I am not a big reader of self-help or personal management
books. So I confess to being a little out of my area of expertise in reviewing
this book. The focus of this book is on
the tension many feel between the day job they currently have and the dream job
they'd love to have.
The author talks about his own experiences of hopping from
job to job, at one point bragging to his wife for actually sticking with one
job for almost two years. Then he details how he was able to move into his
dream job (working as a writer and speaker with the Dave Ramsey organization)
while keeping his current job and maintaining a family life.
As can be the case with self-help books (and why I read so
few) is that this book taught me a lot about Jon Acuff and his career path, but
I don't know if this taught me about seeking my own dream job (confession: I
currently have a pretty awesome job, pretty much a dream job, but let's not
tell my employer that, OK?). His dream job (writing) was one that he could develop
(via blogging) while continuing to hold his day job until he was ready to leave
that old job behind. I don't know that that is the case for all of his readers.
One part of this book that I found most interesting was Acuff's
discussion of the "freemiuml" or the "pay whatever you want" models that have been popularized in
recent years. He does not take a side in the discussion, presenting both sides
of the argument, saying that in some cases giving work away for free may
generate loyal customers, while also recognizing that it may train your
customers to not pay for your work.
HIs advice about the practical groundwork one must lay before chasing a dream is also strong. He talks about rules in the areas of family and relations, communication, and finance that are very wise. There were other particular moments that
resonated with me, although this has not motivated me to go out and read many
more self-help or personal management books.
Acuff reads this audio version himself, and as a professional
speaker, he generally does a good job. There are even a few additional stories he tells on the audio
that were not in the print version of the book. But I do wonder about the production
process, because there were a handful of words that were clearly mis-pronounced,
which rarely happens in the many audiobooks that I listen to.
Source: I received this book via the NoiseTrade website, which uses the "pay whatever you want" model.
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