Ever wanted to be a YouTube sensation? Well, Patricia Bright has been there, done it and now written a book. With one of the fastest growing lifestyle YouTube channels in the UK, Patricia Bright has just released her first book Heart and Hustle: Use your passion. Build your brand. Achieve your dreams.

In the introduction, Patricia states “I’m going to show you how to hustle like I do, using your head and heart.” She then sets out her three-step process which is:

• Your Brand
• Your Business
• Your Beliefs

The beginning of the book takes the reader through some of Patricia’s life story. We hear about her experiences as a child and she shares how she managed to get her first job. At this stage, you can see how determined Patricia and throughout the story there are pearls of wisdom dropped in through what she has called LIFE LESSONS.

She then goes on to talk about making that transition to entrepreneur and shares how it isn’t as glamorous as everyone makes out. In fact, she writes “‘ ‘Entrepreneur’ has become a bit of a buzzword of late, and it can feel like being an employee is second best. But some people are amazing employees”. Everything has highs and lows, which Patricia shares, including the fact she wasn’t paid £60k for a campaign she did!

With a title including the word ‘hustle’, it is not surprising that Patricia speaks a lot about grind. But rather than telling people to blindly follow their passion, Patricia is quite practical about what it takes to actually be a success. She writes “you want to find the equilibrium between your passion and your unique skills, whilst also appealing to an identifiable target market”. This is so important and throughout the book, you can really tell that Patricia is a smart woman. From using a spreadsheet to work out her future potential earnings when decided to go full-time on YouTube to how she plans her content it is clear this Patricia is a woman who is strategic.

As you would expect from a successful YouTuber there are a number of chapters devoted to social media and content creation. She talks about the importance of your digital footprint, how to build your social media following and the reality of being in the public domain. To many people’s disappointment, no secrets to help you rocket to the top are provided, in fact, Patricia is very frank when it comes to growth. She writes “while it can take a long time to feel that momentum, once you’ve got it, it can propel you along a monumental trajectory”.

 After social media, Patricia moves on to discuss money and then running your empire. She talks about time-management, networking and then shares common pitfalls to avoid (some which unfortunately she didn’t).

Then the latter end of the book talks about being a woman, discovering who you are and body image.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I enjoyed Heart and Hustle by Patricia Bright. However, this is not a book I would recommend to everyone.

I personally enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book the most and found the ending disappointing. The final chapter is Feeling Good From the Inside Out, which talks about body image and then there is a Time To Say Goodbye. To me, it felt totally abrupt and left me not thinking as highly as the book as I would have had if the book had finised a few chapters earlier.

I think I would describe this book as a lifestyle book, in the sense, there is a bit of this and a bit of that. The book covers getting a first job, moving up the career ladder, balancing a side hustle, being a full-time entrepreneur, being a content creator, loving your body, being in a relationship, managing your money and much more. Now covering all of these topics means you can’t go in deep (the way I like books to do).

With that in mind, I think this is a great book for fans of Patricia Bright to read. I have known of Patricia for a few years and watched a number of her videos so I think that helped me enjoy the book. I think it is also a great book if you are looking for inspiration. Patricia’s journey is inspiring and there are some great inspirational quotes throughout the book, as well as sections for you to think about the questions being asked and reflect. I think this combination of journalling prompts and the inspiring story makes it a perfect book for aspiring/emerging/early stage content creators and entrepreneurs.

If you like the sound of Hustle and Heart by Patricia Bright you can buy a copy for yourself by clicking here.