What We’re Reading

Emily Thompson 0:00
Hello, and welcome to being boss minisode number nine.

Emily Thompson 0:11
In today's minisode we're going to share some of our favorite books for creative entrepreneurs, books that have shifted our mindset and our businesses in major ways. This minisode is brought to you by our sponsor fresh books, cloud accounting.

Kathleen Shannon 0:27
Alright, you guys fresh books, we got to talk about them, because they're the best. I love fresh books. It's the easy to use invoicing software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time invoicing, and get paid faster. Today, I want to talk about expenses. It is so important for you to track every single one of your business expenses. And I love that freshbooks automatically organizes it into tax friendly categories. So you can expense things like meals, gas, your home office, is there anything I'm missing Emily things that you can expense software that you're buying ecourses travel, you can expense all of that stuff, and put it into your freshbooks and it will organize it for you. So at the end of the year, you can give this list to your accountant and they'll know exactly what you can write off. And what you can only write off a portion of anyway, it's it's imperative for creative entrepreneurs to be tracking their expenses. In freshbooks, you can also automatically import your business expenses from your bank. So it's not about like necessarily saving your receipts as you go and then plugging them in later you can import it from your bank. But if you do have a business receipt, you can snap a photo of it and then log that expense with your phone. And you can assign expenses to clients for easy reimbursement. So check out freshbooks you can try it for free today by going to freshbooks comm slash being boss and enter being boss in the How did you hear about us section? Alright, let's jump in though we want to talk about books, Emily and Emily and I are constantly being asked what books we recommend that I really want to talk about that what books that have changed the way that we live and run our businesses. So and Emily, how do you want to do this? Do you want to like you share one and then I share one? Sure I'll do that. So you go first.

Emily Thompson 2:29
Okay, so my number one favorite book of all time. Mine is Harry Potter would be a business brilliant by Louis Schiff. I got recommended this book a little over a year ago. And it was kind of weird about reading it because it felt like a really business book. And those kind of always scared me off a little bit. But I read it and it's a really great book. So Louis Schiff is like a financial advisor ish to self made millionaires. And so he did a survey of a lot of his clients and people he knew that were self made millionaires, as well as a whole bunch of like middle class workers, and compare the mind shit mind shit really mindset to right, you compare the mindset differences between middle class workers and self made millionaires and wrote a book and it's divided into chapters like exploring each of these major factors that are different between people who you know, build booming businesses and people who just sort of work their work their jobs for a living. And so, so it's a really great insight as to those mindset shifts that you need to have to sort of uplevel your life and especially your business, to really take you to the next level. I think it's genius.

Kathleen Shannon 3:48
I love it. I'll have to check that out. So my number one book that I always recommend, well, there are two. But the first one I always recommend is daring greatly by Brene Brown. And Brene wrote this book after her TED Talk went viral basically, and millions and millions of people are watching it daily. And it's funny because she got some criticism and some like weird criticism. Anyway, she ended up writing daring greatly. And it it Okay, first off, if you're not familiar with Brene Brown, go to Google type in Brene Brown vulnerability, and her TED talk will show up, that alone will change your life, then read her book daring greatly. It's all about showing up and being seen. And that's probably like my big key takeaway from her book is being brave enough to show up and be seen to show up without your armor on to be vulnerable, and to deal with the failures and criticism that comes with success. And one of the things that she talks about a lot is getting into the arena, and that those who are not in the arena with you, they don't matter. Oh, I like that I have I have her book right here with me. And I've got I'm looking at like all the different post it notes in it and all the different highlights, I mean tons of sections. But she talks a lot about shame and vulnerability and preferred perfectionism and busting perfectionism. I love, I love everything that she writes. So definitely check out daring greatly. I think it's a good book for people who are just starting on their entrepreneurial journey, who need a little bit of courage to show up and be seen.

Emily Thompson 5:40
Yeah, that's a good one. Another one of my favorites is start something that matters by Blake Mycoskie. And it's the guy who started Toms. So yeah, he wrote a book about starting a business that is for profit, but also sort of like helps in general. And so he does. They're a couple like excerpts of other really cool businesses that I have that are for profit, but do really great things. For the planet. They're just communities. So it's just a really sort of inspiring book. And especially in the creative entrepreneur realm, where we're all building these businesses to change the world, in one way or another through our gifts. It's a really great sort of, sort of look at someone who's actually done it, who's built a really huge business, and his platform is helping other people, but it's also for profit, and he's sort of just created this really dreamy job for himself and everyone that he employs. So start something that matters, but by Blake makowski is hands down one of my favorites.

