The $100 Startup

Title: The $100 Startup
Author: Chris Guillebeau
Type: #litnote #todevelop #book

My philosophy

• Never have a boss. Never be a boss.

Turning your life into business

I'm not a businessman. I am a business, man. - Jay Z

Imagine a life where you spend all of your life doing what you love to do. People are writing new rules for work. They are creating a future by being their own bosses.

Microbusiness or the One-Person Business revolution: It's a new way of living a life doing what you love to do and creating a business out of it on the side. Turn your passion into profit while creating a meaningful life out of it.

Freedom and Value.

Look for a way to add contribute greater value to the world. Start with an idea, and figure out everything along the way.

Value

Value is something desirable and of worth. Value means helping people. Value is created when a person makes something useful and shares it with the world.

The goal is not to get rich quicky. It to build something that people will value enough to pay you for. And if you make your business about helping others, you'll always have work.

Ask yourself: How can I give more value? Fulfill your customers emotional needs.

The world of micro-entrepreneurship or solopreneurship. These businesses are often built on the pursuit of personal hobby or interest. These businesses can start without investment capital, employees and even idea of what they're doing.

What to Build a Business Around

• Convergence:
  • Find an intersection of what you want, what you are good at and what people are willing to pay for.
  • Not everything is marketable.
• Skill Transformation
  • Have more than one skill. Go broad. Combine multiple skills and create a unique you.
• Three elements of business: Don't overcomplicate it.
  • Product/service
  • Customers
  • A way to get paid

Selling a product/service

The easy way to a successful business venture is to find out what people want and find a way to give it to them. The secret to meaningful career is directly related to making people feel good about themselves.

Make something that you want to buy yourself. But doesn't exist it. If you want it, others will probably want it too.

You don't need a lot of money or special training to operate business. Just do something. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

• What people want?
  • More | Less
  • Love | Stress
  • Money | Conflict
  • Acceptance | Hassle
  • Free time | Uncertainty

Passion to Project

Pick something you love to do. Build a business around it. It is great but not for everyone. Focus on how people will be helped by your passion and why should people care about it? Are they willing to pay for the help or value you deliver?

In addition to passion, develop a related skill that provides a solution to a problem. A passion merged with skill that can help other is way to bring money to the bank.

• My basic website elements
  • The core benefits I provide and what qualifies me to provide
  • At least two stories of how others have been helped
  • Pricing details
  • How to hire me immediately

The business of online information publishing.

• Find a topic people will pay to learn about.
• Capture information in text, audio, or video.
• Create a book or digital package
• Create an offer
• Sell it to the audience

The Online Education Model

Find your people

Your people are the ones who share a common interest and beliefs.

• Latch to popular, hobby, passion or interest
  • When lots of people are interested in something but have hard time implementing it in their daily lives, its a business opportunity
• Find what people want and find a way to give it to them.
  • Ask if they are willing pay for something you are building

When deciding between ideas, use the matrix: Impact, effort, profitability, Vision, Sum.

One Page Business Plan

• You need a marketable idea.
  • An idea that provides solutions to a problem or is useful enough that other people are willing to pay for it. Don't think innovation, think usefulness.
• Keep costs low
• Get the sale as soon as possible

The one-page business plan(Questions)

• Overview
  • What will you sell?
  • Who will buy it?
  • How will your business idea help people?
• Ka-Ching
  • What will you charge?
  • How will you get paid?
  • How else will you make money from this project?
• Hustling
  • How will customers learn about your business?
  • How can you encourage referrals?
• Success
  • The project will be Successful when it achieves
    • ----customers
    • ---- Annual income
• Obstacles
  • Concern 1
  • Concern 2
• Deadline: I will launch this project into the world no later than......

Creating an Offer

• Sell what people want, not what they say they want
• People like to buy, but the don't like to be sold
• Provide a nudge
• Compelling offer toolkit
  • FAQs
    • Provides reassurance and overcome objections
  • Incredible guarantee
    • Get their fear away. 120% money back guarantee
  • Overdelivering
    • Make people feel good about their purchases

The Launch

• Unique selling proposition

Hustling

Promote in an authentic and non-sleazy manner. Don't take advantage of every money making opportunity that comes along your way. Give more than you receive.

Making More Money

• Improve traffic
• Improve conversion
• Improve price per sale
• Sell more to existing customers

Product to service, Service to Product

• Create a service-based business from your product. Also you can productize your service.

Promote yourself

Talk about yourself and your business online. Be authentic.