presents a framework for effectively starting your mini-business – from how to generate and select ideas, through development to launch, with the steps broken down into approachable daily tasks.
Peppered with anecdotes and tips from his own extensive experience, Side Hustle shows that you don’t need an MBA or lots of capital to get started.  If you’ve been thinking about turning your passions or talents into profit, Side Hustle is the motivation you’ve been waiting for.

How To Build an Online Business: Australia’s Top Digital Disruptors Reveal Their Secrets for Launching and Growing an Online Business by Bernadette Schwerdt

As a TEDx speaker and award-winning business leader, Bernadette Schwerdt has access to top business leaders from around the world – and she has interviewed many of them in order to create her insightful business books. How to Build an Online Business is a follow-up to her successful Secret of Online Entrepreneurs, which identified strategies and insights through in-depth interviews with e-business leaders. This update features top digital disruptors including Uber, Booktopia, and Catch of the Day. The “warts and all” stories of these companies, plus Bernadette Schwerdt’s in-depth analysis of the strategies, tech tools and leadership principles they used to grow their business, reveal the underlying patterns common to all successful online businesses – what they did right, what they did wrong, what they would do differently and the strategies they used to build an online business.

Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis

Small is beautiful according to Paul Jarvis. In Company of One, he encourages us to redefine what business success means, by suggesting that, for many solo and small businesses, it is smarter, more profitable and more enjoyable to stay small rather than expand.  Paul argues that blind growth is the main cause of business problems, and leads to more time, more stress, more responsibilities, and more expenses; instead he suggests that success can come from developing richer relationships with existing customers, based on trust, humanity, and empathy.  For entrepreneurs wondering about your next steps, this innovative, contrarian book may be just what you need.

Start Before You’re Ready: the Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Extraordinary Success in Work and Life by Mick Spencer

Part memoir and part business manual, Mick Spencer wrote Start Before You’re Ready to encourage and help young people chase their entrepreneurial dreams.  His is not a conventional success story – he managed to develop a sense of adventure and an entrepreneurial spirit, despite chronic health issues and learning disabilities.  By starting his business ONTHEGO (OTG) in his early twenties, and growing it into the international success it is today, he has defied the bullies and naysayers, and achieved success on his own terms.  With plentiful tips on resilience and overcoming adversity, Start Before You’re Ready challenges you to get outside your comfort zone and encourages you to learn ‘on the go’, focussing on what you can do rather than what you can’t. 

The 1 Minute Commute: Turn your Skills into a Business You’ll Love, Be your Own Boss, Work from Home by Robert Gerrish

For many of us, the pandemic has offered a taste of a 1-minute commute (aka Working at/from Home); if this has strengthened your resolve to strike out on your own, then Robert Gerrish should be your go-to guide.  Robert Gerrish has spent over 20 years helping Australians succeed in solo businesses, including as co-founder of Flying Solo, Australia’s largest online community of solopreneurs. His special interest is in developing lifestyle-friendly businesses, helping business owners live they lives they want. The 1 Minute Commute collects his most up-to-date advice, on how to take creative charge of your career and be your own boss.  From freelancers and soloists to entrepreneurs and micro-business owners, this book will give you the knowledge and skills to shape your professional life to fit your lifestyle.

What if it Does Work Out? How a Side Hustle can Change your Life by Susie Moore

Many of us dream of monetising our skills with side hustles – and there are more opportunities to do this than ever – but hesitate out of fear of failure.  Susie Moore’s guide to side hustles focusses on overcoming those fears – as the title suggests, visualising your business Working Out rather than Not Working Out.  Using her skills as both a life coach and business coach, she shows how recognizing your skills, understanding your potential, and knowing your purpose in life can lead you to living a life of full satisfaction. Having helped over 500 clients develop successful businesses, Susie Moore has packed this book with useful advice, tips and resources- the perfect motivational and practical injection you need to get started.

Learning from the new gurus – a new wave of biographies on the market

Every now and again there is a shift in what we consider great leadership. Biographies and autobiographies give us terrific insight into the minds of these leading individuals and there seems to be a shift as to which biographies are trending. It’s no longer mainly saturated with business giants, the biography genre is more balanced and uses athletes, small business owners, musicians to help us in our own lives. Understanding what athletes face on the sporting field can be applied to many businesses, acknowledging the grit required for a start-up is eye opening, and challenging an entire industry can lead to extraordinary results and a new normal. We have found six inspiring stories that are jam packed with lessons that you can transfer to your career and business. 

Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by Curtis Jackson

For the first time, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson opens up about his amazing comeback from tragic personal loss to thriving businessman and cable’s highest paid executive. In this unique self-help guide, his first since his blockbuster New York Times bestseller The 50th Law.

