What to Buy an Entrepreneur This Christmas

It’s that time of year again folks! Christmas is just around the corner, and it’s always a tough time for an entrepreneur.

Their minds are constantly on the move, so it’s difficult for them to juggle everything they have going on during this festive period.

As a family member, or a friend of an entrepreneur, it’s probably even more challenging! What the hell do you buy them?

Socks, pajamas or even a well-appreciated pair of slippers?

When we are growing up, we often take for granted the gifts that might be of some real use and value to us.

Come on, you must remember that feeling you got as a child when you opened a gift from Grandma, and it’s a weird looking leather notepad/diary for school?

What the hell is this? I wanted a remote control helicopter!

Our inner spoiled child comes out, and we forget about the value and thought behind the gift.

For example, I recently turned 22—I know right, getting old aren’t I?—and for my birthday, I received a sleek and professional multi-functional journal.

I was so excited when I opened this. Anybody would have thought I had just discovered gold!

My journal wasn’t just any journal. This journal had everything!

  • Business Card Holder
  • Diary
  • Year Planner
  • Notepad
  • Expenses
  • Calculator

Honestly, the features this thing has is incredible.

My point being, that when I was younger, I wouldn’t have seen a purpose for this, and now I take it everywhere with me.

So back to the question at hand.

What Do You Buy for an Entrepreneur This Christmas?

An entrepreneur always needs something.

When an entrepreneur starts to discover their real purpose, their mindset adapts to the ever-changing way they want to achieve things, and we begin to appreciate the smaller gifts we receive.

In my opinion, everything has its purpose, so, no matter what you buy this Christmas, it will find a way of being used.

The little things that we use every day can always be a great start.

  1. Office Accessories;
    • Pens (because no matter what, it always runs out of ink)
    • Desk Organizers
    • Cable Organizers
    • A Comfortable Chair (Hint-Hint)
    • Docking Station (For iPhones, iPads, Watches)
  2. Electrical Devices;
    • Tablets (because you can pretty much run your entire business from one)
    • Kindles & eReaders
    • Charging Docks
    • USB Drives
    • Headphones / Speakers
  3. Peripherals
    • Keyboard / Mice (if you’re a techie then you’ll understand this one)
    • Laptop Case/Sleeve (to protect the laptop)
    • Desk Lamp
    • Printer Ink
    • Presenter Clickers
    • USB Hub

I’ve tried to keep the above list as relevant as possible—items the entrepreneur can use every day that will make their lives easier. These types of gifts provide a solution for the entrepreneur you’re buying for.

For example, Office Accessories are always necessary. We often shrug them off as rubbish or clutter, But this stuff isn’t just junk. We’ve gone through and carefully picked what we consider useful for the everyday business owner and aspiring entrepreneur.

Just to give you a little bit more of an understanding of the gift idea’s I’ve provided above, here’s a list of a few of my personal favourites.

Pens – Don’t write this one off —ah, see what I did there—because we all know how annoying it is when we go to use a pen to write down something important only to see the damn thing has run out.

Charging Docks – These things are great! Only because we can charge all our devices in one central place. These things also keep your cables neat and tidy, which is perfect if you’re a clean freak like me. This cures all my OCD tendencies.

USB Drives – As we are now able to backup our important documents to the cloud, it’s always a smart idea to do a second backup to a physical drive.

A Comfortable Chair – It’s always important that your entrepreneurial King or Queen has a throne to sit on, and it must be a comfortable one.

Presenter Clicker – Speaking from experience, clickers are handy! Whenever we’re about to do a presentation, we are always in need of a clicker. It allows for an easier flow when presenting.

Tablets – I don’t mean headache tablets, although I don’t think this would be such a bad gift for an entrepreneur. This idea is rather on the expensive side, but it would be an ideal gift for your entrepreneurial spouse or partner to open on Christmas morning, simply because they can pretty much run their entire business from it, making their lives slightly easier.

As you can hopefully see, the majority of items on the list above can provide some solution for the everyday entrepreneur.

More Ideas

As listed above, I’ve tried to show you some ideas of the types of gifts that provide a solution for the entrepreneur.

Here’s some more of what I would consider the perfect gift for your entrepreneurial counterpart.

Books, Books and More Books!

The majority of entrepreneurs love a good book! Many entrepreneurs read in their “downtime” as it allows their never restless brains to take a pit stop for a couple of hours as they dive into a world of their own.

During an episode of our podcast, we asked our guests if they could suggest some books for any aspiring entrepreneur or struggling startup to read.

Our guests have recommended some fantastic books! They also emphasize how important it is for all aspiring entrepreneurs to read as many books as possible.

Reading is a brilliant way for entrepreneurs to get the best advice available from influencers in their industry at a low cost.

Here’s a list of some of the best book’s we’ve read, and also some that have been recommended by the guests on our podcast.

  1. Built To Sell: Creating a business that can thrive without you

  2. Oh, The Places You’ll Go (Dr Seuss)

  3. The 7 Day Startup: You Don’t Learn Until You Launch

  4. The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

  5. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

  6. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World

  7. The Complete Works of Florence Scovel Shinn (Dover Empower Your Life)

  8. The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

  9. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

  10. Zero to One: Notes on Start-Ups, or How to Build the Future

*Please note, these books do have affiliate links attached to them.

While I wrote this section of the article, it occurred to me that books are the ideal gift for an entrepreneur.

They allow the entrepreneur to extend their knowledge in all things related to what they’re reading. I hadn’t realized it until we started our podcast, and when we asked the question:

“Which entrepreneurial business book helped you as a startup?”

All the guests have come back to answer us with at least 2/3 examples of books they have read over time. So if it’s worked for them? Surely it has to come with some benefits for you.

Online & Subscription Based Products

This is so important!!

We can’t deny the fact that this is the way the world of products and services are going now.

Our podcast wouldn’t be able to work if it wasn’t for the digital revolution.

One thing we’ve noticed is that the majority of our expenses go to the likes of subscription based services.

For example;

  • Hosting
  • G-Suite
  • Adobe Software
  • Outsourcing Services
  • Scheduling Services
  • Paid WordPress Plugins

Want me to go on some more? Because I could.

You’ll find that the everyday entrepreneur uses more SaaS based products than conventional products. The amount of online services that pretty much keep our podcast afloat is incredible.

The only problem is that these services all come at a price, and sometimes not a cheap one.

Why not ask the entrepreneur what they need to purchase to help them sustain their business that might cost them a lot of money in the long run?

Yearly subscription options for online services are the cheapest solution. Unfortunately, they’re usually needed at the wrong time, mostly when you haven’t got the money to buy the service outright for a year.

So we tend to go for the less cost-effective monthly service, which hurts our bank balance every month.

Find out what online service or product your entrepreneurial chum needs, as this may help them out in more ways than you can imagine.

To Finish Things Off

Okay, so as you can probably tell, this is a topic that we could talk about all day.

But we must wrap this one up before you go ahead and create your shopping list full of potential goodies for your deserved entrepreneurial friend or even for yourself.

I’d just like to say that Christmas isn’t all about the presents or the amount spent. I believe it’s simply about spending time with your loved ones and recognizing how great our lives are.

So this list can go on to become never ending, but please don’t spend money you don’t have. Even the little things can make a big difference to somebody’s life.

Sometimes all an entrepreneur wants is support from you.

Oh, and time to rest! Let them rest!

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