A couple of weeks back we bumped into a guy named Erik Olson (and his lovely wife, Heather) on Facebook.

Through a series of exchanges and communications, we quickly learned that we share a lot in common and that we could easily talk for hours at a time.

You can Meet Healthy Wealthy Boomer Erik Olson by listening to an 6/9/08 interview I did with Erik.. He’s a character, you’ll love this guy.

Erik is a classic example of a small business serial entrepreneurial.

However, Erik is a member of a fairly elite group because he has learned how to effectively put his entrepreneurial talent to work and rise above the ’serial stigma’ that plagues most small business owners. That stigma includes perpetually spewing forth new ideas and driving everyone around them nuts - business associates, friends, family and particularly spouses.

Through our interaction with the Olson’s on Facebook, on the phone and via email, it became obvious quickly how uncanny the similarities are between us.

I downloaded a copy of

Nine Simple Rules, by Erik Olson

and was astounded how much our philosophies correlate as well as our hands on experience in small business. As I read further it was kind of spooky how close his story felt like my own - even his statement that basically says we will never truly succeed as an entrepreneur until we create a business that is built around our life, instead of a life built around our business.

Quoting from Erik’s Nine Simple Rules, “When you design a business for the express purpose of giving you more life, several things change. The first thing that changes is your choice of business. You can no longer be held hostage to your own labor. By this I mean that the business must be able to produce revenue for you without your constant involvement. If you are a plumber with no employees, you only produce income when you hold a wrench in your hand. This makes you a slave to your business. On the other hand, if you invent a plumbing gadget, and license the rights to another manufacturer, you get paid every time any plumber around the world buys one. The first business sucks the life from you, but the second has at least the chance of giving you more life…”

And further…

“So why not take what’s behind door number two and create lots of value while generating lots of reward for yourself at the same time? You deserve to have a wonderful life… if you can stand it.”

This felt like a commonly shared thought and had a strong ring of familiarity to it but I didn’t realize how much so until I was doing some editing on my eBook last night and read the following:

The title of a sub-chapter in Chapter 11 of Healthy Wealthy Boomer is: “The 9 Golden Rules for Online Business Start Up” And rule # 9 is: Plan your business so you laugh, play and relax more than you work. But, it’s essential to plan from the beginning to create a business that will not require your presence to operate, once you get things fully operational and stabilized. Begin with this objective in mind. When you begin to plan how you want to create your business, factor in:

• Lots of vacation time
• Intimate dinners and nights out
• Rewarding your spouse with surprises that are generated from the business so that the subject of having a home based business is positive – create positive reinforcement for yourself as well
• Pay yourself first
• And don’t forget First Fruits…Be grateful – remember the attitude of gratitude that Zig Ziglar talks about.

Spend time enjoying your life and build your business around your life, instead of building your life around your business.

Erik’s book has value as a small business owner because it will give you a sense that you belong.

And that somebody really does understand you.

But The Value of Erik Olson’s Advice Goes Beyond That…

He explains the cyclic nature of the mind of a serial entrepreneurial in such a way as to explain:

• why we really do the things we do and
• what we need to do to compensate for our true nature
• a simple method for becoming effective business owners

Most small business entrepreneurs frustrate the heck out of consultants because they sit and listen to what the consultant has to say, they nod in agreement and then do exactly what they wanted in the first place - often ignoring the consultant.

Erik describes a method of management - kind of an Erik Olson-entrepreneur-version of Peter Drucker’s Management By Objectives. But Erik is smart because he knows if it gets complex, entrepreneurs will not follow instructions - not unlike trying to herd cats.

Instead Erik’s presentation - like placing the aromatic ‘fish’ strategically to attract the cats, rather than trying to herd them - is a appealing to the mind of the entrepreneur in a similar manner.

Erik Talks a Lot About “The Business Wheel” - A Cool Business Tool for Entrepreneurs

Throughout the book, Erik talks about ‘The Business Wheel’ - a kind of gadget that appeals to the mind of the entrepreneur like a lure for bass or something.

Erik Olson’s Business Advice Made So Much Sense, We Joined His Mentoring Program

Erik’s insight in the book about a practical and intelligent approach to converting useless, relentless hours of serial working behavior into effective, manageable results made a lot of sense to us.

So much so in fact that we joined his mentoring program. We highly recommend Erik’s professional expertise and if it sounds interesting to you, you can check it out at Erik Olson Profit Center