In his early twenties Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent rose to the heights of fame and power in the cutthroat music business. A decade ago the multi-platinum selling rap artist decided to pivot. His ability to adapt to change was demonstrated when he became the executive producer and star of Power, a high-octane, gripping crime drama centred around a drug kingpin’s family. The series quickly became “appointment” television, leading to Jackson inking a four-year, $150 million contract with the Starz network, the most lucrative deal in premium cable history. Now, in his most personal book, Jackson shakes up the self-help category with his unique, cutting-edge lessons and hard-earned advice on embracing change. Where The 50th Law tells readers “fear nothing and you shall succeed,” Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter builds on this message, combining it with Jackson’s street smarts and hard-learned corporate savvy to help readers successfully achieve their own comeback, and to learn to flow with the changes that disrupt their own lives.

That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph

This is the incredible untold story of how Netflix went from concept to company.

Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video streaming unheard of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. These were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997, when Marc Randolph had an idea. 

It was a simple thought, leveraging the internet to rent movies, and was just one of many more proposals, like personalised baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning. 

But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair, with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO, founded a company. Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix’s triumph feels inevitable, but the 21st century’s most disruptive start-up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when they pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph’s transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts and determination can change the world, even with an idea that many think will never work. 

What emerges, however, isn’t just the inside story of one of the world’s most iconic companies. Full of counterintuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success? From idea generation to team building to knowing when it’s time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time. 

What It Takes by Raegan Moya-Jones

This book is set to inspire many business ideas. I loved it and read it in a day and it is the perfect read while staying safe at home.

When Raegan Moya-Jones was told by her overbearing male boss that she didn’t have an ‘entrepreneurial bone’ in her whole body, she almost laughed in his face. What he didn’t know was that the business she’d been secretly working on in the small hours of the night after putting her baby to bed had just hit a revenue of $1 million. Today, aden + anais, the swaddling blanket and baby goods company Moya-Jones founded is a global, multi-million dollar franchise and one that Beyonce, Gwen Stefani and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge loyally support. In this clever, relatable and iconoclastic success story, Moya-Jones busts every myth and misconception about women in business and argues that women should embrace the attributes that set them apart from men. Blanket conventions and perceived barriers attached to the female entrepreneur can be transformed into assets and profit – all you have to do is take the leap.

Quirky by Melissa Schilling

From historical figures such as Marie Curie to contemporaries such as Steve Jobs, a handful of innovators have changed the world. What made them so spectacularly inventive? Melissa A. Schilling, one of the world’s leading experts on innovation, looks at the lives of seven creative geniuses; Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Elon Musk, Dean Kamen, Nicola Tesla, Curie, and Jobs to identify the traits and quirks that led them to become breakthrough innovators.

Though all innovators possess incredible intellect, intellect alone does not create a serial innovator. There are other very strong commonalities: for instance, nearly all exhibit very high levels of social detachment. They all have extreme, almost maniacal, faith in their ability to overcome obstacles. And they have a passionate idealism that pushes them to work with intensity even in the face of criticism or failure. These individual traits would be unlikely to work in isolation being unconventional without having high levels of confidence and direction, for example, might result in rebellious behaviour that does not lead to meaningful innovation.

Schilling reveals the science behind the convergence of traits that increases the likelihood of success, and shows us how to nurture and facilitate breakthrough innovation in our own lives.

We Are The Nerds by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

We Are The Nerds is a riveting look deep inside the legendary rise of message-board start-up Reddit; its controversies, its struggle for profitability, and the way its unique platform has changed the culture of the Internet. Reddit hails itself as ‘the front page of the Internet’. It is the fourth most-visited website in the UK and USA, whose army of highly engaged (obsessed even) users have been credited with everything from solving cold case crimes to seeding alt-right fury and helping to land Donald Trump in the White House.

We Are The Nerds is the gripping tale of how Reddit’s founders, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, met as two idealistic young men at the University of Virginia in 2001, with the common goal of creating something that would make a mark on the world. Within a few years they had become millionaires and created an icon of the digital age, before seeing the site engulfed in controversies and nearly losing control of it for good. This is the story of Alexis and Steve losing grasp of the beast they created, as it lurched out of their control and morphed into an untameable creature, and their return to try to tame that beast. Based on Christine Lagorio’s unprecedented and exclusive access to founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, We Are The Nerds is also a compelling exploration of the way we all communicate today and how we got here. Reddit and its users have become a mirror of the Internet: it has dingy corners, shiny memes, malicious trolls, and a sometimes heart-melting ability to connect people across cultures, oceans, and ideological divides. The legend of Reddit embodies all the triumphs and challenges of the start-up age.