Kathleen Shannon 6:47
Alright, my second favorite, and this is basically my business Bible is called rework by the guys at 37 signals. So it's by Jason Fried, maybe that's Jason freed, and David Heinemeier Hansson, so 37 signals is basically a book that these guys wrote whenever they were starting, well, okay. It's kind of how they run their business. But these guys were the ones who invented the software Basecamp. And so they were web developers, and they created Basecamp. for themselves. It was kind of just a side project to get something that works for them. Anyway, then they were able to market that and create I mean, now that's what they're known for his base camp, and they've created a ton of products off of that. But what I love about this book is that it's just a ton of different quippy little one page tidbits of advice. And so they say things, like for example, and it's designed really cool to to get the get the actual physical copy of rework. And some books are good on the Kindle, like Daring Greatly is great on the Kindle, but I would get rework, I would get a hard copy of that. So like some of the things and I'm just going to read through a couple of them just flipping through the book, just so you can see like every page has a good sound bite. So one of them is focus on what won't change. Decisions are progress. Let's see, Oh, I love this one. You're better off with a kick ass half than a half assed hole.

Emily Thompson 8:23
That is my favorite one. That's like my big key takeaway from that from that book, because I love that book, too.

Kathleen Shannon 8:29
They have a little calendar here and it says year 10 overnight sensation. And that's something that we've talked about our podcasts that it took 10 years to be an overnight success. Yeah. And another one that says like press releases are spam. So they're also challenging the way that things are conventionally done. And they're saying, okay, here's how we did it. So it's just a really great book. It's really simple, but really meaty, if that makes sense. So get that book and this is like really the, if I feel confused, or I don't know what direction to take this book as my Bible, it tells me what I need to do. So yeah, rework by Jason freed and David Heinemeier Hansson,

Emily Thompson 9:14
Yes, I am. seconding that one that's that's one of the very first business books that I read. And is one like, I give it to people like I have extra copies. To give to people yeah,

Kathleen Shannon 9:25
Do you sign it for them.

Emily Thompson 9:29
No, but maybe I should

Kathleen Shannon 9:31
you write the book. I should have written it. Right. Emily Thompson.

Emily Thompson 9:35
Yeah. Someone else wrote it first. No, I love that. One of my favorite things about that book is how they said that they they really super cut down the content of that book, which is something that I strive to do constantly is whenever writing content, like going and having it and then having it again, and that's something that they did that multiple times, which is why it's so like short, but so meaty, is because they understand the idea of really cutting down content to the bare minimum?

Kathleen Shannon 10:02
I love it. Alright, what else do you have on your list?

Emily Thompson 10:05
I have so I lightly Well, maybe not. So lately, let's say like winter, December and through February, who's really into reading some, like positive psychology books, and sort of for me, like emotionally like in my head up leveling myself so that I can like deal with growth? Because

Kathleen Shannon 10:25
Okay, question two this positivity books? Do they ever make you feel more sad? Like it brings awareness to almost your negative mindset?

Emily Thompson 10:34
No, because it's not a negative person, like, and I've talked about this to people before, like, I don't, it's not that I don't get it like because I probably could get it, but no, they never did. But I also didn't read those that were like asking ones like, not so much self help. So one of my favorite books, self coaching, one on one by Brooke Castillo, which is really just like learning how to, like coach yourself into thinking positively, which is really great. She has this really cool like, layout for how it is that you can like a little exercise you can walk yourself through if you're like, feeling shitty, you don't need to feel shitty anymore, which is just really, really great. And I sort of that was the first one that I read. And it sort of set the groundwork for I guess what's possible, and like thinking positively and how that can affect like the entirety of your life. But then like a business II follow up to that is happy hour is nine to five, by Alexander journalof. Totally and probably butchering that one. But but it's more of like a like happiness in the workplace and how to be a better manager, but also how to be a better worker and how like simple mindset set chefs can assist you and like in enjoying your work so much more or having even more productive employees if you are hiring people. So that one was really cool. For me, again, not really stuff that was surprising, because if you're just nice to people, then good things happen, which is what your parents should be teaching you. But it also just sort of put it into plain speak as to like, you know, if you want to be an effective manager, or business owner, or team leader or team player, then just sort of some simple tactics to assist you in being a better business person.

