Small Life

An award-winning business writer dismantles the myths of entrepreneurship, replacing them with an essential story about the experience of real business owners in the modern economy.

We’ve all come across a person who could successfully steer and handle any conversation topic, even with no knowledge of it. It makes you wonder, “Where’d they learn that?” Most people revert to the default and assume that others are just born with better communication skills. But they’re wrong. Anyone can master their communication skills with the right materials. Take your personal and work life to the next level by mastering any form of conversation with this book that will make sure you’re a master of the art within seven days.

Jake is just starting to enjoy life as his school’s first openly gay kid. While his family and friends are accepting and supportive, the same can’t be said about everyone in their small town of Barton Springs, Ohio.

In Bonnet, Texas, Liddy Latham, the queen of funeral dinners, keeps a Southern comfort-food tradition alive - until fancy-schmancy Matilda Monroe moves back to town. She wants room at the table for her own style of consolation and closure: healthy, modern, and vegan. But this is about more than fried chicken versus tofu turkey. Matilda’s return is also stirring up their volatile, unresolved history. And just when they thought it couldn’t get more personal.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to earn millions while you sit on the beach and enjoy your life? In The Unemployed Millionaire, you'll learn why it's no longer a pipe dream but a real possibility. The lowering of trade barriers and the emergence of the Internet have made it possible for almost anyone to set up a business from anywhere.

How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur is a practical and highly detailed guide to the mindset you need to have and the actual steps you need to take to become successful in business. Whether you are starting out and looking for an idea or you already have a business, you will find a whole array of useful information within this fascinating book.

Hopper shares 50 lessons to help you overcome your mental blocks, find your work-life balance, and achieve the career of your dreams. No matter where you are on your freelance journey, the five sections on getting started, pitching, doing the work, caring for clients, and finding work-life balance have something for everyone. With short chapters and practical advice, What Gives You the Right to Freelance? is sure to help creative folks make more money and love their work.

At only ten years old, Katherine Forrester has already experienced her fair share of upheaval. It has been three years since she last saw her mother, a concert pianist whose career was cut short by a terrible accident. After a brief reunion, tragedy strikes once more, forcing Katherine from the familiarity of New York City to a foreign Swiss boarding school. Far from home, she struggles with the challenges of growing up. Stifled by her daily routine and the pettiness of her classmates, Katherine’s piano lessons with a gifted young teacher provide an anchor in the storm.

Where does the startup journey begin? Startups are the epitome of untapped potential–turning “unsolvable” needs into a whole new opportunity for growth. Companies aspire to learn from the startup rulebook. Yet, when it comes to our personal lives, we opt to avoid those “unsolvable” problems and stick with the familiar and safe options: Do as instructed, walk the line, don’t stick out. In short: Don’t live your life like a startup.

After my marriage crumbles, I run from the scrutiny of my suburban Stepford-wife life to my hometown of Balsam Ridge, Tennessee, with my son to pick up the pieces. The small mountain town offers plenty of opportunities for a fresh start: genuine friendships, reconnecting with my mother, and even finding work with the biggest family in town, the Tuttles. It was only supposed to be for the summer, and catching feelings for someone wasn’t part of the plan, but with his quiet confidence the sexy as sin Graham Tuttle has broken down all my walls.

In midwinter in an English village, a teenage girl has gone missing and everyone is called upon to join the search. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks, and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place of peace. As the seasons unfold and the search for the missing girl goes on, there are births and deaths, secrets kept and exposed, livelihoods made and lost, small kindnesses, and unanticipated betrayals. Reservoir 13 explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence.

When Pixie Sampson's husband tragically dies, she inherits the beautiful Château Quiltu in Brittany, Northern France. But unbeknown to her, she also inherits a mysterious lodger, Justine Martin and her four-year-old son, Ferdie. Heartbroken and with her adventurous mum, Gwen, in tow, they travel to France to put the château on the market but are soon drawn into a quest to seek the château's secrets. Who is Justine? Why is she living at the château? How did she know her husband?

Tiny homes used to get a bad rep when they first appeared. Many people used to question their livability and if it was worth downsizing. Now through the influence of being featured on popular home improvement shows, tiny homes are growing in numbers and for good reason. Tiny homes offer a simple approach to getting rid of many of the common disadvantages that traditional homeowners face and are just plain neat!

Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.

Sara Bliss (yes, that’s her real name) tracked down more than 65 people who transformed their lives to learn how they did it so you can, too. Take the Leap is packed with inspiring profiles, quotes, and other pieces of creative advice from game changers, rule breakers, and side hustlers, including successful entrepreneurs like Barbara Corcoran, Bobbi Brown, writer turned actress (at 40) Jill Kargman, Black Crowes drummer turned sports radio host Steve Gorman, writer Simon Doonan, and NFL player turned artist/activist Aaron Maybin, and many more.

Abandoned by his father after his mother drowns in a frozen Minnesota lake, fifteen-year-old Wes Ballot is stranded with coldhearted grandparents and holed up in his mother’s old bedroom, surrounded by her remnants and memories. As the wait for his father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, giving Wes fresh air to breathe in the suffocating small town.

From enemies to lovers, second chances, and prime romances, the short stories in this book will give you hours of enjoyment. Kirsten and Tristan show that first impressions don't have to be lasting ones when they learn to work together in Small Town Dreams. Molly and Dillon prove that second chances do exist, especially when true love is involved in Small Town Second Chances. Tess and Samuel show that people can change for the better when faced with extraordinary circumstances in Small Town Rivals.

Jaxie dreads going home. His mum’s dead. The old man bashes him without mercy, and he wishes he was an orphan. And then, in one terrible moment, his life is stripped to little more than what he can carry and how he can keep himself alive. There’s just one person left in the world who understands him and what he still dares to hope for. But to reach her he’ll have to cross the vast saltlands on a trek that only a dreamer or a fugitive would attempt.

Twelve years ago, I thought I had everything figured out: I’d go off to college, get my marketing degree, come back to my charming little hometown, help my high school sweetheart build his carpentry business, and live happily ever after. Instead, on the eve of my college departure, Slater Goode (henceforth known as The Devil) ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped all over it. But I don’t care about that anymore. At. All. Then I get some news: The Devil’s grandfather, whom I love as if he were my own, has passed away, and missing his funeral is not an option.

In Patrick Morley's true sequel to The Man in the Mirror a man is taken beyond the day-to-day problems he faces and is confronted with seven major seasons of life that can make him or break him. Includes a leader's guide for small groups. Formerly titled The Seven Seasons of a Man's Life.