LeBron Inc. The Making of A Billion Dollar Athlete by Brian Windhorst

With eight straight trips to the NBA Finals, LeBron James has proven himself one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan before him, LeBron has also become a global brand and businessman who has altered the way professional athletes think about their value, maximise their leverage, and use their voice.

LeBron, Inc. tells the story of James’s journey down the path to becoming a billionaire sports icon – his successes, his failures, and the lessons both have taught him along the way. With plenty of news-making tidbits about his rollercoaster last season in Cleveland and high-profile move to the Lakers, LeBron, Inc. shows how James has changed the way most elite athletes manage their careers, and how he launched a movement among his peers that may last decades beyond his playing days.

Enjoy!

How you can use imposter syndrome to your benefit.

Have you ever doubted your abilities, feared you were going to be discovered as a “fraud”? That’s called “impostor syndrome,” and you’re definitely not alone in feeling it, says entrepreneur and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. In this funny, relatable talk, he shares how his own experiences of impostor syndrome helped pave the way to his success and shows how you can use it to your advantage, too.

Top selling professional development books for 2019

Continuing to develop your career can not only invigorate your passion for your chosen field but also help you get ahead if you are intending to climb the corporate ladder (or want to build your own ladder to climb). Sometimes to get ahead you need to extend and invest in yourself. Thankfully there are a plethora of books being released that all aim to help you extend yourself. 

Make yourself a cup of something tasty and get comfy, these titles are bound to inspire you to take the next steps for your career. 

The Third Door by Alex Banayan

The Third Door takes readers on an unprecedented adventure; from hacking Warren Buffett’s shareholders meeting to chasing Larry King through a grocery store to celebrating in a nightclub with Lady Gaga, as Alex Banayan travels from icon to icon, decoding their success. After remarkable one-on-one interviews with Bill Gates, Maya Angelou, Steve Wozniak, Jane Goodall, Larry King, Jessica Alba, Pitbull, Tim Ferriss, Quincy Jones, and many more, Alex discovered the one key they have in common – they all took the Third Door. Life, business, success is just like a nightclub. There are always three ways in. There’s the First Door – the main entrance, where ninety-nine percent of people wait in line, hoping to get in. The Second Door – the VIP entrance, where the billionaires and celebrities slip through. But what no one tells you is that there is always, always a the Third Door. It’s the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the door a hundred times, climb over the dumpster, crack open the window, sneak through the kitchen – there’s always a way in. Whether it’s how Bill Gates sold his first piece of software or how Steven Spielberg became the youngest studio director in Hollywood history, they all took the Third Door.

Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk

In his 2009 international bestseller, Crush It!, Gary insisted that a vibrant personal brand was one of the primary paths to entrepreneurial success. In Crushing It!, Gary explains why that’s even more true today, offering his unique perspective on what has changed and what remains timeless. He also shares stories from other entrepreneurs who have grown wealthier-and not just financially – than they ever imagined possible by following Crush It! principles. The secret to their success (and Gary’s) has everything to do with their understanding of social media platforms and their willingness to do whatever it takes to make these tools work to their utmost potential. Crushing It! is a state-of-the-art guide to building your own path to professional and financial success, but it’s not about getting rich. It’s a blueprint for living life on your own terms.

Willpower Doesn’t Work by Benjamin Hardy 

If you’re relying on willpower alone to help you lose weight, improve your relationships or achieve more at work, you’re doomed to fail. The environment around us is far too powerful, stimulating, addicting and stressful to overcome it through sheer determination. Willpower, grit, being positive – basically, all the tools you’ve been told are the keys to creating lasting change in your life – are insufficient in this high-paced, information-overloaded world we live in. The only way to stop just surviving and learn to truly thrive in today’s world is to proactively shape your environment. That’s the premise of Willpower Doesn’t Work, by organisational psychologist and Medium’s most-read self-help guru Benjamin Hardy. Building on copious existing research, as well as his own experience of growing up in a broken family afflicted by addiction and drug use, Hardy explains how people can change their lives on every level by making small, impactful changes in your environment. 

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink

Daniel H. Pink, is the bestselling author of Drive and To Sell Is Human, and is aiming to unlock the scientific secrets to good timing to help you flourish at work, at school, and at home.

Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don’t know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of “when” decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork.

Timing, it’s often assumed, is an art. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shows that timing is really a science.

Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology, and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work, and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for you as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers, or get married? In When, Pink distills cutting-edge research and data on timing and synthesises them into a fascinating, readable narrative packed with irresistible stories and practical takeaways that give readers compelling insights into how we can live richer, more engaged lives.

