Official Review: The Unleashed Entrepreneur by Mitche Graf

[Helen_Combe]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Unleashed Entrepreneur" by Mitche Graf.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Mitche Graf is a successful businessman and motivational speaker, and The Unleashed Entrepreneur is his latest book. Despite having an extremely well paid job, Graf found that his workaholic lifestyle was not making him happy, so he resigned in order to became an entrepreneur. Upon becoming a father, he had an epiphany and decided that he must restructure his work-life balance to free up as much personal time as possible. The aim was, quite simply, to increase his enjoyment of life while remaining lucrative. After all, you only live once.

As I’m at a crossroads myself, and looking to rejoin the workforce soon, I felt this book might provide some handy pointers. Indeed it did, but while the book promises to ‘share a vast plethora of cutting-edge business ideas’, what I actually gleaned was more in the way of some nuggets of useful information.

In the first place, this book is not aimed at the common herd. It is a self-help book for successful and profitable entrepreneurs who are sadly overburdened with work. The first 20% of the book is spent in telling the reader how this book is going to tell them oodles of really good stuff. As I read on, I started to feel like I’d clicked on one of those internet links that promise a life-changing piece of advice, yet 40 pages later, you’re wondering if they’re ever going to get to the point.

Finally, the book gets going and does start to share some very good ideas. I particularly liked the statistic that ‘80% of your outcomes are from 20% of your efforts’. Graf then offers ways to identify that 20%, focus on it and then delegate the less productive 80%. There is also advice on how to modularise your time and how to avoid wasting it. The main message of the book can be summarised into ‘organise your time, streamline your processes, do what you enjoy and delegate what you don’t’.

The rest of the book is taken up with anecdotes from his own life, some work related allegories, and the usual encouragement to ‘be positive’, ‘embrace change’, ‘have a sense of humour’ and ‘take risks’. Good advice, but they are to be found in every motivational speaker’s repertoire.

All in all, I felt that the book didn’t contain enough new information to justify itself, and that it was aimed at a remarkably small market. In addition to my other criticisms, there are a large number of grammatical errors which I felt seriously detracted from the author’s authority.

I am giving this a rating of 2 out of 4 stars (fair). I wouldn’t recommend the book myself, but I know that there are others who love this sort of thing. I didn’t feel that there was enough content to rate 3 stars (good), but it still had its moments and could be entertaining. In fact I would have given it 2.5 if I could because of the entertainment value.

At risk of repeating myself, this book may appeal to successful and profitable entrepreneurs who wish to reduce their stress levels.

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The Unleashed Entrepreneur
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[revna01]

Perhaps this book was the author's attempt at making money from home. These types of books seen to be a dime a dozen, as they seem to not be worth the time it takes to read them. Every once in awhile, though, there's a diamond in the rough I really enjoyed your review; and appreciate your insights!

[Helen_Combe]

Perhaps this book was the author's attempt at making money from home. These types of books seen to be a dime a dozen, as they seem to not be worth the time it takes to read them. Every once in awhile, though, there's a diamond in the rough I really enjoyed your review; and appreciate your insights!

Thank you very much

[Libs_Books]

That 80% / 20% rule does sound interesting, but the rest of it does sound a bit hackneyed. Still, improving the work-life balance is an admirable aim.

[Helen_Combe]

That 80% / 20% rule does sound interesting, but the rest of it does sound a bit hackneyed. Still, improving the work-life balance is an admirable aim.

It is, but I imagine that the lesser paid delegatees don’t have as much fun

[stacie k]

I wonder if the successful and profitable entrepreneurs who are sadly overburdened with work would ever have time to read such a book? I do applaud the author for purposing to have a better work-life balance. You have done a great job in narrowing down the message of the book to a succinct sentence! Thank you for your truthful evaluation of this book!

[Helen_Combe]

I wonder if the successful and profitable entrepreneurs who are sadly overburdened with work would ever have time to read such a book? I do applaud the author for purposing to have a better work-life balance. You have done a great job in narrowing down the message of the book to a succinct sentence! Thank you for your truthful evaluation of this book!

Thank you, I just hope that he recognises that his employees also need to spend time with their families.

[Alice Heritage]

I've certainly heard the term 20/80 rule buzzing around - thank you for explaining it here! I'm glad I'm not the only person to have clicked on one of "those" Internet links, once and never again ... Great review.

[Helen_Combe]

I've certainly heard the term 20/80 rule buzzing around - thank you for explaining it here! I'm glad I'm not the only person to have clicked on one of "those" Internet links, once and never again ... Great review.

Thank you very much.

[Jackie Holycross]

It's a bummer that this book was more promises than substance. There are a lot of people looking for ways to be successful in business.

[Helen_Combe]

It's a bummer that this book was more promises than substance. There are a lot of people looking for ways to be successful in business.

He’s written other books that do just that. This one is for people who have achieved it but now want their life back.

[Manang Muyang]

There's this saying that, "Nobody on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office'." Anybody can experience that "eureka" moment when you realize, "you work to live and not the other way around." The work-life balance is a dream, but sadly rarely fulfilled.

We enjoy such books because we can relate to the stories. But they rarely tell us new things. Because we already know. Such is the puzzle of life, huh!

My take: Take one day at a time. Cliche but it makes me sleep better at night.

[Helen_Combe]

There's this saying that, "Nobody on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office'."

Exactly. I’ve had nearly a year off work now. Getting off that hamster wheel has been a revelation.

[Bianka Walter]

I'm not a big fan of self-help books. I'm glad you got something (however small) out of it - its a pity it couldn't provide you with more. Thanks for a great review

[Helen_Combe]

I'm not a big fan of self-help books. I'm glad you got something (however small) out of it - its a pity it couldn't provide you with more. Thanks for a great review

Thank you