In the book Love is the Killer App – How to win business and influence friends by Tim Sanders talks about about what it takes to be a lovecat. A lovecat is someone who isn’t afraid to be a nice person a.k.a a great human being and still be successful.
Being a lovecat isn’t just about being nice. A lovecat consists of knowledge, network and compassion.
Offer your wisdom freely. Give away your address book to everyone who wants it. And always be human.
The 10 must read books for aspiring lovecats are:
- The Experience Economy
- Corporate Religion
- The Inventor’s Dilemma
- What the CEO wants you to know
- The Tipping Point
- The Circle of Innovation
- The Art of Happiness
- Love
- Simplicity
- Leading the Revolution
Being a lovecat isn’t easy but what is the alternative?
I recently attended a showing of Hugh MacLeod’s work at a bar in New York. I had never heard of Hugh until I started using Twitter six months ago. But every since I have been a big fan of his work. If you’ve visited my site at all you’ve seen that I’ve installed his gapingvoid.com widget.
I finished reading Hugh’s book a few days ago. It’s been in my pile of “to-read” books for awhile now but I got through it in two hours. It was a great read and I highly recommend it to any one with a new idea or a creative person who doubts their abilities.
The following quote is one of many that are interspersed through Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Great ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That’s why good ideas are always initially resisted.
According to Hugh the book condenses as follows
Work hard
Keep at it
Live Simply and Quietly
Remain humble
Stay positive
Create your own luck
Be nice
Be polite
His advice as he mentions “isn’t rocket science” so why not give it a whirl. I got a chance to chat briefly with Hugh at the event in New York and he was nice, very gracious and even asked how the widget was working on my site. Fame doesn’t seem to have gotten to his head and over a million downloads of the manifesto that lead to his book deal don’t seem to have made him a prima donna. We should all be so lucky when we achieve success.
Follow him on Twitter @gapingvoid
I recently read My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman based upon the recommendation of a friend. I have to say I thought that after read a bunch of other books about freelancing and doing it for over 5 years I didn’t think I was going to learn a lot. Not the best attitude to have, but I read on average 5 books at once so I don’t like to start a book unless I’m going to finish it.
The guide covers everything from creating a business plan, developing a marketing strategy and dealing with clients. Most people skip creating the business plan because they think it needs to be complicated and long. Well that need not be the case. The author discusses why having a business plan is important i.e. for clarifying what you are doing, why you are doing it and also can you make a living at it.
The section on pricing in the book is worth the cost of the book. Figuring out how much to charge is one of THE biggest challenges most people face. I know I still struggle with it. I want to be fair to the client but I also need to charge what my services are worth. Someone will always want the cheapest price they can get for a job but usually I know that person is someone I am not meant to serve.
If you are new to freelancing or just need a kick in the butt to straighten out your business this book is a must read. The section about contracts is great too. If you know any good contract attorneys send them my way!
Michelle blogs at anti9to5guide.com or follow her tweets @anti9to5guide
I recently completed the book Now, Discover Your Strengths
and I felt compelled to write a review of the book. It was that good! The book is written by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. When I was purchasing the book at Barnes and Noble the sales clerk commented on my choice of reading material and asked if I had read the previous book First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
. I haven’t but now I might. There is a newer version of Now, Discover Your Strengths called StrengthsFinder 2.0 
with an upgraded edition of the online test and other tools.
The quote on the front cover of Now, Discover Your Strengths claims that the book is a
revolutionary program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths – and those of the people you manage
Well I don’t manage people often so the part about managing people wasn’t that meaningful to me but still intriguing. All that sounded great but how was I going to learn anything about my strengths. Well each book comes with a unique code that works only once online…so sorry you can’t borrow my copy…you then go to the testing website and complete the test. I’m sure the cynics will say that’s a nice way to sell books. If you’ve ever completed the Myer-Briggs test or any sort of personality test you are already familiar with the types of questions tests like these ask.
Strengths Defined
“First, for an activity to be considered a strength you must be able to do it consistently. And this implies that is a predictable part of your performance…The acid test of a strength? The ability is a strength only if you can fathom yourself doing it repeatedly, happily, and successfully.
Second, you don’t have to have strength in every aspect of your role in order to excel…excellent performers were rarely well rounded. On the contrary, they were sharp.
Third, you will excel only by maximizing your strengths, never by fixing your weaknesses. This is not the same as saying “ignore your weaknesses.” The people we described did not ignore their weaknesses. Instead, they did something much more effective. They found ways to manage around their weaknesses, thereby freeing them up to hone their strengths to a sharper point.
I really loved how they described constantly trying to fix your weaknesses as just “damage control”.
According to the authors most people think that with “enough practice almost everything is learnable”. I have to agree there are some things I have a natural aptitude for and others I don’t. I always know when I’m doing something that doesn’t come naturally. I am sure you have had the same experience. It’s like having teeth pulled without being put to sleep. I’ve had that done and I don’t recommend it!
There are 34 themes in the StrengthFinder profile and the book goes into detail about each one. Plus there are stories below each about people with those themes. In case you’re curious here are my top 5 strengths:
- Empathy – Can sense the emotions of others
- Connectedness –Believe things happen for a reason and that we are part of something larger than ourselves
- Restorative – Love to solve problems
- Individualization – Intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. Impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person
-
Command – Desire to take charge. Share opinion.
Honestly I wasn’t exactly thrilled with my results when I first read them and even more so when I returned to the book and read the following.
There is one obstacle barring your progress: Your own reluctance
Two words popped into my head after I read that.
“Bite me!”
Then I kept reading.
I think I am going to focus more on my strengths rather than “damage control”. Why frustrate myself with a losing battle? Like we say in Trinidad – “It’s like spinnin’ top in mud”. You get nowhere.
Being empathic makes me a better user experience designer and so do all the other strengths I have. I always thought picking up on others feelings was kind of weird but after working in Bellevue as a teaching artist and computer graphics instructor with an autistic student. I better saw its value. I got a hug our last day of class. Not an easy thing to have achieved. And he made some money! One of his teachers bought his creation.
On page 130 of the book the authors write
…those things that “you can’t help but…” – are not mundane, commonplace, obvious. On the contrary, your instinctive reactions are unique. They make you different from everyone else. They make you extraordinary
Everyone doesn’t see the world the same way. Honestly it would be boring if we did. Now go discover your strengths!
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