The $100 Startup Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

Rather than delving into finding investors, The $100 Startup focuses on how you can start your business with limited up-front investment, grow your business, and eventually become your own boss.

About the Author

Chris Guillebeau is an American author, blogger, and speaker best known for his book The Art of Non Conformity and blog. His brand Unconventional guides provides travel and small business topic guides. He is the organizer of the annual World Domination Summit. His blog discusses entrepreneurship, travel, and personal development topics. He graduated from the University of Washington and Athens State University with a degree in International Studies. He lives in Portland with his wife. His second book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, was released in 2012 and reached #6 in its category on The New York Times Bestsellers list. He maintains a blog at Anderson Cooper 360 and has written for The Business Week.

Topics

Entrepreneurship

The $100 Startup Book Summary Preview

Author Chris Guillebeau wants to empower you to start your business. Right now. With the skills you already have, and a little seed money. The $100 Startup is all about the micro-entrepreneur. What does that mean? A micro-entrepreneur, or solo entrepreneur, is a one-person business.

Many business owners become entrepreneurs by accident, and then love the freedom and control of being in the driver’s seat. Guillebeau believes that starting your own business gives you more security and freedom, and he’s here to teach you exactly how to get started.

Rather than delving into finding investors, The $100 Startup focuses on how you can start your business with limited up-front investment, grow your business, and eventually become your own boss.

For many successful entrepreneurs, the greatest struggle to get started did not come from outside but from the inside, their insecurities. To start a business all you needed is a product or service that you can sell, customers who are willing to pay for it, and a method for them to pay with.

The $100 Startup teaches you to:

Follow your passions to discover your business niche.
Build relationships and maximize profits.
Feel free to live and work on your own terms.

Sound good? Let’s go!

Follow your passion.

You don’t need an MBA to start your own business. Thanks to the internet, you can start a company without plunking down money for a brick-and-mortar space. But where to start? Beyond your professional background, you have other skills you’ve carefully honed over time. It’s not just about “professional” activities. To start a business, you'll need to figure out where your passion, skills, and needs of others meet. Even if you do not have the skills yet to start a business, that does not mean you cannot learn skills. You can always supplement the skills that you have to be successful.

For example, when Tyler, the Creator lost his job at Starbucks, he was able to shift his focus towards music. According to Daymond John’s Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life, making music started out as an online hobby. As his following grew online, Tyler focused more and more on his craft rather than his day job. After being fired from Starbucks, Tyler, the Creator went on to design a neighborhood carnival that grew into the successful event Camp Flog Gnaw.

However, Guillebeau reminds readers that you don’t have to quit your day job if you don’t want to. Here Guillebeau points to Gary Leff: one of George Mason University’s financial officers by day, and travel consultant working to maximize frequent flyer points by night.

Let’s face it, you spend a lot of time at work, but how do you spend your weekends or evenings? Chances are, you have the seeds to grow your business hiding in plain sight. While not every hobby can grow into a successful business, there’s often a way to monetize your enthusiasm and position yourself as a leading expert.

Nate Silver presents another case study that Guillebeau examines in detail. A...