When I was in high school, I wanted to be rich. So, I decided to talk to rich people and read books that rich people wrote. I read (and

© antwerpenR

still do!) books on the stock market, books on marketing, leadership, personal development, and other aspects of business. Then I stumbled upon Rich Dad Poor Dad. This book changed my whole way of thinking. And while it’s probably the most influential book I’ve ever read, it’s not one of the two books I am recommending in this blog post. In fact, I want to clarify something. One of the books on this list is actually an eBook. And it’s free. Let’s get to it.

If you read any books this year, make it these two

1) The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg

Why you should read it

The book essentially begins by captivating the reader with a story of a young, 20-something college dropout entrepreneur interviewer a 37 year-old Harvard MBA from craigslist for a $10 an hour data entry job. Its meant to shock the reader: Huh? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

There’s no doubt that college is valuable and has its place, but is it worth it? At what cost? Is it worth four years of your time and thousands of dollars of debt? These are some of the questions that Ellsberg tries to answer. In my case, without my college degree I would have never had the wonderful opportunities of studying abroad in Australia (though I guess I could have backpacked there), or teaching English in South Korea, where I met the love of my life. I have no regrets about going to college.  But, from a career and cost basis point of view, let’s see:  I have a degree in economics, $80,000 in debt, and as you can see, my career trajectory is not related to my major. You do the math.

We don’t learn a lot of “real world skills” in college. We learn technical skills, which are good if that’s your goal. We also learn how to memorize stuff for a test.  But we don’t learn skills that we can take with us, regardless of how the economy is doing.

Ellsberg says it best:

“…Even though you may learn wonderful things in college, your success and happiness in life will have little to do with what you study there or the letters after your name when you graduate. It has to do with your drive, your initiative, your persistence, your ability to make a contribution to other people’s lives, your ability to come up with good ideas and pitch them to others effectively, your charisma, your ability to navigate gracefully through social and business networks, and a total, unwavering belief in your own eventual triumph, throughout all the ups and downs, no matter what the naysayers tell you. ” (Emphasis mine.)

College sets you up for the rat race. You get good grades, interview well, and get a good job (if they exist anymore), and then you work until your 65. But on this path, you miss out on so many other opportunities. As Tim Ferriss says “The world is too big to spend most of your time in a cubicle.” And Steve Pavlina’s 10 reasons why you shouldn’t get a job article just came to mind as I’m typing this, so I’ll share that with you as well

Ok. So you get the point. I know what you’re thinking. “So, there are also positives to having a job, but what can I do about the negatives, Ryan. I got bills to pay!”

I’m glad you asked. The Education of Millionaires teaches you seven (actually more) success skills that you can use to eventually live life on your own terms. They are “how to make your work meaningful”, “how to find mentors”, “marketing”, “sales”, “building your own unique brand”, and “the difference between an entrepreneurial mindset and an employee mindset.” Also, before embarking on your life and career transforming journey, you have to pay the piper and get your finances in order. And you have to take action. So maybe it’s not the best idea to read the book and quit your job immediately. Just sayin…

Let me share with you my biggest takeaway from this book. Obviously if you go down the default path, it’s predictable. Some people might even say “safer,” but I don’t think so. Obviously, forging your own path and making your mark on the world is indeed risky (especially while earning money to support yourself). The bigger the impact you want to make on the world, the more risks you take. Put another way, this means that the bigger an impact on the world you want to make, the greater the chance you will make no impact at all.I really like how Ellsberg tells us this. A lot of other books try to sugarcoat it or tell you just to follow your dreams and you will succeed. This book brings the truth.

Fair enough. Since most people are risk averse, this means that most people will fall in line and try to live a predictable (read:boring) life.

But there are also risks you incur when you go down the predictable path. To quote Ellsberg again:

“The risk of working with people you don’t respect; the risk of working for a company whose values are inconsistent with your own; the risk of compromising what’s important; the risk of doing something that fails to express–or even contradicts–who you are…The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet that you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.”

One risk that I realized on my journey so far is that you risk so many other opportunities when you live a predictable life of “getting a job” and “retiring at 65″. When I graduated in 2009, I got a job as a bank teller for $10 an hour until I came to Korea. But every day I was working, I realized that I was wasting so much precious time. Other people that I followed or emulated were doing important things and big things with their time while I was being a human ATM. I knew I was selling myself short and missing so many other things. Now that I’ve moved to Korea, sure, maybe I could have spent the last 2.5 years making a lot of money getting promoted or moving up the ladder, changing my made up title from “analyst” to “specialist” or some other title that makes me sound important.  But I would have missed out on meeting amazing people, going to jimjilbangs, eating interesting and (sometimes) delicious foods, traveling to 9 new countries, getting teaching experience, and swimming with whale sharks, just to name a few. There are tons more. And that was just in less than three years! Imagine how many things I would have missed in 40 years! In the last three years, I have become richer in experience, though not as much in the numbers in my bank account, which is a tradeoff I’d make any day.

