The 10% Entrepreneur: Live Your Startup Dream Without Quitting Your Day Job

by Patrick J. McGinnis

Choosing between the stability of a traditional career and the upside of entrepreneurship?
Why not have both?

Becoming a full-time entrepreneur can look glamorous from the outside. Who doesn’t want to chase their dreams, be their own boss, and do what they love? But the truth is that entrepreneurship is often a slog, with no regular hours, no job security, and very little pay.
 
What if there was a way to have the stability of a day job with the excitement of a startup? All of the benefits of entrepreneurship with none of the pitfalls? In The 10% Entrepreneur, Patrick McGinnis shows you how, by investing just 10% of your time and resources, you can become an entrepreneur without losing a steady paycheck.
 
McGinnis details a step-by-step plan that takes you from identifying your first entrepreneurial project to figuring out the smartest way to commit resources to it. He shows you how to select and engage in projects that will provide you with upside outside the office while making your better at your day job. He also profiles real-world 10% Entrepreneurs such as...
•Luke Holden, a cash-strapped recent college graduate, who started his own lobster-roll empire and oversaw much of its first year of operations, all while working full time in corporate America
•Dipali Patwa, a designer and mom whose side project designing and selling infant clothing is now a sensation.
•A group of friends who met at a 6am Bible study class and went on to start a brewery that now generates millions in sales .
 
A successful 10% Entrepreneur himself, McGinnis explains the multiple paths you can follow to invest your cash, time, and expertise in a start-up—including as a founder, angel, adviser, or aficionado. Most importantly, you don’t have to have millions in disposable income to become a 10% Entrepreneur. When you put McGinnis’s 10% principles into action, you’ll quickly start racking up small wins, then watch as they snowball into your new (and far more entrepreneurial) life.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction, Startup, Self Help, Personal Development, Finance

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2016

About the author

Patrick J. McGinnis is a venture capitalist and private equity investor who founded Dirigo Advisors, after a decade on Wall Street, to provide strategic advice to investors, entrepreneurs, and fast growing businesses. In this capacity, he has worked in a range of settings, from building startups from the ground up in Silicon Valley to acting as an expert consultant to the World Bank in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

As a 10% Entrepreneur, he has built a diverse portfolio of investments outside of his day job. This portfolio encompasses fast growing new ventures in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including ipsy, the world’s largest online beauty community; Bluesmart, the inventor of the world’s first smart, connected carry-on suitcase; and Afiniti, a big data company that is reinventing the call center industry. He has also been a partner in several real estate investments and is a seed investor in the upcoming London stage adaptation of The Last King of Scotland.

An avid traveler, writer, and speaker, Patrick has visited more than 70 countries and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

He is the author of The 10% Entrepreneur, published by Penguin Portfolio Books. He also writes for Fortune, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Boston Magazine, and Forbes.

Patrick is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Georgetown University and lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book via a Goodreads giveaway.

I had marked this book "to read" as an aspirational goal for my far off future given my status as a media professional pretty early in my career. However, reading through this straightforward and manageable approach to entrepreneurial endeavors has me sitting and wondering "why not now?"

I especially liked Patrick's constant reminder that intellectual investment can be just as beneficial and necessary as financial investment in entrepreneurship. Given my status as a recent college graduate, I have a lot more time and energy to commit to projects than I do finances.

I will definitely be referencing this book as I continue my path towards pursuing a career I'm passionate and excited about. Many thanks to the author for this read -- it was all the motivation I didn't know I needed!

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're searching for a book with a comprehensive step-by-step plan on WHAT specific actions to take to become an entrepreneur, this isn't it.

The whole book can be summarized with "duh" obvious generalizations like, build and surround yourself with a team that aligns with your vision and has previous success in the field... like, who would want to hire employees who hate the company's purpose and have no experience?

Tl:dr. Repetitive yammering about:
1. Don't quit your day job cause it provides economic stability and fuels your entrepreneur gig
2. You can be an angel, advisor, or owner
3. Figure out what to start by seeing what you like to do and what you have experience in
4. Then the rest is about how to find the right opportunity (which includes more obvious things like assessing whether it fits in with your interests, and what the return in $ is like)
5. And building a team and network of people for your venture

