Ummm, excuse me, but...

Wasn't working for yourself supposed to be a good thing?

(You wanted flexibility, not frenzy. It wasn't about the money, but some days that's all you seem to think about. And though you're proud of your work, sometimes you make promises that are almost impossible to keep. Is there a way to work for yourself and not go broke or crazy?)

Are we having fun yet?
If you are anything like me (poor dear), you never planned to go into business. You just wanted to work for yourself.

It seemed reasonable at the time. People encouraged you. Whether you baked the best pies in the neighborhood, had an unerring eye for decorating, or were the first person your friends called when they needed advice, everyone loved your work.

And one day, you took the plunge.

You expected to work hard, but this is ridiculous.
The moment you made the decision to work for yourself, your life seemed to spiral out of control. If you were lucky enough to get work, you scrambled for personal time. If you didn't have work, you spent endless days agonizing over how to get some.

It's not the effort so much as never knowing if you are doing the right thing. You try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one. And now, you, who never wanted this to be about the money, are starting to see everything in terms of dollars and cents.

You're not crazy, just confused.
Suppose you wanted to grow vegetables. Would you scatter seeds around the yard and expect a harvest to "manifest" a few months later?

Of course not. You don't have to be a master gardener to understand that it takes more than seeds and intention to grow a garden. It takes nourishment, protection, and support.

What you didn't realize is that, when you work for yourself, your business is the garden. That makes you the gardener.

That means it's going to take more than talent and good intentions to make a living at this. You're going to have to learn about growing a business.

The good news is that, if you do, you can expect a terrific harvest - a business that fits just right.

How to make your business grow.
A successful garden needs three things.

1. Nourishing soil. You are the soil your business grows in. Things that might not have been an issue when you worked for someone else, like being uncomfortable asking for money or shying away from self-promotion, can cripple your business if you don't work through them.
   
   (Want to know a secret? Those same things, when you do work through them, turn into the yummiest compost - not just for growing your business, but for growing yourself. Really.)

2. Structure. Have you ever seen a tomato plant collapse under the weight of its own fruit? Your business needs structures so that it doesn't collapse under the weight of things like marketing, taking care of customers, and paying the bills.
   
   The right structures leave you free to do the work you love doing.

3. Protection. Like a garden, your business is vulnerable to outside elements. Regulation. Demanding Customers. Your own self-talk. It needs to be protected until it is strong enough to withstand the harshest weather.

[If you want to skip ahead, click here to see the options.]

How WashPIRG made me an entrepreneur.
In 1996, a couple of volunteers from WashPIRG, the Washington Public Interest Research Group, came to the house asking for donations.

Call me a crank, but I don't love solicitors. I turned them away, but instead of just saying “no thanks,“ I groused about being self-employed and thus unable to contribute.

Now partly that was pure image management. I didn't want them to think I wasn't a good, card-carrying liberal. (I can be just as vapid with conservatives. I do so wanna be loved.)

But mostly, it was a matter of habit. I had become accustomed to gathering evidence to support my story of genteel poverty inflicted by an uncaring economy on good folks like myself.

For some reason, my petulant tone stayed with me long after the solicitors had left. I worried it like a loose tooth until I saw through my story: My problem wasn't that it was so hard to make a living. My problem was that I hadn't actually tried.

I had been hoping for a harvest without learning how to tend a garden.

Then and there I decided to get over myself and start taking care of business.

If you aren't running a business, you're running yourself into the ground.
The day you chose to work for yourself you became an entrepreneur. Not a hobbyist, not a volunteer, but an entrepreneur.

You may find the idea of entrepreneurship alien, even off-putting, in which case, you're an accidental entrepreneur. And that makes your business an accident waiting to happen.

Fortunately, you don't have to wait for the disaster, and you don't have to close up shop. You do need to plant that garden, and for that, you need a guide that shows you what to do and how to do it so you can grow the kind of business you want - a business that will fit just right.

Introducing The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur, The Practical Path to a Business that Fits "Just Right."
There's no secret to success if all you want is money. But for your business to fit just right, it needs to be in sync with a heap of other things you won't find in business books.

Spirituality. Relationships. Habits of the mind and emotions. Creativity. Even the way you use your body affects how you respond to opportunities and communicate with others. Like I said - you won't find all this in the business section.

And how about the attraction and manifestation crowd? They're terrific for inspiration and encouragement, but while the ideas are good, the instruction manual is missing. When was the last time you heard a guru explain how to set prices or write a web page?

[If you just want to buy the darn thing, you can click here to see the options.]

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Do you remember? I wanted to be a nun, an atomic scientist, and the president - all at once. Maybe you were going to be a fire fighter, a doctor, or an atomic scientist.

Whatever you wanted to be, it went without saying that you were going to rock at it.

So let's start rocking!

Are you wondering if someone like you can do this?
Absolutely. But before you go any farther, you need to know that you can't force a business any more than a garden. Growing a business will take time. This is a step-by-step guide to cultivating a successful business, not a get-rich-quick scheme. Follow the steps, and you can have a wonderful business. Put this book on your shelf, and you'll get what you've got.

That said, I've made this program as simple and concise as I can. In spite of the temptation to write The Encyclopedia of Integral Self-Employment (if you don't know, you don't want to know), I've stripped this book down to the essentials.

It's written in bite-sized chunks so you can read a few pages, take the indicated step, apply the results, and repeat.

