The $100 Startup

Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

By: Chris Guillebeau

Narrated by: Chris Guillebeau, Thomas Vincent Kelly

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau tells you how to lead of life of adventure, meaning and purpose - and earn a good living.

Still in his early 30s, Chris is on the verge of completing a tour of every country on earth - he's already visited more than 175 nations - and yet he’s never held a "real job" or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius for turning ideas into income, and he uses what he earns both to support his life of adventure and to give back.

There are many others like Chris - those who've found ways to opt out of traditional employment and create the time and income to pursue what they find meaningful. Sometimes, achieving that perfect blend of passion and income doesn't depend on shelving what you currently do. You can start small with your venture, committing little time or money, and wait to take the real plunge when you're sure it's successful.

In preparing to write this book, Chris identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many cases, $100 or less), and from that group he’s chosen to focus on the 50 most intriguing case studies. In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized, and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment.

Here, finally, distilled into one easy-to-use guide, are the most valuable lessons from those who’ve learned how to turn what they do into a gateway to self-fulfillment. It’s all about finding the intersection between your "expertise" - even if you don’t consider it such - and what other people will pay for. You don’t need an MBA, a business plan or even employees. All you need is a product or service that springs from what you love to do anyway, people willing to pay, and a way to get paid.

Not content to talk in generalities, Chris tells you exactly how many dollars his group of unexpected entrepreneurs required to get their projects up and running; what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made the business stick. Among Chris’s key principles: if you’re good at one thing, you’re probably good at something else; never teach a man to fish - sell him the fish instead; and in the battle between planning and action, action wins.

In ancient times, people who were dissatisfied with their lives dreamed of finding magic lamps, buried treasure, or streets paved with gold. Today, we know that it’s up to us to change our lives. And the best part is, if we change our own life, we can help others change theirs. This remarkable book will start you on your way.

©2012 Chris Guillebeau (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"Thoughtful, funny, and compulsively readable, this guide shows how ordinary people can build solid livings, with independence and purpose, on their own terms.” (Gretchen Rubin, author of the number-one New York Times best seller The Happiness Project)

"The $100 Startup is a twofer: It's a kick in the pants to get started on your dream and a road map for finding your way once you begin. If you're not ready to launch your own business after reading this book, you need to go back and read it again!" (Daniel H. Pink, New York Times best-selling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind)

"In this valuable guide Chris Guillebeau shows that transforming an idea into a successful business can be easier than you think…. You are in charge of which ideas deserve your time, and this book can help you wake up every morning eager to progress to the next step." (Tony Hsieh, New York Times best-selling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com)

Great advice and inspiration!!

Where does The $100 Startup rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I will recommend this book. It is ranked very high in delivery of topic and examples. The overall book is well written and provides a lot of useful information and inspiration for those starting a new business.

Eye and mind opener with how to thrown in

I enjoyed both the narrator and the content
He really opened my mind to possibilities
With true stories of how people actually got there

Great listen!

This is essential for someone wanting to learn how to start a business focused towards freedom and the essentials vs go big and do everything.

So Much To Take In

What did you love best about The $100 Startup?

There is so much to take in with this book. It's a lot! And the book is 8 hours long. Lots of detail and examples. I suggest you have a laptop or pen & paper in-hand as you listen to it. This way you can take notes and answer all questions, you can also jot down ideas and get clear about your business pursuits. I found this book to be very helpful in starting my business.

Excellent Startup Companion

Both practical and engaging, with well researched ideas and plenty of stories, I found this book to be very helpful. The author has collected excellent stories from folks across the world who have started up businesses of their own. Each gives more light to the process, and in the end, the book becomes not only inspiring but practical as well.

Insightful, Far-Reaching and Practical!

Absolutely loved this book! From beginning to end, very rich in content. The varying examples of ordinary folks like us, finding themselves in distinct difficult financial strains, braving into the world of small business with very little capital and actually succeeding in their ventures, resonates with me as well as with any aspiring entrepreneur. Impactful!

Great Book!

Really gives you good ideas to build on! This book gave me a great idea for a business to start and many different ways to connect with customers, and collaborate with other brands.

Really enjoyed it. Very motivational.

Love it. Everything about it. the narrators voice sounded so dead to me at the beginning and now I love it. he even seems funny without doing anything. Very inspiring true stories

helped me think if a business idea and realize it

I read this book in two days. Amazing read and one of the most helpful books I've read.

Average read

forced myself to finish. might be useful for someone who knows nothing about business