Like Mark Henricks, thousands of people leave the corporate world behind each year to seek more creative work, assert more control over their lives,or indulge in their passions. In Not Just a Living,Henricks explores the genesis of this phenomenon,drawing from extensive research and dozens of colorful stories from the front lines. In these pages you’ll meet lifestyle entrepreneurs who have found personal, financial, and professional fulfillment by playing things their own way: Cheryl Leonhardt left her banking job to launch a women’s business golf association; Maryalice Hurst swapped an existence as a Madison Avenue advertising executive for the life of a bookstore owner in Conway, Arkansas; Ron Kipp quit his high-paying position at IBM to run his own diving resort in the Cayman Islands.

In 1987, Mark Henricks screwed up his courage, quit his job at a Texas newspaper, joined the ranks of the 20 million American small and home-based business owners--and has never looked back. Some fifteen years later, he is still living his dream as a freelance writer.

Like Mark Henricks, thousands of people leave the corporate world behind each year to seek more creative work, assert more control over their lives,or indulge in their passions. In Not Just a Living,Henricks explores the genesis of this phenomenon,drawing from extensive research and dozens of colorful stories from the front lines. In these pages you’ll meet lifestyle entrepreneurs who have found personal, financial, and professional fulfillment by playing things their own way: Cheryl Leonhardt left her banking job to launch a women’s business golf association; Maryalice Hurst swapped an existence as a Madison Avenue advertising executive for the life of a bookstore owner in Conway, Arkansas; Ron Kipp quit his high-paying position at IBM to run his own diving resort in the Cayman Islands.

But beyond these inspiring examples, Henricks offers a comprehensive, straightforward, and eminently practical guide to entrepreneurship. Employing a variety of diagnostics and planning tools, worksheets,and an annotated listing of resources (including books, magazines, organizations, and web sites), NotJust a Living will show you how to:

determine whether the entrepreneurial route is right for you

balance personal and professional priorities

recognize opportunities and overcome obstacles

raise capital and manage your financials

assess your technology needs

plan for long-term growth...and much more

Whether your dream is to run a solo venture out of your garage, build a multi-million-dollar enterprise from scratch, or anything in between, Not Just a Living is your launching pad to a world of opportunity, where you can indeed do what you love and love what you do.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1 :

ARE YOU A LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR?

1 Imagining the Ideal Life

2 Looking in the Mirror

3 Recognizing the Limits

4 Deciding to Forge Ahead

PART 2:

TAKING THE PLUNGE

5 Selecting an Option

6 Making Money

7 Funding a Lifestyle Venture

PART 3:

MAKING IT WORK

8 Picking Your People

9 Taming Technology

10 Growing Without Grief

11 Ending Well

Notes

Appendix: Further Reading

Index