Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy.

I’m in the thick of trying to put together products, write my book, and of course, marketing.

Let’s face it – being an entrepreneur is no cake walk.

While browsing my Kindle library, I came across a book by John Jantsch called “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business“.

Time and time again, this is a book I turn to when I’m feeling frazzled or need direction.

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur by John Jantsch

From the Amazon product page, you can find this book description:

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur offers overworked and harried entrepreneurs, and anyone who thinks like one, a much-needed guide for tapping into the wisdom that is most relevant to the entrepreneurial life. The book is filled with inspirational meditations that contain the thoughts and writings of notable American authors. Designed as a daily devotional, it is arranged in a calendar format, and features readings of transcendentalist literature and others.

Each of The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur meditations is followed by a reflection and a challenging question from John Jantsch. He draws on his lifetime of experience as a successful coach for small business and startup leaders to offer an entrepreneurial context. Jantsch shows how entrepreneurs can learn to trust their ideas and overcome the doubt and fear of everyday challenges. The book contains:

• A unique guide to meditations, especially designed for entrepreneurs
• A range of topics such as self-awareness, trust, creativity, resilience, failure, growth, freedom, love, integrity, and passion
• An inspirational meditation for each day of the year. . . including leap year
• Reflections from John Jantsch, small business marketing expert and the author of the popular book Duct Tape Marketing

Written for entrepreneurs, as well anyone seeking to find a deeper meaning in their work and life, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur is a practical handbook for anyone seeking to embrace the practice of self-trust.

Who is John Jantsh?

John Jantsch is an advisor to small and medium-sized businesses, specializing in marketing strategy, consultancy, and advertising and has published books geared towards these businesses (Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine).

He created a system called the Duct Tape Marketing System, which “empowers businesses of all sizes to achieve measurable and repeatable results”.

 

Quotes and Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Some of the things I really like about the book is that John uses authors and poets of the past and brings their ideas into present day. I think this is why the book is something you can pick up anytime. The quotes he uses are classic and still resonate with people today.

Each daily meditation begs a question to consider. It’s not a criticism or judgment, but instead it feels like a gentle nudge to push me in the right direction.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Let’s borrow from [Willa] Cather’s description as a great starting point: ‘At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.’ ”

 

“A plant will grow just about anywhere if it receives enough light and moisture. If it climbs at all, it will choose the path of least resistance – it will survive. But to flourish, a plant needs care–it needs focus, it needs to nurture its strengths, it needs the right blend of soil, water, and light. And yes, it even needs kindness, support, and encouragement, as all living things do.”

 

“You are a fire, a thing that can ignite again and again.”

 

“There’s no book that contains your path. You find it by looking for it, by exploring new ways and new ideas, and by paying attention.”

Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, Author John Jantsch Q&A

I reached out to John and asked him a few questions and he kindly responded. I thought I’d share our quick interview here.

Q: What was the idea behind writing your book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur?

John: I’m a fan of other daily type books and thought it would be fun to create one (it was a lot more work than I anticipated).

Q: What feedback have your received from the book since you first published it?

John: Folks that found this book and stayed with it have been some of my most vocal fans, so that’s been fun.

Q: Do you have any real-life stories you’ve heard from readers and how they implemented and used the book in their daily life?

John: One of my favorites comes from a husband and wife that use the daily questions every morning to facilitate some meaningful conversations before they start their day.

Michelle’s Note: Awww, I love that!

Q: Do you plan on writing any books similar to The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur?

John: I don’t think so, but the cool thing about this book is that it’s evergreen – it will never get old. I wasn’t able to promote it as much as I would have liked to because it didn’t really relate to my core business. So, I intend to revisit it in a few years as I move off the day to day of Duct Tape Marketing.

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With the day-to-day grind of being an entrepreneur, I appreciate this book when I’m starting to feel discouraged or just need to refocus my efforts.

Sometimes you just need that little extra push to keep going and that’s what this book does.

The biggest takeaway from this book is that it isn’t just about being an entrepreneur. It’s more about who you are as a person – who you want to be. It’s about how you think and how you frame your world. So in a sense, this book can be read by others too – not just entrepreneurs.

Learn More About John Jantsch

If you want to hear a more in-depth interview, head over to Marketing Profs and check out a podcast from 2019 John was featured in.

One quote from that interview that struck me is this one:

“The thing that stops a lot of people is that what they think they want to do or what they believe they need to do seems kind of different. And they were not told that that was a path that they should pursue. Or worse yet, people are telling them every day that that’s a dumb idea. So I think the first step is to be able to tune all of that out. Which isn’t to say that none of that’s valid, but [don’t] let it control you or control your decisions.”

Get John’s Book: The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business

License the Duct Tape Marketing System to use in your Fractional CMO practice: Learn more here