Anyway, Ellsberg’s advice is practical for anyone who wants to escape the 9-5, or who wants to do something meaningful or break out of their career funk. Something different, if you will. Some things in this book are common sense, and some things are counter-intuitive as well. Most of what you learn in this book is not taught in college. Successful people always focus on developing important skills that they can take with them anywhere, not just skills that will get them a high score on a test or an “important-sounding” title.

One caveat: Some people do learn these success skills in college, and they are the ones who have successful habits and traits anyway. For example, students who take their own initiative to become involved in clubs, societies or activities, especially in leadership roles, learn how to network, how to manage people, how to speak in public, how to organize and sell, etc. And they are self motivated to begin with, no one forced them to join clubs or improve themselves outside of grades.

So the main message of The Education of Millionaires is to learn practical skills for the sake of self (and life) improvement, not for the sake of getting an “A” on a test. Skills and habits like: Take your own initiative. Get out of your comfort zone. Provide value to people. Connect. Hustle. Just to name a few.

Definitely Check out the Education of Millionaires if you want to escape the 9-5 grind.

2) The Recession Proof Graduate by Charlie Hoehn

View or Download it here

Why you should read it

If this little eBook doesn’t convince you that the “job” game has changed, then I don’t know what will. This is a 30 page eBook (or slide show, really) that gives you more value than most 300 page books do. You can read the whole thing in about 20 minutes. Talk about value for your time!

Contrary to its title, the Recession Proof Graduate is a book for anyone (not just recent college grads) who wants to make their mark on the world– to do important work. The premise is pretty simple: you can find great working opportunities if you are willing to do free work at first. There’s a little more to this book than doing free work, of course. You have to be remarkable and creative as well. But if you want a job, an opportunity to find a mentor, or just an opportunity to do creative, important, exciting things other than pushing papers at your 9 to 5 job and regardless of the current economic state, Charlie Hoehn gives you very real strategies to do so. In fact, I’m going to try to interview him on my blog.

But why free work? First, free work is not desirable especially if you are just starting out on your career, and you have those students loans to pay. Damn you, Sallie Mae! This will eliminate some of your competition right there, causing you to stand out among your other job seeking peers. Second, remember that the goal is not free work. The goal is a better opportunity in the near future. It’s just a means to and end. Third, free work really lowers the risk on the part of the hiring manager or company. They don’t have anything to lose, when you think about it. Fourth, it automatically lowers expectations, especially if you are a recent college graduate. If you pull it off right, your “free” work will be really valuable to the company, and you will have blown by the company or manager’s expectations. This will lead to an exciting (paid/really educational)  opportunity in the future. Hopefully. If not, well, of course you won’t just use this strategy just on one company and give up, right? Not if you’re a reader of my blog, you won’t!

Remember, if your work is excellent, and you pull it off right,  then you will have more opportunities than you’ve ever dreamed of as opposed to your strategy is climbing up the corporate ladder. Mr. Hoehn has used this method to work with famous entrepreneurs such as Tim Ferris and Ramit Sethi. He’s even done a few TED Talks on the subject too.

Of course, this method works a little better for graphic designers, photographers, programmers, etc. than it does for accountants, nurses, or economists. But anyone can find their skills, use their creativity, and make it happen.

It sure beats the hell out of spamming your resume all over monster.com. Please hire me! I have great interpersonal skills!

Conclusion and a Few Notes

• There are tons of books and blogs you can read such as the $100 Startup or The Four Hour Workweek, and Seth’s Blog or Ramit’s Blog, which of course I recommend,  but  The Recession Proof Graduate and The Education of Millionaires are excellent examples of  how to get yourself on track to do important and valuable work and to open up more opportunities for your life and career than if you just head a regular “safe” job.
• I want to emphasize that self education and reading are important, but you can read all you want and not take action. Besides reading, you have to get out there and take action. Put into place what you’ve learned. Take risks. Fail a little. If you read, and do nothing, then you will be at the same place in your life as if you haven’t read. Why? Because without action, you achieve nothing.
• I define the rat race as being trapped. Earning money but not getting ahead in life. Doing the same thing over and over again. Not doing important work. Not living life on your own terms. These types of things. And more. You know,  the traditional meaning.
•  If you are reading this blog and are in Seoul, I am currently organizing a business book meetup to start in November. The first book will be The Education of Millionaires for all who are interested. Contact me for more information.

Thanks for reading. Did I miss anything? Can you recommend other books? Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments.