Redefining Rich

From a third-generation farmer and successful entrepreneur, Redefining Rich is an entrepreneurs guide to balancing work and family with the pleasures of the good life, with simple exercises and important lessons to serve everyone from the new sole proprietor to a seasoned CEO. Shannon Hayes was in the final months of her PhD program, recently engaged, and beginning to plan her future. Having grown up on a northern Appalachian sheep farm, she had two advantages: a hard-won education and hillbilly pragmatism. But when it came time to enter the job market, Hayes made a tough discovery: the economy just doesnt work. It doesnt work for women, for free thinkers, for the working class, or for white-collar professionals. It doesnt work in rural America, much less in the cities and the suburbs. It forces us to choose between career and family, profit and creativity. So, Hayes and her husband walked away from their career paths and chose to forge a life on her familys frost-plagued mountain farm, starting up a small caf in town. Together, they found their sweet spot: a place where the Appalachian farm culture and sensibilities she and her community have lived by helped them thrive, even in a tough economic environment. Against the odds, the Hayes family built a business that lets them live abundantly, spend time with family, and enjoy the gifts of nature. And the business even helped reinvigorate their chronically economically depressed town.