Book of the Week: The $100 Startup
16 Jul 2013
Much of this book contains various forms of advice, but don’t confuse advice for permission. You don’t need anyone to give you permission to pursue a dream. - Chris Guillebeau
If you want to start a lifestyle business, you should just do it. Reading books on the subject of doing a startup is like asking for permission. If you aren’t willing to embark on the journey, then you will never start no matter how many books you read. In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau describes different people who have succeeded doing their own startup. By startup he means people making $50,000 a year from their business, not billion dollar internet startups. These are normal people like you and me. One thing that bothers me about books that detail many examples of people who have succeed is that there is a selection bias. People only write books about the people who have successful startups. I want to read a book about people who failed at doing startups and went back to work. The $100 amount isn’t important. Anyone can start a business Tina Seelig gave her class $5 of seed capital and 2 hours to make money. The winning team made $600. For any business you need to deliver value and charge for it. Passion
Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Use passion to fuel, not filter what you’re going to do. Goes back to being So Good, They Can’t Ignore You.
If your motivations are based strictly on the preferences of someone else, you’ll run the risks of boredom, unhappiness, and simply being less purposeful than you could be otherwise. - Chris Guillebeau
Don’t live a life chosen by other people. There has to be a fit between what you want to do and what people are willing to pay for. Profits There’s a small section in the book that describes how little tweaks can lead to a big impact. I’m used to thinking about increasing things by 30% in one section of the business, but if I increase things by 5% in 6 different places, I’ll have better returns. A lot of little things do add up. $latex 1.3 < (1.05)^6 $ One should charge based on delivered value, not on costs. Your goal is to deliver as much value as possible and charge for it. Being A Entrepreneur
The fact is that the majority of people don’t own their own business. And a certain percentage of that majority will not be happy or supportive about your existing the nine-to-five world - Charlie Pabst of Seattle
Founders need to talk to other founders, because they are the only ones who understand. It helps to have someone you can talk to. Purchase The $100 Startup from Amazon.com or check it out from your local library.