September 13, 2011
1-800-AWESOME:
Tactics for Making $10,000 an Hour
Chris Rugh
Emerald Book Company (2011)
ISBN: 9781934572641
New Book Teaches Entrepreneurial and Personal Rule Breaking for Success
A lot of self-help books are out there, and Chris Rugh’s new book isn’t the first to teach people how to work smart rather than hard so they can make more money and create more time for themselves. What makes “1-800-AWESOME” stand out is its author and his refreshing, tell it like it is, common sense attitude. Chris Rugh has known failure and success in his businesses. Like Donald Trump, he has been bankrupt only to come back from it and build a multi-million dollar, toll free provider business, Custom Toll Free, hence the “1-800-Awesome” title. What he learned along the way to success he shares here in a series of personal stories, practical advice, and powerful questions that motivate readers to take responsibility for their lives, stop doing what doesn’t work for them, and ultimately, to experience unprofessional but phenomenal success.
Rugh emphasizes the value of being “unprofessional” and “breaking the rules” but neither implies being unethical. In fact, just the opposite. He suggests we be very honest, not only in our business dealings, but in our relationships, and most importantly, with ourselves. Unprofessional success means breaking rules that are not purposeful, helpful, or truly binding. Some of these rules are simple things like wearing “monkey suits” rather than dressing comfortably, or replacing time spent watching the news with brainstorming sessions to achieve goals. Breaking the rules is about rejecting what holds us back unnecessarily, and also about being creative, such as working in different places, whether it’s the hot tub, a hotel balcony in Miami, or wherever we can feel reenergized.
Anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations will benefit from “1-800-AWESOME.” People who never considered becoming entrepreneurs will be inspired to seek the freedom that owning your own business can provide after reading Rugh’s testament to how we can improve our lives by taking control of them. While he doesn’t pretend business ownership does not include a lot of long hours initially, he makes clear that if we work smart rather than hard we can have the free time we desire:
Business owners own businesses. Plain and simple—that is what we do. We are not employees, nor should we be slaves to our businesses. You know you are successful when you can show up every once in awhile to sign the checks, review the books, look at some reports and make an appearance to make sure everyone and everything is on track. This should be your primary goal and this is the key to being an unprofessional success.
Chris Rugh did the hard work in the beginning, at one point living in the Detroit ghetto, and also having to move past others’ beliefs that he should tie himself down to working a 9-5 job with benefits. He is proof that belief in yourself, motivation, and creativity can make you an unstoppable and unprofessional success:
There’s nobody holding you back; there’s no company holding you back; there’s no government holding you back; there’s no person holding you back. Your ex-wife or husband is not holding you back; your kids aren’t holding you back; nobody is holding you back from going further in life, except you.
Readers who may not feel they have the motivation or ability to succeed need not worry because Rugh will be their guide through the extraordinary journey found in these pages which will inspire and energize them. While many self-help books offer suggestions and exercises, Rugh asks stronger questions than most—questions that really make a person think hard and realize what needs to be done to move forward. These questions include asking yourself what you are resisting that prevents your happiness, and precisely, how are you resisting money? Readers are asked to assess what they are willing to risk and not risk to achieve their goals. Rugh then teaches practical skills for readers to acquire more free time while building their businesses; he even provides examples of how to use your competition to your own advantage.
Never one to mince words, Rugh makes strong statements that always drive his message home:
“My business is not my baby, my business is my bitch.” I am not here to serve my business—I am not my business’s bitch. I am not here to be a slave to my business all day and all night. If I wanted to do that I would go out and get a J.O.B. and I would be enslaved through the guy that feels he has to be a slave to his business. That is not what I am here for. I am here to have a structure within my business that empowers me and my life and what I want to do.
Chris Rugh has definitely succeeded in what he is here for; his story of unprofessional success and his lessons on how you can also work less, make more, and live really well all are provided in this new book sure to change many lives for the better.
For more information about Chris Rugh and “1-800-AWESOME” visit www.1800AWESOME.com.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., and author of the award-winning “Narrow Lives”
