The $100 Startup is a great business book that I read earlier this year. Author Chris Guillebeau offers a lot of advice on generating ideas, marketing, testing things out, launching products, and other related subjects. Guillebeau pulls a bit from his own experience but primarily focuses on dozens of successful entrepreneurs and the things they did to achieve success in business.
As indicated by the book’s title, Guillebeau makes the case that you don’t need a fortune to start a business. There are a number of ways to get your foot in the door without breaking the bank or putting your future on the line, especially since the rise of online commerce. Most of the people Guillebeau profiles in the book worked at a conventional job and spent their spare time gradually building up their business. Many of them then quit their jobs to become full-time entrepreneurs, but others ran their business while continuing to work reduced hours at their job. And, while some of them knew from the start that they wanted to be entrepreneurs, others simply tried out an idea just to see what would happen and wound up making it into a profitable business.
It’s certainly possible to grow a business to gargantuan size, but Guillebeau focuses on small businesses in this book. He advocates keeping your business within the limits that you set for yourself based on your goals in life running rather than recommending that you necessarily stay small or go big. His focus is on how you can use use entrepreneurship to increase your personal freedom. Running your own business lets you avoid having a boss, allows you to set your own schedule, and provides you with income so you can do more of what you want in life. Keeping a balance between work and play is a central theme of the book, and everyone Guillebeau profiles has found and maintained that balance.
Some books provide a great deal of motivation but are lacking in practical ideas. The $100 Startup contains both. This book comes close to being an all-in-one guide to starting and running a business. It’s answered some of the questions I have about starting a business and given me a lot of ideas on what I can do and how to do it. Even though I managed to get it for a fraction of the normal price, I’d be happy to pay full price for all the useful information it contains. I’m going to reread it all the way through several more times and study specific sections as many times as necessary. I know that it will be an invaluable resource in the pursuit of my dreams.