Daring and Disruptive, how could you not be drawn to a title like that?

Lisa Messenger, Editor in Chief of my favourite magazine, Renegade Collective has just released her new book entitled Daring & Disruptive and today I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on the book and some of the awesome lessons that I've learnt in these pages.

If you follow me on any of my social channels such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter then you'll know that I'm a huge fan of The Collective Magazine.  The Collective tore it's way into the market about a year and a half ago or so and was completely different to anything else I had read.  As a passionate Intrapreneur (building a new business inside a corporate organisation) and entrepreneur (owning my own business), this magazine showcased game changers, thought leaders and renegades who were doing it differently, bucking the status quo and doing it with gusto.  I loved these stories more than I could say and I devoured each edition and still do.

So when I saw that Lisa had written a book I knew it was going to be, as they say, written just for me and surprise, surprise, it was!

The book itself was an easy and inspiring read, the graphics are great with images of quotes, her journal and relaxed and fun pics of Lisa give the sense that this is a woman who runs her own race.   The book shares her journey from a high school rebel (at boarding school, where she dyed her hair purple) through to travelling through Europe and finding her way into book publishing.   One of the things that I LOVE about this book and Lisa, is that in many circumstances there wasn't a long and drawn-out process of “doing her time” in the industry, working her way up the ranks etc, the story goes more along the lines of, “I saw an opportunity and decided to give it a go, with little experience but a knowledge that there was a gap and an opportunity to be had!”

As Lisa reveals, one of her gifts is that she's able to see or test out ideas quickly and if it looks like there might be a nibble of interest then she'll build out the idea a little more from there.  When I think of the things that many of us do, we usually invest a huge amount of time in something that we want to do without actually seeing if we think there is a market or interest in what we're looking to do.  This method of test quickly and fail fast means that you're able to be agile and adjust and change your direction as and when needed.

There are so many quotes in the book that I would love to share but we'd be here all day if I did.   The key messages that I took away from the book were these:

1// HAVE AN UNWAVERING BELIEF IN YOURSELF

The old saying that “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will” comes down to our ability to believe in ourselves and the fact that we absolutely have what it takes to do what we want in life if we would only believe.  The other saying of “Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you're right” also came to mind as I read this chapter.   There are many stories in the book where Lisa shares, and one particular moment where she could have run or not shown up to possibly the most important meeting with a senior executive of a bank, which ended up being one of the biggest backers for the launch of the Collective.  When we decide not to do something out of fear, then there could be a real possibility that taking that chance could be the difference between making it and not.

Have faith in yourself, your ideas and realise that there is no reason why you can't be, do and live in a way that truly makes you happy, challenges you and gives you everything your heart desires.  I think many times we think we don't ‘deserve' it.  We haven't ‘earned' it.  It's time to start thinking differently and realising it's those who dare that win!

2// FAIL FAST

Another great message is about failing fast. A quote from the book is “Failure is a huge area of interest for entrepreneurs, understandably so.  For the uninitiated, failure can seem like a dirty word, a phrase with negative connotations. But it is an essential element of business – and life – and one that can actually be your friend, if you let it.  No matter how good you are, you can't avoid it.” 

When I read these words I thought to myself, I'm going to have a little section on my whiteboard in my office and have 10 marks.  Every time I make a mistake – a significant mistake, I'm going to cross off one of those marks.  If I know they are going to happen and I just accept that it's part of this journey then I can give myself a little leeway.   This may not work for others but I think it'll help me manage how much I allow failure or mistakes to affect me.

The other lesson under this heading is to fail fast and move on at “warp speed”!  Don't dwell on the negative.  Accept that it's happened, learn from it and move on – it's that simple if you let it be!

3// SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE

In the chapter ‘Culture Up', Lisa talks about creating cultures in your business where everyone can thrive.  Understand your own motivations as well as the people in your team.  If you're a soloprenuer, you can think about this in the way that if you have people working for you like a bookkeeper, virtual assistant  or the like, understand who they are as well as what they do.  These people are still part of your team even if you don't have a physical office where you all sit together.

Hiring for your weaknesses is key to running a successful business.  Whilst we can do a lot of the work ourselves in the early days, really starting to look at what you do well and what you need support with is key to growth.  If you do have staff that work with you regularly then ensuring they are the right culture fit for what you need your business to do is critical.   If you make a bad decision then rectify it quickly.  Ideally take the time to get the decision right in the first place but once again if you fail in this area then fail quickly and adjust.   When it comes to the right people, just having the right support networking is critical as well, and ensuring you have people around you who will run with you when you need them to. If you are creative then having naysayers may not be the right support for you.   Know what you need and then connect accordingly.

There is so much more to this book but I'll leave that for you to read about yourself.   You can check out my video review below, and if you'd like to go into the draw to win Lisa's new book then SIGN UP HERE and leave a comment below – EASY!

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