[Jessica Schupak · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with the author. Also in the interest of full disclosure, when he told me he was going to write this book I was totally supportive and excited for him as a friend but completely disagreed with the premise. I felt if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you should make sure the pool is deep enough but then dive in head first and commit fully. Patrick's book changed my thinking. His 10% concept presents a very practical approach to introducing more entrepreneurship into your life in a way that mitigates risk, expands your knowledge base and network, and fits with your lifestyle and personal situation. His book is well written and logical and a real reflection of Patrick himself - smart, diligent, fun and of the highest personal integrity. Normally I wouldn't include this sort of comment in a review (even if I did know the author), but it is the authenticity of the narrative that makes it so relatable and tangible and therefore of real value.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise of the book is diversifying your career similarly to how you would your stock portfolio. The risk of having a job without entrepreneurial pursuits is like investing in a single stock - losing your job is like your single stock taking a nosedive. Integrate entrepreneurship into your career as downside risk The book takes a counter position from the commonly held view that entrepreneurship requires being all-in. What if you have a great job that you love and pays well that you're not willing to give up? I can relate. Book explains how to diversify your career by investing 10% of your time (outside of work hours). I'm rating this 5-stars for someone like me who works full-time and interested in entrepreneurial pursuits, but I would not recommend to what the book calls a 110% entrepreneur.
-becoming an entrepreneur on the side provides a type of freedom that is difficult to obtain as full-time entrepreneur
-diversify your life financially and personally
-there are 5 kinds of 10% Entrepreneurs: angels, advisors, founders, aficionados, and 110% entrepreneurs
-being an advisor to a start-up with 10% of your time makes you worth much more than 10% to them as they benefit from much of your other 90% such as connections
-transform LinkedIn work history into a biography that markets your 10% pursuits
-be very picky with opportunities due to limited time, especially your first "anchor tenant"

[Patrick Tucker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I only made it through a little over half of this book before I threw in the towel. I was hoping for a text that was about building a side business, however, that is only ancillary to the main points of the book.

This was one of the worst books I have read all year because the premise and execution are so far from the expectation. The book is about becoming an investor or adviser to businesses not about building a business or growing an idea into a business.

If you read this be prepared to:
1. Know people that will offer you opportunities to invest in their business
2. Have money to invest in business that acquaintances are starting
3. Have all the skills necessary to become an adviser to a start up
4. Know individuals that need your expertise and are willing to give you an ownership stake in their startup for your guidance

This book is mainly fluff that reads like a series of blog posts or magazine articles on successful people that the author has exposure to because he is an author. Only successful people allowed to be profiled. No sign of failure for miles. The braggadocio is strong with this one...

There may be some value in parts of the book as far as writing a resume/biography for yourself, however, the tone was not what I was looking for. If you are starting something because you have an idea you are not necessarily going to fit in the the nice Venn diagram of what you are passionate and knowledgeable about.

I do not recommend this book to anyone.

[Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick McGinnis has done an excellent job with this book. He takes the reader through the process of being a "10% entrepreneur" step-by-step with advice that is generally applicable.

Particularly useful were Chapters 5-7 in Part II, which really helped me understand the entrepreneurial mindset.

The appendices contain MANY resources for new entrepreneurs. Although they are likely not sufficient for every new venture, they serve as an effective starting point.

The author gives many stories using model entrepreneurs to make his point. While these are generally helpful, they become subject to the law of diminishing returns in the concluding chapters. Overall, they make the book a more interesting read.

Definitely looking forward to the author's next book.

Disclaimer: This book was received via a Goodreads Giveaway contest.

[Susan Csoke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick McGinnis gives the reader step by step instructions of how to invest just ten percent of your time and resources to become an entrepreneur without giving up your present income. There are many paths one can follow to invest. You dont have to be a millionaire to become an entrepreneur!!!!! THANK YOU GOODREADS FIRST READS FOR THIS FREE BOOK!!!!!

[Sergiu Cipcigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if the book is not extremelly specific on what the exact steps are into becoming a 10% percent entrepreneur I think the book is more about proving the point that this is possible. It gives the reader some good tips and tricks into how to start on this path and more importantly why.

Enjoyed it in my vacation, really liked it.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. As someone who is constantly on the search for things to develop inwardly and outwardly, but never seeming to have enough time, this book was a good step into how to practice both safe ambition without over exhaustion.

[Jeanne Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this arc copy from goodreads giveaway. This book is fabulous. I can't wait to put what I've learned into good use.

[Lucas Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for any entrepreneur with messages that are important and timeless.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Clearly written. Not very inspiring. I suppose if you have money or a connection or two, this is a good guide once you get going. Started out strong - ended so-so.

[Brian Burwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 10% Entrepreneur: Live Your Startup Dream Without Quitting Your Day Job is one of those books that makes you want to go out there and do something. It offers a flexible framework for finding, analysing, and acting on potential business ventures as well as great actionable steps for preparing yourself and getting in the mindset of entrepreneurship (in your 10% time or otherwise).

