NO BOSS! The Real Truth about Working Independently

An unorthodox guide to self-employment: a reality check before taking the plunge or, if you already have, a guide to identifying and thinking through issues that will make or break you when you're your own boss.

The Covid pandemic has caused millions of people across the globe to reassess the role of work in the human experience. Are you one of them?

Self-employment, whether starting a business or freelancing, can be immensely rewarding beyond making a living. Done right, it's emotionally and psychologically rewarding as well. But it's not a fit for everyone.

While other books on self-employment advise readers on how to build a business or write a business plan, No Boss! helps you deeply understand whether independent work is a good fit for you - and if it is, how to make it more satisfying and productive. Author Steven Cristol, a business strategy consultant, career coach, singer/songwriter and former Fortune 50 executive whose previous business books have been published in eleven languages, shares the joys, rewards, challenges, pitfalls and unvarnished truths of independent work, with hard-won lessons from more than 30 years of doing it successfully and advising some of the world's best-known companies.

The book's "12 Covenants" and self-knowledge tools provide fresh, actionable perspective on the self-employed experience, and safer passage through what can often be a self-employment minefield. Its twelve chapters are organized into three parts: setting expectations and choosing your path, making it happen, and sustaining independent success for the long haul. It also borrows from the author's patented method of evaluating strategy alternatives, adapted for assessing and prioritizing alternative career choices (which is also useful if you happen to be a coach for clients who are contemplating changing careers or changing jobs, starting a home-based business, or pursuing a different entrepreneurial dream.)

This book approaches self-employment differently; it does not try to be a comprehensive repository of all that is needed to run a successful business, which can make for long and laborious reading. There are many good books addressing business planning, tax advice, and other dry but essential operational issues. No Boss! is more soul-connected, empowering readers to succeed independently as their authentic selves, and takes only a few hours to read (because as your own boss you'll be busy!). But its insights will serve you for many years to come. It's the book the author wishes someone had handed him decades ago.