Slim walks you through nearly everything you’ll need to consider before making a major change, and not only the specifics of starting a business, but also a close-up look at the emotional issues you’ll face.

She begins with the process of deciding to depart The Cubicle (and all that entails), including identifying and managing fears.  One exercise for decreasing fear and anxiety requires four columns, entitled belief, underlying assumptions, what I need to find out and where I can find it.  Clarifying those scary thoughts and dealing with them realistically shrinks them down to size.

Slim then moves on to the nuts and bolts of business: the process of uncovering appropriate business ideas for you, assembling your team and defining the “spirit of your brand.”  The chapter on testing and failing talks about the danger of waiting to be perfectly prepared, or do perfect work.  She offers some kick-in-the-pants ideas to jump-start your process.

Another reason this book is worthwhile is that the author addresses the reality of money.  The “Making the Money Work” section offers Q&A, helps you put a figure to the value of your employee benefits, offers five ways to clean up your credit score and explores common financial patterns.  She even defines common health insurance terminology and explains how to shop for self-employed insurance.

And then it’s time to make the leap.  The final section addresses the emotional factors in how to handle friends and family, and knowing when it is time to make a graceful exit and walk out your employer’s door for the last time.

The last pages are where you’ll find a compendium of blogs and books that provide guidance on matters of finance, infrastructure and business plans.

Slim speaks not only from her experience, but also from thousands of conversations from her blog of the same name.  She uses direct language in a quick-to-read format.  Nearly every page has bullet points or lists, and the 340 page book is a relatively quick read.

I’m also going to be sharing my ideas about home businesses and working for yourself and what I believe are the things that go to make up the home based business opportunity that is right for you.

I will even put some fun and humour in here because I know that has a really important part to play too.

As you may have guessed I do believe that in my case all these things are very connected. My business is an integral part of me achieving success in everything in my life – financial freedom, time freedom, awesome relationships, thought freedom, enjoyment freedom and whatever else comes up for me as I enjoy the journey that life has to offer. At the heart of this freedom is the freedom to use my brain to think the thoughts that give me my inner peace and for me I have defined this as 3 things – happiness freedom and joy. Fun and humour are one tool that will unlock your creativity and thrust new ideas into your mind.

And you know it all comes down to how we think. Sounds really simple, I know and it is, and there are many, many resources that we can use to help us on our path. I will share with you the ones that I find along the way.

So to start us off here’s a quote from Buddha:

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”