This book points out the complementary nature of your day job and emphasizes the importance of maintaining and respecting your day job (because the stability and income from your day job are what allow you to pursue riskier ventures). It points out the benefits that side ventures can have for you personally and for your current career.

The chapters I found most interesting were on the process of setting up ventures (Finding, Analyzing, and Committing to Ventures, which has a lot of specific questions and ideas to guide you through the process) and on Building the Team.


One Job Is Not Enough

"As technology disrupts and transforms even the most established industries seemingly overnight, thinking like an entrepreneur is now essential

- "wantrepreneurs" revel in the hype - real entrepreneurs focus on results
- Five reasons not to be an entrepreneur:
-- 1) The lifestyle is lousy
-- 2) It can ruin your finances
-- 3) You're abandoning status and affirmation
-- 4) You don't have the right idea (yet)
-- 5) Failure sucks
- Entrepreneurship provides upside while traditional jobs provide stability
-- The two can be complementary - channel the stability, cash, and platform from your day job to your entrepreneurial ventures

"Through part-time entrepreneurship, you will achieve more than just financial or professional diversification; you will embark on a series of adventures that will make your life richer and more interesting."

All The Benefits Without The Pitfalls

"When you choose entrepreneurship, you take risks, build new contacts, and become a more versatile professional. You also learn how to sell yourself and how you can add value to a business."

- Operating as a 10% entrepreneur (which I'm going to abbreviate as 10e10r) offers diversification in your career - a Plan B
- Your goal should be to create a portfolio of opportunities that is "the gift that keeps giving"
- Ownership provides upside opportunities
- Entrepreneurship adds excitement to life while gaining skills that can also benefit your day job
- 10e10rship all comes down to flexibility

The Five Types of 10% Entrepreneurs
- 10e10rship is different than freelancing in that you think like an owner and invest time (or advice, or capital) for ownership
- Angel Investors make small financial investments (often - but not always - as part of a group)
- Advisors provide knowledge, experience, and credibility to a venture
- Founders start new companies - take time to see if a new venture is viable without risking the stability of your day job
- Aficionados are more often motivated by passion over profit and can fit into any other category
- 110% Entrepreneurs are already running their own stuff but are also one of the other types of 10e10r

What Kind of 10% Entrepreneur Are You?

"Entrepreneurship is about formulating a plan and then making choices - both big and small - that will help you reach the next step of your plan."

- Ask these questions:
-- ?Where are you going?
-- ?What will you need to get there?
-- ?How much time and money will you need to invest?
- Your resources are time, money (financial capital), and skills (intellectual capital)
-- Your skills should ideally combine what you're good at with what you enjoy
-- See also: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life / The Little Book of Lykke / Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living
- Different 10e10r types invest these resources in different balances:
-- Angels mostly invest money and some expertise
-- Advisors mostly invest skills and time
--- generally, advisors give a set number of hours per month in exchange for equity in the venture
--- advisors lend their credibility and support to the venture
-- Founders invest some of all their resources
The 10% Plan
.. Resources (optimise time, financial capital, and intellectual capital)
+ Investment Process (find, analyse, and commit to projects)
+ Network (build a team)

Making The Most of Time and Money
- Aim for setting aside 10% of your time and money towards a goal
-- Obtain multible objectives in a fixed period by combining passive activities with activities that require deep though
--- "smart multitasking" - See also: The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World
-- Cut down on distractions (like TV, social media, etc.) and dedicate that reclaimed time to your 10% time instead
-- Choose 10% projects that complement your interests so it doesn't feel like work
- Consider the investment of 10% of your money as a tithe to entrepreneurship (lol)
- Don't invest what you're not willing to lose
- Strive for diversification in the long run

Playing To Your Strengths

"Integrate the Enterprise"

- In order for a business to be successful, all of its activities must come together in a cohesive fashion
- Find activities that you're interested in and then leverage them
- When telling people your background, focus on:
-- framing your experience in terms of your overarching goals
-- establishing credibility
-- laying out your strengths so others can see how you'd operate well together

Finding, Analyzing, and Commiting To Ventures
1) Sourcing: finding the opportunity
-- Search for an "anchor tenant" to get a foot in the door
-- Sourcing is a networking process so cast a wide net
2) Screening: asses how it fits in your 10% Plan
-- ?Do I have the resources to do this?
-- ?Do I want to do this?
-- Pick something that "doesn't make you freak out"
3) Due Diligence: analyse the opportunity
-- Common sense and attention to detail
-- ?Is this business positioned for success>
-- ?Does this business operate in an attractive industry?
-- ?Are your partners competent and ethical?
--- ?Are all parties' incentives aligned?
-- ?Will the return on investment compensate for the risks?
-- ?Will this venture fit within my 10% Plan so I can contribute meaningfully and make connections or gain experience useful to future endeavours?
-- Focus on the business, partners, and your role
4) Final Decision: commit or pass
5) Documentation: make it official

