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)

informative

Great book for beginners in the entrepreneurship business.
for greater technical details you have to move on to different books.

Not exciting but stimulating

The narrator is quite difficult to listen to for a good portion of the book with his robotic and monotonous speech, but the message is still delivered. The work itself is not great, rather repetitive, but it’s decent overall and I think gets the creative juices flowing from hearing all the stories.

Love the real-life examples of business

Lots of great examples of businesses that have been started quickly with little to no investment. Great primer for thinking about low overhead business ideas.

Loved it

Great tidbits of information for bootstrapping and starting lean. Explores practical business considerations, provides a solid procedural step to getting concrete results.

motivational

loved it. Shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Thank you for this audio book.

Get this book, NOW!!

As a successful solopreneurer for more than 15 years and business consultant this is by far the best business book I’ve ever read.

Although Tim Ferris 4 hour work week might be a bigger success, it pales in comparison to $100 start up. I was a little skeptical at first. Most books who make this claim very rarely deliver and most give the obvious courses of action to take. This book did deliver as promised.

What I loved:
If you are a fan of Thomas Stanleys “Millionaire next door” you will love this book. Why? Chris conducts a lot of science evidence based research on the businesses he profiles. He has a ton of case studies that he successfully weaves in and out of his theories as examples on how the business spotlighted successfully implemented his idea.

He is very methodical and well researched. He asks the questions and waits for the research he conducts to prove the answer. Love this. Executed very well

His case studies are very out of the box examples with surprising and fresh approaches. He doesn’t spotlight on businesses doing ho him in the marketplace, instead he spotlights on ones that are winning in a big way. Every business winning looks differently. To some it’s time with family to others it’s the ability to pack up travel and see the world and to others it’s freedom and independence. Some entrepreneurs choose to stay small so they don’t ever have to be a boss or work for one either. Some are solopreneurer slime myself 1 man bands who also might choose to stay this way for a variety of different reasons. He illustrates both the plus and minus to staying small without saying it is good nor bad. But often what is right for the individual. He talks about how to franchise yourself to maintain control rather than franchising and being a slave to the franchisees.

Plus tons of free resources from the book on his blog. He has a podcast and has been able to create the success in business he talks about so to him it is not just theory. He also philanthropically donates proceeds from the sale of his book to charities around the world that help ppl from other countries start their own business through the support of funding made available through microloans. So he’s not just a great writer and entrepreneurs himself, he’s a good human as well.

The truly the only business book you will ever need. Seriously, go download or read this book now.
I’m truly a super fan and I’m going to download everything he writes. Yes it is that good!!

Good Information but Becoming Dated

I enjoyed the book and found much of the information it contained to be useful, at least in getting me thinking. Some of the information has become dated and is no longer as applicable as it once was. Technology moves fast, and what was once groundbreaking is now run of the mill.

The basic principles of the book are applicable to any startup business, and will be useful to anyone who is thinking of starting a microbusiness, especially those starting their first.

The one big disappointment was the website for the book, although still up and running, no longer contains all of the features that are mentioned in the book.

The book is worth your time to listen to, and I feel it provides great value to those who are willing not only to listen, but to take action.

Love it...

I love this audio book. I have listened to it many times over and over again on the way to work each morning. It inspires me to keep pursuing my goals and dreams of being self-employed. Almost there ...

inspiring

This is a very inspiring book with lots of stories about people doing what they love on a daily basis.

Very motivating book!

This book has a lot of good ideas and confirms thoughts and processes (if you are already in that space).

Only drawback- the voice of the speaker.