Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality Book Review Part 2 of 2. Read Part 1 here, and Christine’s guest post for Rules of Renegades.

5. Rock Rejection and Finesse Failure

My favorite quote from the novel, Dune written by Frank Herbert, is “Fear is the Mind Killer.” Do you have a quote you use when you are faced with fear? Christine explains how important it is to face fear and overcome it. Her mantra, “I failed at something–but I wasn’t a failure” says a great deal about her personality. However, I’m not convinced that the “rejection party solutions” provided by Christine are realistic or helpful in facing fear. When you’re surrounded by people you know in order to pitch ideas and their whole purpose is to role play your rejection, are you going to feel the same level of failure as you will experience in reality? The Type A and B rejection parties sound unrealistic; although the concept of facing rejection and overcoming the negatives is an excellent point. When you think your idea or pitch is right on the mark, there is no way to explain the feeling you get when someone says no. The feelings of betrayal and “how can you say no” that wells up inside of you like a tightening grip in your stomach intensify your feelings of rejection, frustration and fear. When you get those feelings, how do you mentally process them? How do you cope with rejection? When you’re standing in front of the person, how do you remove yourself from the situation? When you get home, how do you cope? Do you rehash the scene and try to figure out what you could have done differently? What’s your plan of action when dealing with rejection and fear?

6. Learn to Love Networking

How you do you help other? Being human is what we all have in common. The bonds of our relationships shape who we are and how we interact with others. Christine illustrates this point nicely with “Life = The people you meet + What you create together” (138). What an excellent point. She examines the importance of the handshake, mastermind groups to further your abilities and eight important steps you need to focus on to develop your networking skills. Networking requires practice. Can you sit down and think of the various ways you network? How do you interact with people and develop as a person in the process?

7. Only You Can Lead Your Life

Leadership requires a mindset. Christine doesn’t paint a rose colored picture of being a leader. She tells you how it is, “Leadership can be messy, can lack glamor, and can get down and dirty at times” (152). You have to make decisions no one else is willing to make. By surrounding your self with quality people and willing to change, you set yourself up to be a quality leader. Christine provides 11 excellent tips to help guide you as a leader.

8. Work Your Money Mojo

Are you confused by information overload in the world of finance? Well, Christine does a great job of hitting all the essentials for financing in a concise and clear manner. She doesn’t get bogged down in the nitty-gritty details to make the material dull or boring. She hits the important topics and takes care of business. Once you get a sound footing about what is available, you can then pursue the options in greater detail with the big picture clearly focused. Have you had experience with financing? What is your means of handling the financial picture? Do you have words of advice or tales of warning that you’d like to share with us? Your experiences are what makes this process empowering to all of us.

9. Resign as General Manager of the Universe

I know this is a concept that is foreign to all of us! How many times have you been told you can’t do it all? I know that I am a culprit of this thought process. All too often we take on the world and wonder how we can control it all. When Christine says, “Achievement is what helps me know I matter, I have worth,” (214) she connects it with our need for control. The semi-annual assessment that Christine provides at the end of this chapter is fantastic. I sat down and got away from everything. By putting her advise into practice, I was able to understand my life connections. We forget to look within ourselves. We’re always so busy taking care of everyone else. This is one of the more important and challenging rules for all of us to take heed of in developing ourselves.

10. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There

How are we connected to others? As Christine had to face a major trial in life, she was able to share her moment of understanding,

“that there is always going to be suffering, no matter how wholly I commit myself to ending it. But what else did I figure out? That I can make a difference, reducing it a little bit every day. Having a spiritual practice has helped me articulate and live my core values: a commitment to compassion and community as a fundamental part of any business or life plan” (241).

Her process on how to rethink community service demonstrates how essential it is in building a better life and business. What have you done to commit to the community and those around you?

As for the structure of Rules for Renegades, the chapters, with highlighted conclusions, different font for reminiscing and centered “Cool Free Resources,” are consistent and welcoming. The table of contents set up a clear expectation of what the book delivers. The subtopics, along with the quotes, brought to life the individual chapters. The index is a nice feature that allows for quick thumbing to important terms, companies, people and concepts. With the resources, tips and manageable tasks laid out by Christine, your entrepreneurial, personal or fitness (yes, even your fitness goals) are possible when you apply her Rules to your life. Way to go Renegades!!!

Grab her book, devour the steps, create your notebook with the resources provided and hit the trail running! This is your chance to learn from Christine’s lead. Her promise on “how to make more money, rock your career and revel in your individuality” will only work if you take to heart and put into action her steps! Yes, you may be able to do it otherwise, but she provides you the opportunity to do it now. She creates the template for you to make your illusion a reality. It’s hard work and it’s going to require determination, courage, rejection, and fear, but it’s doable and she proves it.

This book review was written by Cindy Posey, the author of Go Workout Mom: a blog for mothers to find time to make physical fitness a priority in their lives. By providing knowledge, tips and her personal journey, moms can gain support and motivation to live a fit life. Cindy is a mom to two toddlers, wife to a fantastic husband and a fledgeling business blogger!

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Posted on October 16th, 2007 by Ponn Sabra
Filed under: Entrepreneurialism