This bloggy-blog has actually made it to Page 3 if you do a Google search for $100 Startup. Not bad.
So here is my continuing review of The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, by Chris Guillebeau.
Warning: It isn’t very funny. But it’s not bad. And the last paragraph works well for me. It fits like a nice pair of old, worn jeans. I don’t really know what that means, but it FELT good to say it. Just go with me, here, okay? Gawd.
We’ve finally reached Part 2!
*and there was much tossing of glitter*
Geezy! Chris Guillebeau really takes off running in this active portion of $100 Startup. Which makes sense, as he advocates,
“There’s nothing wrong with planning,
but you can spend a lifetime making a plan
that never turns into action.”
This reminds me of the difference between so-called “plotters” versus “pantsers”. That is, a writer who plots out pieces in outlined detail, as opposed to a writer who flies by the seat of her pants.
Actually, much of the advice offered in $100 Startup can be applied to writers as well as business owners. As Jeff Goins points out in the title of his eBook: You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One).
Even as Chris Guillebeau encourages entrepreneurs to jump into the deep end of the pool, he provides steps for easing (quickly) into the water:
~ Select a marketable idea: a solution to a problem or a useful product for which others are likely to pay. “Think Usefulness, not Innovation.”
* This relates to writing, too. While authors are encouraged NOT to chase the current novel trend, since it takes years to get published (by which time whatever you’ve written may no longer be trending), it does help to look back and see what has worked in the past, what continues to work over time, and what appears hopeful as working in the future.
~ Keep costs low, especially the initial start-up.
* Lucky for writers, there is no startup cost beyond a notebook and pen. Even a decent computer writing program and internet access can be purchased for the price of a library card: FREE in America. Score: ONE for writers!
~ Get your first sale ASAP. The immediate feeling will force you to realize this is FOR REALZ, and you’ll begin to treat it as such (if you weren’t already).
* Similar feelings abound the first time you get something published. Once you’ve been taken for a professional, you can begin to see yourself the way your customers (or readers) do. Self-fulfilling prophecy, time loop, kind-of-thing.
~ Market before manufacturing, via surveys or else by offering the product before it’s actually been completed… or even begun. *yikes*
* In the writing world, this relates to sending out queries, or applying to write for a company about which you know nothing. I’m not certain I could do this… but then again, some of my best pieces were written under extreme pressure of a deadline. And I also do quite well with an assigned topic as opposed to one I’ve thought up myself. Perhaps I need to reexamine this method…
~ Respond to initial results. Build relationships in order to continue pitching your ideas. Ensure you know what worked, and tweak what didn’t go over so well.
* With regard to writing, join writing groups for early critiques of your work. Take an editor’s advice to heart, but not IN heart — that is, take it seriously, but don’t let it seriously maim your efforts. And once you’ve been published, do THAT again, whatever THAT is which worked the first time around.
The final nugget in this chapter of $100 Startup is an oldie-but-goodie:
Merge your passions, and ensure your personal and business goals are aligned, if not identical.
Truly, this goes for any endeavor into which you place your heart. Creation of products, services, or words should always be such that you combine personal passion with social responsibility. Therein lie the keys to the kingdom.
My hubz tells me this post is a little dry today. I blame the fact that I recently quit smoking. And also, that non-fiction isn’t funny. Except for when it’s something by Jenny Lawson, in which case even her reading of the phone book would likely render tears of laughter. So maybe it’s not that non-fiction isn’t funny, so much as that business-ish things aren’t funny. Or else that I just don’t know how to make them be funny when they so AREN’T. Except for that time I talked about tartar sauce. That was pretty damn funny. Shit. I’m all out of sorts now. Have a nice day.
If you missed the beginning of this series, be sure to check it out here —> http://www.theworld4realz.com/the-100-startup-prologue-why-i-dont-want-pool/
The end.