Building Your Team
- Your team can consist of all of the people in your network with whom you will form long-term business relationships
- Your success corresponds to how effectively you use your time
- Your network is good for sourcing leads, screening opportunities or candidates, and supplementing your own due diligence with others' experience
- Bring trustworthy people into your team to make your network multipolar
- Perfect your personal pitch and practice tailoring it to your asks
- Networking tips
-- Start with your existing network of family and friends
-- Then , move to Linkedin and other social medias
-- During conversations, remember to ask for advice and introductions and always ask how you can help in return
-- Then, move to cold-calling
- Seek out people and ask specific questions
-- Make it easy for them to answer - remove the obstacles
- Google Test: upgrade your online presence so that when you Google yourself, you emerge as an authority in your area

Overcoming Obstacles
- Resilience - focus on the big picture and make it happen
- Having a plan should help to avoid impostor syndrome
- Take note of questions you're asked and answer them before they're asking in your next pitch
- FOMO (fear of missing out) + FOBO (fear of a better opportunity) = FODA (fear of doing anything)
- Even if you fail, limit collateral damage and do right by everyone

Winning the Long Game
- Always act with integrity, especially when it comes to your employer
- Stick to your core skills and do what you do best
- Look for ways to break out of your comfort zone
- Take charge of your own education
- Be generous and help others
- Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you
- YOLO: have fun and make it interesting

[Hee Jung Ryu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to learn about examples of our who started their businesses whole employed

[Nopadol Rompho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea of the book. However I thought that the later stage of the book is a bit too long. It can be shorter than its current form. However it is still interesting and worth reading.

[Richmond Yuen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let be honest to ourselves… responsibilities in life stop us from doing what we want to do. Quitting a job and pursuing the hobby as a career is not a luxury that many can have. Why not try it part-time? 10% of your time perhaps? Let us start this.

As the old English saying goes, It does what it says on the Tin.It is a good book. This is one book that is not just published out of just an idea but from the author’s worries, epiphany and sense of losing that stability he once had working for a big conglomerate.

From that moment on realization, he went on to think how he can use his education, hisprofessional skills and his experiences gained in the financial industry and other facets of life to carve a long term and sustainable way out for himself. He had went on to plan, analyse and invest some businesses.

From the outset it ponders on this idea of being this 10 percent entrepreneur and some might thing it is just a novel idea and some might even question if it can be achieved?

The answer is, it certainly can!

The author has done it, using himself as the key example and other real life references that he had used to bring it across. It illustrates how you can use 10% of your time if planned carefully, to pursue something of your interests, your passion and even of your current profession without quitting your day job.

Sounds interesting so far? Ok… good!

Key Takeaways from the Book:

10% of your time to develop passive income and profit
10% of your time to do something that you like
Plan your hours in detail each week?
Write down what you are passionate about?
The real question is, do you really want to do it?

Do you have the heart to do it?

The success of it always comes down to 3 things :

1) Are you hungry enough?

2) Do you have the desire to do it, and

3) Are you desperate enough for it?

Til then… Go get the book! ….. Read for Limitless. Be a Vacuum of Knowledge and Slave to none and opens up for spiritual awakening.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book " The 10% Entrepreneur,live your startup dream without quitting your day job"for an honest review.I really liked this book,trying to show the reader his technique of figuring out how to commit resources to your first entrepreneurial project while not quitting your day job.
He gives the reader an multiple paths to follow while investing your cash,time, and expertise on the start-up.
I really feel that the examples he gives on the companies who either succeeds or fails will guide you in the direction you want to go.
I enjoy the exercises that are in this book.
I think this book is great for those who want to learn more about reasons and ideas of how and why putting all your eggs into one basket can be good for you or really bad for you.
I am excited to read this book again...

[Masatoshi Nishimura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has many practical wisdoms of what you should do as a part-time advisor. Like how much stocks you should ask for. I am not sure this is the book if you want to start a business. There're other resources that are written from the founder's perspectives. Even free/inspirational blogs would be as useful.

I also don't agree with his general theme. 10% is much less riskier so you should persuade that. But he doesn't examine all these people who've succeeded because of their 100% effort. It's like saying, you can become a city marathon champion, but never aim for Olympics. And, you will be forever left wondering "what if I've spent more time on...".

I've like to see a book that talks about both sides with empirical evidence. Most entrepreneur books go to the other extreme: either all-in or do-it-on-the-weekend. Which one?

