THE 10% ENTREPRENEUR

by Patrick J McGinnis, an investor and writer

THE PROMISE

You don’t have to quit your job to become an entrepreneur; you can do it by applying just 10% of your time and money.

THE REALITY

Patrick is a man with two feet firmly placed in reality. It’s just that his reality is an MBA from Harvard University, and a job as a venture capitalist. Unlike Tom from The Idler, who listed all the times he had got it wrong, Patrick lists all the times he got it right, which actually, Patrick, is the opposite of motivating.

His aim is to take away the risk of being an entrepreneur, which in principle I like. But the reality is that you have to keep your day job, and find extra time and money to take on other opportunities. Patrick suggests you find time by combining passive activities ‘like exercising on the elliptical machine’

(his example, not mine) with thinking activities such as ‘listening to podcasts about oil and gas’. I bet Patrick checks LinkedIn before Instagram when his alarm goes off at 5am. I’m pretty confident that Patrick and I wouldn’t get on.

THE RESULT

The book leaves me thinking that if MBA venture capitalist Patrick is only 10% entrepreneur, then I am about 0.0001% entrepreneur. He gave me that quitting feeling again, and I don’t even have a proper job to quit. I should have doubted Patrick when he mentioned his ‘friends from Bible study group’ on the first page.

THE TOP TIP

Don’t quit your day job. Yet. Hmm, maybe this book could have been useful six months ago.