The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman

There’s only one person in the way of you un-tapping your potential: You. There’s also one person who can move you out of the way so you can perform at your peak. That person is already inside you. You just need to unlock them. This other part of you is your Alter Ego. After twenty-one years of working with elite athletes, performers and leaders, Todd Herman has discovered how you can use your alter ego to achieve the seemingly impossible. It all clicked for Todd when he met Bo Jackson. When Herman met Bo Jackson, the professional athlete told him, “Bo Jackson never played a down of football in his entire life.” Bo explained that when he was young, he’d get into trouble because chaos caused by his anger issues. Then, he saw Friday the 13th and became fascinated by the cold, calculating nature of Jason Vorhees. In that moment, he resolved to stop being Bo Jackson, and start being Jason the moment he stepped on the field. In this transformative guide, Herman teaches you how to create and control an Alter Ego like Bo-and the thousands of other athletes, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and entertainers who have used this simple tool to change their lives. Herman also shares his own story: he knew that inside was a confident, self-assured, intelligent person who could help others get better results in their lives. When he started using superman’s classic trick-putting on a pair of glasses he learned to trigger the specific traits he needed to achieve his goals. The Alter Ego Effect is not about creating a false mask – it’s about finding the hero already inside you. It’s a proven way of overcoming the self-doubt, negativity, and insecurity that hold you back, and empowering you to ultimately become your best self.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions – doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call. He calls them atomic habits. In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy. These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.

Enjoy!

Books to Help You Launch a Blog

For the past few weeks we have been looking at social media options that help support your side business.  Today we are focussing on the Granddaddy/mummy of them all – the blog.  Blogs allow us to share our thoughts and connect with other people on pretty much any topic.    Whether you want to start blogging for personal enjoyment, to support your professional goals or to develop a business idea,  here are titles that will inspire and help you get started. 

The One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand

This is a great tool for those of us who like a bit of structure and a “big picture” overview before we plunge into a project.  Meera Kothand is a digital marketing specialist, and this is her method for generating a year’s worth of blog post ideas in an hour or less. The secret is to set regular blogging goals, and to never forget the purpose of your blog.  The One Hour Content Plan contains downloadable worksheets and templates to help you work through Meera’s actionable ideas.  This mix of business / marketing and writing advice will help you craft a cohesive, authentic blog that will support your public/professional persona or business.

Likeable Social Media (Third Edition): How to Delight your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and be Generally Amazing on all Social Networks that Matter by Dave Kerpen

You know a book must be good if it is onto its Third Edition in eight years. Likeable Social Media is not just about how to get more “Likes” on Facebook; instead it is about how to develop likeable business practices and likeable content that capture customer loyalty, build communities and strengthen reputations in the long run. This latest revision offers strategies about newer social media platforms such as Snapchat, and news and tactics on the latest tools and options.  The direct, conversational tone of the book is easy to read and feels like Dave Kerpen has become your personal mentor. 

The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers by Sally Miller

If you’ve ever dreamt of making a living as a blogger – or want to know how to make money from your blog – then you need this book.  In The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers, Sally Miller interviewed 17 top bloggers to learn the strategies, habits and mindsets that have helped them become successful.  These bloggers make six- or even seven-figure salaries from blogging – when most bloggers struggle to make a tiny fraction of that. The bloggers all took different paths to success, but showed that persistence and smart work habits are essential.  The tips and advice they shared are sensible and practical, and can help to improve the focus and quality of any blog.

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom & David Kelley

Creative Confidence is not specifically about blogging, but is a guide on how we can use creative thinking to become more productive and successful in our lives.  Tom and David Kelley are brothers and co-founders of the award-winning design firm, IDEO – innovation and creativity is their life’s work.  They wrote Creative Confidence in order to inspire and help everyone realise their creative potential.  Using many interesting anecdotes, and ideas based on design / iterative thinking, the Kelleys show that greater creativity can be learnt – by trying new things without fear of failure, and by learning from our mistakes.

Influencer: Building your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media by Brittany Hennessy

If you’ve ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and thought, I wear clothes, eat avocado toast and like sunsets, why can’t someone pay me to live my best life? Then this book is for you – Influencer is a detailed guide on how to nurture your social media presence – including your blog and your personal brand – into valuable social influence.  With her experience from both sides of the industry – starting as a blogger, eventually entering senior marketing roles in influencer strategy for various companies – Brittany Hennessy is able to offer a range of tips and tricks  to help you.  She is also refreshingly honest about the flipside of the influencer lifestyle – the amount of hard work and attention-to-detail required to live that picture-perfect life.  Essential reading.

