Book Review - ReWork

Being an entrepreneur I like to read business books to keep up on trends and to give me ideas on marketing and sales.  I've decided to review the books I've read so you can decide if you want to read them also. 

The first book I'll review is called "REWORK" by Jason Fried and David Heineeier Hansson.  The authors are the founders of a very successful computer software company called 37signals.

I really enjoyed REWORK.  Yes, enjoyed a business book, who knew there was one out there that one could enjoy.  This is not your typical business book. These guys are down to earth, keep it simple, use your common sense kind of guys. The chapters are short, only a few pages long, and they write in language you can understand.  They go against the typical advice that every other business book says, and I love their advice. They take a no-nonsense approach to business that is refreshing.

The line on the inside cover that got me to buy this book was, "... artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages" and I agree 100%.  I think even people in big corporations should read this book.  There is too much red tape in Corporate America.  I worked in the insurance industry for a good part of my career and there were more meetings than there was work.  There were meeting to plan other meetings, meetings to summarize what happened in previous meetings, and meetings that just didn't seem to accomplish anything.  In this book, the chapter on meetings is titled "Meetings are Toxic". 

I think we all tend to get bogged down in the mire of "the established rules of business". Like having to write a business plan and finding investors and having meetings. Basically they say to stop talking and start working.  This book will make you think  and look at things in a different way. It's not just theory, these guys have built an extremely successful company using the wisdom that they share in the pages of this book.

My favorite line in the book, and also a title of a chapter, is "Build half a product, not a half-assed product". Good advice, maybe another well known software manufacturer should take that advice. There is so much that I like about this book, well actually I like everything about this book, so it's hard not to quote the whole thing while reviewing it. Anyway I don't want to give away anything.  It doesn't matter where you are in your work life, whether you work in the corporate world or have your own business or you are just thinking about starting a business, the advice these guys give will work anywhere.

If you have read this book, please let me know what you think of it.

October Birthstone

This month's birthstone is the Opal.  The opal is the perfect stone for October because of the explosion of beautiful colors, not unlike those of a magnificent rainbow or the changing colors of the leaves on the fall trees.  The Opal derives its name from the Latin word "opalus," meaning precious jewel.  Having the unique ability to refract and reflect specific wavelengths of light, the Opal was valued by the Romans and called "Cupid Paederos" meaning a child beautiful as love.  One legendary explanation for this gemstone's origin is that it fell from heaven in a flash of fiery lightning.

 

A gift of Opal is symbolic of faithfulness and confidence.  And the powerful energy radiating from this fiery gemstone will surely illuminate any occasion! 

If you are interested in a custom made piece of jewelry, possibly made with an Opal, you can contact me a denise@jewelrybydm.com

Enjoy your October and the changing leaves.

Fall Is Here

Yeah!  Fall is here and the weather has cooled off and the leaves are starting to turn.  It's my second favorite time of year; spring is my favorite.

In honor of fall and my friend Regina's birthday I made the vintage look earrings shown at the left. 

The stone is an amber color Swarovski Rivoli crystal.  The picture makes the metal look different colors but the earring is all one color metal. These earrings can be found at my store, and here is the link to them  My Best Friend's Earrings

I hope you will visit me at one of the craft fairs listed at the right.  The one that I'm doing on October 9th is an all hand made craft fair called BarronFest at Parker Press Park in Woodbridge. This will be my first year doing this fair and I look forward to being there.

Have a great fall and I look forward to meeting you all at one of the craft fairs.