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick McGinnis' book is a gift for anyone who has wished they had the entrepreneurial bug but is just too risk averse to give up their day job. As Patrick learned himself and as he teaches us, one can be an entrepreneur on the side--a 10% Entrepreneur--while keeping their day job and the perks and security it offers. And given how unstable companies and the economy are, it's best to diversify one's career as one would one's investment portfolio.

Patrick shows us how to start on this journey, explains the different ways to contribute to these side ventures, how to vet them, and so much more. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to keep that day job but hedge their bets with side projects that could build towards a better--and less fearful--future.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, unique approach to entrepreneurship: how to do it as a side job. Not only did it cast a compelling vision for the benefits of the 10% approach (vs the 100%, all consuming approach). But it had really meaningful, specific chapters on how to actually implement it, from multiple ways to engage (e.g. advisor vs part-time owner) to criteria on good businesses for a 10% approach. This was well-written and original.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing concept. We hear so much about how great startups are, though no one seems to acknowledge that its not necessarily for everyone all the time. This book provided me a nice framework to think through how to be more entrepreneurial while still appreciating that I like safety and security.

[Erick P · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise that hits home is that, you diversify your portfolio from any one stock tanking, why aren't you doing that with your income. The rest is step by step, and encouraging detailed how-to book.

[Christy Weatherholtz-Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to get you motivated.

[Lucas González · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! I felt really identified with many of the stories, feelings and experiencies Patrick writes about.
Really good tips for starting an entrepreneurial lifestyle, how to make plans to thrive and overcome failure. Highly recommended!!

[Raph Kazidule · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main point in the book is to diversify. Do other things that can bring you money outside your normal job (if employed). However in some examples the author uses examples that don't really qualify as 10% entrepreneur.

How much is 10% anyway?

[Samuel Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting approach on how to become an entrepreneur. Inspiring stories from successful startups were founders started their companies without quitting their day job.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first quarter of this book is interesting and then it cycles through the same handful of generic entrepreneurship topics

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book at the library and am currently enjoying it. I am going to use the information for my part-time freelance writing/blogging career.

[Jesus Tut Bojorquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un buen libro. Utiliza ejemplo de como emprender sin renunciar a un ingreso fijo.

[Mikhail Kalashnikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Патрик Макгиннис – венчурный инвестор, который придумал аббревиатуру FOMO.

Пишет он тоже как венчурный инвестор: простым бедным языком, с очевидностями, повторами, нэймдроппингом и бесконечными примерами успешного успеха.

Но сама концепция сайд-бизнеса, безусловно, отличная, и особенно применимая к обществам вроде России, где меньше безопасности, денег и толерантности к неудачам, чем в Долине. Макгиннис правда, больше пишет про ангельские инвестиции и эдвайзерство, чем про построение чего-то своего в свободное время, но такой уж у него бэкграунд. Впрочем, лучше помогать кому-то делать хороший бизнес, чем отчаянно придумывать свой, который будет так себе.

Цитаты:

«Instead of thinking of entrepreneurship as something that was inherently risky, it could actually be my insurance policy».

«As a first-time entrepreneur, you’re already operating outside of your comfort zone, he says, so pick an area that you understand, that is “close to home,” and that integrates into the rest of your life. That will ensure that you know what you’re doing, have the intellectual capital to make it work, and actually enjoy the experience.».

«In June 2014, a message popped into my in-box from a name I didn’t recognize. It was an e-mail from a journalist, Ben Schreckinger, who was researching the history of the term FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, for Boston magazine. 1 He tracked its origin to an article I wrote back in 2004, when I was a student. That was well before Facebook inflicted FOMO as the neurosis of choice for an ever-connected society. Social media didn’t even really exist back then, but we still had plenty of fuel for our insecurities. My classmates and I had just lived through the dot-com crash and the 9/ 11 attacks. We were all a little traumatized, so we subconsciously resolved to live every minute to the max, whether we enjoyed ourselves or not. The whole thing actually started with FOBO, or Fear of a Better Option. It was the term I came up with to explain the fact that everyone I knew at school was always looking for something better. Not just content with good, we wanted to trade up to great. You couldn’t have a conversation with somebody without noticing that their eyes were scanning the room to figure out whom to talk to next. We were all about option value, usually just for the sake of having option value, and it was pretty insufferable. We didn’t want to commit in case something better came along. FOMO was basically the opposite extreme. We were so afraid of missing out on some fun and unique experience that we’d say yes to everything. That’s how you’d end up double or triple booking yourself on nights when you probably should have just stayed home.»