Kathleen Shannon 12:16
I love it. So I have a mindset one that I really love. And that is Hang on, let me open it. I so I threw away all the jackets to my books. Yeah, I

Emily Thompson 12:27
see. Dressing really hard covers.

Kathleen Shannon 12:32
No. So okay, this one is a guide to the good life, the ancient art of stoic joy. And this one is by William B. Irvine. And I love this book. It all explains stoic philosophy from way back when but then really applies it to a modern day perspective. And it talks about why stoicism isn't what you think it is. And I love this book, I think my key takeaway from it was that you just have to kind of have a philosophy to life in general to live by. And I'm not I mean, I believe in the universe, and I feel spiritual, but I don't have a like religion. And so this book kind of made me feel like I can, I don't need religion, but I do need a philosophy to life to help kind of point me toward my true north star whenever I'm feeling kind of more maybe emotionally unstable, or off my path there. So I really loved this book. And it also made me realize, I mean, my husband read it afterwards because he's a total stoic, in, like in a really good way in a really amazing kind of like, unattached. And okay, here's one thing that I love about stoic philosophy is that a lot of times were thought or were told to think positive, so just think positive. But the stoics sometimes what they believe is think about the worst case scenario, like think about what could be worse. And so it's this negative visualization of what could be worse to kind of help you appreciate what you have, which I think is just a fun way of approaching it. If you have a hard time getting into a positive headspace. Sometimes it's easier to think of like what could be so much worse, but I really enjoyed this book. And it really made me embrace stoicism and made me want to learn more about other philosophers.

Emily Thompson 14:30
Yeah.

Kathleen Shannon 14:31
Okay. Can I share one more? That's kind of like a fun frivolous book.

Emily Thompson 14:34
Absolutely. Go for it.

Kathleen Shannon 14:35
Okay, sonone of my favorite books, we're not, we're not putting this episode on YouTube, but I have all these books with me. So this is a huge book. And again, I think you need the hard copy of this one. It's called influence and it is by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. So the Olsen twins, right? Um, but it is so great and basically, it's everyone that they admired, that they got to interview in this book. And so they're interviewing people like Diane Von Furstenberg. And let's see, they're also like Terry Richardson, who's kind of controversial, Lauren Hutton. They're just a john Galliano like they are interviewing all these people that influence their work. And their Mary Kate and Ashley are now fashion designers. But they're also self made entrepreneurs as well. And I just think it's really cool. But it's kind of like what we're doing here on this podcast. Like they're just kind of giving a peek behind the curtain of what inspires them and what influences them. And then they are talking directly to those people and asking them what their path is like. So I really just enjoy this book more from a creative level. And it has fun things in it like Polaroids of Mary Kate and Ashley, with all the people out there interviewing. It has like some cool interior shots, and parts of it feel kind of mood bordie or scrap bookie. And then also like some beautiful shots of Mary Kate and Ashley themselves. And so I think it's a really fun book.

Emily Thompson 16:14
It sounds fun. I've heard of it. I'll have to check it out.

Kathleen Shannon 16:17
I go back to it over and over again. I also read like another book. So I before we did this episode, I was literally just looking at my bookshelf. And what do I love over and over again. So it's this book I always pick up whenever I'm just kind of feeling bored or whatever. And then there's a Kevin a coin book, and he's a makeup artist. And he has a book called face forward. I think I got it for two bucks at Barnes noble, and I am constantly opening nowlan it's really fun, just a fun makeup book anyway, so I like to refund frivolous things as well.

Emily Thompson 16:49
Thank you, Kathleen, for sharing your books with me. You

Kathleen Shannon 16:51
Emily, I have more stuff to read. I haven't read any of your books. I don't think

Emily Thompson 16:55
well I've read a couple of yours, but not all of them. I should pick the rest of them not

Kathleen Shannon 16:58
good reader. All right. Well, thank you all for giving us a little bit of your time today. And feel free to continue the discussion on our Facebook group. And you can find that in our show notes and we'd love to hear what you're reading right now. And if you haven't already, please be sure to check out all of our full episodes on lovebeingboss.com on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher. You will have been leaving us amazing reviews on iTunes and it really does make a difference. So thank you for that. Do the work be boss and we'll see you next week.