book recommendation Archives - Solopreneur Profit Coach |

Book Review: Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee

For this month’s focus on habits, I thought I’d review Ingrid Fetell Lee’s wonderful book, Joyful. This book is a great resources for getting into the habit of seeing the joy in our everyday lives. Who doesn’t want to make that a regular practice? Isn’t the point of working for yourself to allow yourself flexibility and greater opportunities to enjoy life? I know many solopreneurs are driven by these desires, which is why I think tapping into joy is something we can all do with more consistency.

Ingrid Fetell Lee is a designer, blogger at aestheticsofjoy.com and expert on joy. I found her book to be an excellent resource for finding joy in my daily routine. Joy may be hard to separate from happiness – but in her Ted Talk, Ingrid defines joy as “feeling good right now, in the moment.” Even the table of contents Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee Book Review: At Peace With Money brings me joy. Expect chapter titles like Abundance, Harmony, and Magic! Each chapter includes an overview and the science behind these aesthetics of joy. Then, she articulates easily attainable ideas and examples to bring in more of each element.

One of my favorite chapters is Freedom, in which Ingrid points out that “Joy thrives on the alleviation of constraints.” She goes on to explain how we experience the restorative benefits of freedom through viewing or spending time in nature. According to her findings, this can be as simple as adding a plant to your home space. Color also plays a major role throughout the book. She explains how color can easily be added to or just enjoyed in our daily lives.

She wraps the book up with a Joyful Toolkit including project worksheets to add more joy as you plan your space, event, or perhaps even a new offering in your business! Learning about joy can not only improve your work life as a solopreneur, but also help you learn to invoke joy for your customers. In general, I think this book is an excellent resource for appreciating and enjoying life. I try to operate my business with an eye towards the emotional side of money. Joy is an emotion I would love to help my clients experience when it comes to their finances! If you’re interested in what I do, check out my Services, and book a call!

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Angela

Pick One of These 5 Ideas To Automate Your Wealth

Last week we talked about loving our future selves, and dove into the world of IRAs. Today, I’d like to share a way you can love yourself and share the wealth with both future and present you – automation! I’ve written about automation before, and why it is so beneficial to our financial lives. The idea is simple: by automating your finances, you reduce your decision making, thereby reducing your chances to change your mind or forget about saving money or paying a bill in full. Automating your finances make saving money easier and less of a mental effort. This principle is what Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg employ in their wardrobe choices. They’d wear the same thing every day so that they could conserve their brainpower for other more important decisions!

Here are my five ideas you can use to dip your toes into the world of financial automation. Start off slow – just pick one and try it out. If you like your results, you can come back for more!

Automate a Savings Goal

Set up an amount to automatically be sent to a particular savings account for a goal you’re pursuing. Don’t worry about the amount, any amount is great! Simply trying this is the most important step.

Automate a Bill Payment

Automating a bill payment insures you will not pay late fees. In the long run, this could save you a lot of money.

Set an Alert

Many banks offer to send alerts when your account hits a minimum balance. Set this up so you don’t overdraw your account. This way, you can avoid those pesky overdraft fees.

Connect Your Accounts

Connect your accounts to a money management system or app so you can really see where your money is actually going. I use Mint and I love it! Personal Capital is another I’ve heard of, and many people also swear by YNAB, or You Need a Budget.

Set Up Direct Deposit

Have your paycheck automatically deposited into your checking account! This is so much more simple than Pick One of These 5 Ideas to Automate Your Wealth: At Peace With Money having to take all that time and effort to take your paycheck to the bank. Even if you have your own business and have varying income, you can create a solopreneur paycheck using the Profit First system. If you’re interested in reading more about this, I recommend my posts Create Your Own Paycheck and How to Pay Yourself First.

If you enjoy these tips and want more resources on automation, I’ll happily recommend The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. This book emphasizes how savings habits and automation can help you build up savings for retirement. He also has a variety of free resources available for download on his website, so go ahead and take a look at those too! And of course, if any of this has piqued your interest, I’m happy to talk to you about setting up money systems for your business. Take a look at my service packages and schedule a curiosity call!

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Angela

Image Source: Rodion Kutsaev