365 Blog Topic Ideas: For The Lifestyle Blogger Who Has Nothing to Write About by Dana Fox

Dana Fox fell in love with the creative potential of the internet as a teen, then went on to build a successful career as a graphic artist, web designer, and blogger.  She is now paying it forward, sharing tips and tutorials on how to start blogging, through her blog I Can Build a Blog, and this book, 365 Blog Topic Ideas.  On each page there is a basic topic, such as “7 things found on the net this week”.  These are great starting points that also prompt you to modify or expand to suit the tone and focus of your own blog.  There is also a section full of holiday and seasonal ideas.  365 Blog Topic Ideas is a great resource for getting started, injecting variety or helping you become unstuck in your blogging.

Growing your side business with Youtube

More and more people are carving out their own little corner of the internet to launch their side hustle. Video is the most powerful content on social media. It can stop us in our (scrolling) tracks and demand our attention with FOMO viral clips. Video also allows brands to show snippets of life behind the scenes of a business which is a  technique used to build trust with customers. 

If you’re thinking of utilising youtube for your side hustle read on. Our team has trailed the internet and has found the top titles for using youtube for business. 

Really professional internet person by Jenn McAlister

Jenn McAllister, better known as JennxPenn, has been obsessed with making videos since she found her parents video camera at the age of eight. A shy child, Jenn turned to film because, unlike with life, you can always have a do-over. Really Professional Internet Person offers both an insider’s guide to building a successful YouTube channel and an intimate portrait of the surreality of insta-fame and the harsh reality of high school. Brimming with honesty, heart and Jenn’s patented sense of humour, Really Professional Internet Person features top ten lists, photos, screenshots, social media posts and never-before-posted stories chronicling Jenn’s journey from an anxious middle-schooler just trying to fit in, to a YouTube sensation unafraid to stand out.

So you want to blog by Andrea Valeria 

So, you’re an aspiring vlogger? Your new favourite content creator, Andrea Valeria of “It’s a Travel O.D.,” has broken down the vlogging process for you, without taking herself too seriously or getting overly technical. From naming your vlog, refining your style, and advancing your skills—to the satisfaction of publishing your very first video — you now have a vlogging mentor (and maybe your first viewer!). 

I, Justine by Justine Ezarik

A one-woman media phenomenon and a leading YouTube influencer takes readers behind the camera, and deep inside her world. Justine Ezarik has been tech-obsessed since unboxing her family s first Apple computer. By sixth grade she had built her first website. A decade later, she became one of the Internet s first and most popular lifecasters, inviting people around the world to watch her every move, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But it was a one-minute video about an itemised AT&T bill that gave Justine her first taste of viral success: Within ten days of release, her 300-page iPhone bill had garnered more than 3 million views and international media attention. These days, iJustine is a one-woman new media phenomenon: The popular techie, gamer, vlogger, and digital influencer has an army of nearly 3.5 million subscribers across multiple YouTube channels, with total views approaching half a billion. Now, Justine is giving friends and fans a look behind the scenes, sharing never-before-told stories about the hilarious (and sometimes heartbreaking) reality of sharing your life online. With her trademark wit and delightfully weird sense of humor, Justine delivers an inspirational message in support of creativity, entrepreneurship, and the power of staying true to yourself, while reminding readers that the Internet is a very small world you just never know who you re going to meet.

The Amazing Book is not on fire by Dan Howell and Phil Lester

Dan and Phil are youtube sensations who just about broke the internet when they announced they were releasing a board game back in 2017. You can check it out here. But back in 2015 they released a book offering helpful advice on how to make successful videos. Using themselves as object lessons, they start with short but thorough autobiographies that provide insight into their childhood, teen, and early vlogging years. They then move into talking about their creative processes, a little bit about their setups, and a lot of helpful advice, including what not to do, to make entertaining videos.

Vlog like a Boss by Amy Schmittauer

Vlog Like a Boss is the complete guide to video blogging.

Amy Schmittauer is the Vlog Boss. As a new media triple threat; a YouTuber, keynote speaker and author and all the while she coaches people to go after what they want in life and leverage online video to make it happen. Creator of the popular YouTube series Savvy Sexy Social, her channel boasts a global community and millions of views. Now, in her first book, she will show you how to Vlog Like a Boss and get the attention you deserve. The book is a collection of strategies and tactics from years of experience in online video, Schmittauer shares time-tested, proven methods to creating brand awareness with vlogging that will build a loyal community for years to come. 

Enjoy. 

Smash fear, learn anything.

In this Ted Talk productivity guru Tim Ferriss’ fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question “What’s the worst that could happen?” is all you need to learn to do anything.