Here's what is covered in The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur

Part I: Getting Clear
You can't grow a business that fits just right if you don't know what just right looks like. On the other hand, you could spend a lifetime dreaming, not to mention trying to wrestle your dreams out of the grip of your inner critic.

This section walks you through creating a blueprint for your business that is clear, specific, flexible, and achievable.

• A method for cutting through the noise and finding out what you always knew but couldn't quite put your finger on: what you want.

• Techniques to tame distractions -- no more days that go by with nothing to show for your time.

• A method of setting and following priorities that works, even if you've never succeeded at this before.

• A time-management tool to interrupt the crazy cycle of promising too much and doing too little.

• A process for setting BHAGs -- big, hairy, audacious goals that you actually believe in -- goals that will pull you forward rather than weight you down.

• Templates you can use to design a business that will nourish and reward you while keeping you engaged, inspired, and productive. (That kind of wipes out the excuses, doesn't it?)

Part II: Getting Clients
Clients, customers, patrons, end-users. Whatever you call them, you need some. Follow the steps in this section to figure out who they are, how many you need, and why they can't wait for you to call their names.

• How to get clients that you like as much at the end of the job as at the beginning. (And how to make sure they feel the same.)

• 5 things you need to STOP doing so your clients and customers can reach you.

• How to give your clients what they want -- even when they don't know what it is. They'll be so grateful when you put an end to time-consuming guessing games and false starts.

• How to turn your biggest fears into your most attractive assets and why your weaknesses are the key to repeat business.

• What to do when things go wrong and what clients value more than perfect performance. Stop agonizing over errors. (You do make errors, don't you?)

• Why most referrals never turn into paying clients how to turn that around.

• Model documents, worksheets, and templates so you won't have to guess what to do next.

Part III: Getting Paid
Many accidental entrepreneurs, myself included, have "money stuff" that can seriously screw up the best-laid plans. Follow the steps in this section to give your business the support and protection it needs. If you can pull weeds, you can do this. (And it's a lot easier on your back.)

• How to state your price like you believe it, without reducing it before the words get out of your mouth.

• How to deal with unexpected expenses.

• The critical difference between investment and debt, and how to know which is which.

• How to finance your business until it starts financing itself.

• How customers decide how much to spend.

• What numbers you need to keep track of and how to do it without tearing your hair.

• How to get paid on time and in full by customers who are happy to do it that way.

• And a few pointers for getting off the feast-or-famine seesaw for good.

And there are the bonuses.
These are stand-alone products I've selected to supplement what you will learn. They are not thinly-disguised sales pitches that clog up your hard drive and make you kick yourself for falling for an implausible come-on.

Each bonus is complete in and of itself. In fact, you will receive the bonuses at various intervals so that you don't experience information overload.

Like the book, the bonuses are as succinct and clear as I could make them.

Bonus #1: Thriving in the Sweet Spot e-book and audio class. Value: $179
Based on my most popular teleclass ever, this workbook and the accompanying teleclass recordings (3+ hours) will show you how to stop playing hide and seek with your "just-right" clients. Learn to define a niche that will bring in repeat business without cramping your style.

Bonus #2: Practical Attraction e-book and audio clips. Value: $139
Do you have a love/hate relationship with the "Law of Attraction?" This workbook and audio take a clear-eyed look at the relationship between thoughts, beliefs, and results. You’ll learn what does and doesn't work when it comes to manifesting your dreams.

Bonus #3: Authentic Promotion Highlights. (3+ hours of class excerpts) Retail value: $217
Listen in on the best of the best, highlights of the Authentic Promotion teleclasses. Selected from over 100 hours of recorded classes, these excerpts comprise in-depth answers to real-life questions from accidental entrepreneurs like you.

Bonus #4: "Greatest Hits." Value: $39
10 of the most popular articles from nine years of weekly newsletters with added commentary especially for the accidental entrepreneur. You can't get this any other way, so I made up the price. ;-) You decide what it's really worth.

Deluxe Bonus: Doing the Work® on Working for Yourself (Audio) Value: $39
If you're familiar with Byron Katie's work, you need no further explanation. If you're not, it's something you need to experience to fully appreciate. In this audio you'll be the fly on the wall as other accidental entrepreneurs discover that everything they thought was wrong wasn't. Includes worksheets and instructions for doing your own work.

*Shipping outside of the continental US is $5 for surface mail, $10 for airmail.

You've probably tried other books and programs. So tell me, which one have you used this week to grow your business?

The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur is more than a book. It's a guide you can use to turn the work you want to do into a business you'll love to own -- for less than the cost of a month of mochas.

I guarantee it.

The What Goes Around Comes Around Guarantee
If you're still reading, odds are good that this book is what you need. So buy it already! And if for any reason you aren't completely satisfied when you have the book and bonuses in hand, simply ask for your money back. You don't even have to return the book (in fact, I'd prefer that you pass it along).

It's a “what goes around comes around“ guarantee because:

1. I want you to understand that this guarantee is for real and from my heart. If the book doesn't work for you, you get your money back.

2. What you'll learn in this book is how I grew my business -- a business that appeals to great people. People exactly like you. Pass it on.

(What goes around, comes around. Get it?)

The wrong kind of business can eat you alive.
I ought to know. And worse, it keeps you from getting the right kind of business -- repeat clients who love your work and are delighted to pay for it. If you aren't happier and more prosperous than you were three months ago, can you afford to keep doing business the same way?

Still unsure?
If you've got a question, just ask. Any question at all. I'll answer it as honestly as I can, and if I don't know the answer, I'll say so.