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Entrepreneur and all around great guy Chris Guillebeau has created a book that every person who wants to love their work needs to read. Filled with practical advice on starting a “micro-business”, it’s in my top 10 business books now. Listen to the episode to hear how you can get a free copy!
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Show Notes:
This episode of BooksForABetterYou is sponsored by the team at AndyAndrews.com. Get 15% off your order today at andyandrews.com when you use the coupon code betteryou15.
The Author:
- Chris Guillebeau – Entrepreneur, solopreneur at TheArtOfNonConformity.com – the title of his first book published in late 2010, subtitled (Set your own rules, live the life you want and change the world). Part of my top ten business books for building the business and the LIFE you want.
- He knows a lot about building the kind of business that I want to run so when he sent me a book (I didn’t even have to request it…he’s that nice of a guy) I ripped through it in a weekend.
I asked Chris about his goal in writing the book:
Two things: first, I kept hearing incredible stories from people who had started all kinds of businesses, without spending a lot of money and by using the skills they already had. Most of these people didn’t think of themselves as “entrepreneurs” and had never gone to business school, yet they found a way to make a good living doing something that they loved. I found these stories inspiring and wanted to bring honor and awareness to them.
Second, I wanted to craft a narrative from the stories and create a blueprint that readers could follow. There are lots of general resources out there, but we need more than vague, motivational mantras. We need specifics. We need data. We need a proven plan.
That’s what I hoped to provide, but it’s up to readers to be the judge of whether I succeeded or not.
- MAIN PREMISE – It’s a micro business revolution – a way of earning a good living while crafting a life of independence and purpose.
- WHY WE PURSUE THIS -There’s no rehab program for being addicted to freedom. Once you’ve seen what it’s like on the other side, good luck trying to follow someone else’s rules ever again.
- WHERE DID HE COME UP WITH THIS STUFF? – Research based on 1500 different responses to business owners who shared their journey and their income. He took those stories and found the patterns, including the pitfalls of their journeys.
- WHERE TO GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR BUSINESS – Somewhere between your passion and other people’s needs.
- Deciding what people actually want – More Love, less stress / More money, less conflict / More free time, less uncertainty
- Process for asking people what they want to buy before actually building it – I’m doing this myself with a new product that will help you fix your email inbox – you can find more info about that at http://www.FixYourInbox.com
- MORE PRACTICAL STUFF – Also discussed how to handle a product launch on-line – Invaluable, practical, simple…let me thinking “Duh, I should know that.” Well, we usually don’t so save yourself a lot of mistakes and frustration and just get the book. Or listen to the end of the show and hear about how you can get a copy free.
The Business audit.
- The first point is – Where do you make money?
- Duh Chris! No, DUH business owner. This is a constant problem for solopreneurs and micro-businesses who get distracted by everything except what brings us money!
The summary of $100 Startup
- Career changes hinge on answering two questions: “How can I systemize what I want to do and what role will that new business have in the rest of my life?”
- My favorite passages are about permission, since it’s the basis of my podcast network – the Take Permission Media Network
- “Most 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”
- “Sometimes the best advice is none at all. If you know what you want to do, the next step is simply to do it. Stop waiting. Start taking action.
- You can apply the lessons from these stories and create the new life you want.
- More than competition or other external factors, the biggest battle is against our own fear and inertia. Thankfully, this also means we are in complete control of managing it.
I asked Chris about how he felt about the response of readers to his book:
“Now that the book is out, I’m already hearing stories of fun little businesses that have started up… and this is in the first 14 days of launch! My goal is that more and more people will read the book and not just say “That was interesting.” I hope they’ll say, “I read this book and then I took action on it.”
I hard a time finishing this book because I kept wanting to DO SOMETHING with it…that’s the greatest compliment I can give this book. It caused me to do more than think, it caused me to DO and DOING something is the key to getting what you want.
To get a free copy of $100 Startup…
Leave a comment on what your biggest obstacle is in growing or starting your own business and Tweet or share this post on Facebook using the links on this page. Do this by May 31st! The winner will be announced on the next episode of the Books For A Better You Show.
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