The $100 Startup Prologue, & Why I Don’t Want a Pool.
My first book review. Eat it.
I promised last week that I was going to read the SHIT out of Chris Guillegeau’s new book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future. So here I am, having read, if not the SHIT, at least the first chapter, ready to deliver. The $100 Startup is a great read.
Did you hear me? I said The $100 Startup is GREAT.
I said that last sentence because I want to back up first and talk about something else, but I didn’t want to leave you in suspense as to whether or not I liked The $100 Startup. I like it. But more than that (here’s where I go slightly off topic for a beat), I like the subject matter.
Okay, yeah-yeah-yeah.
I heard you loud and clear before this here bloggy-blog crashed several months ago that you don’t like reading about personal finances, job-related issues, or basically anything that isn’t juvenile and funny and filled with lots of F-bombs. So don’t get all sigh-ish and bug out on me. Wait a tick. I’ll get to the god damn cussing in a minute, okay?
Here’s why I like the subject matter.
Most gurus today urge us to quit spending money on shit we can’t afford. And then they go on to list those things as ridiculous items I’d never buy even if I HAD the money to consider doing so. Things like stopping at Starbucks every morning for $5-billion breakfast coffee treats; eating out for lunch every single day; and annual vacations at Disney. The poor among us are like, NO SHIT, YA THINK? We already WEREN’T doing that crap. Further, the gurus urge us to sell our boat, water skis, and time-shares, along with any extra vehicles we might have lying about.
Money gurus are sad, ignorant little people.
The fucking gurus obviously have no clue what it’s like to be POOR, and thus aim their material at an overindulgent middle class gone wild. It’s like they’re explaining why we need to put our titties back into our bikini tops, when we’re all wearing turtlenecks and going, “huh?” cuz the advice clearly makes no sense. We should pray for the gurus, because they obviously have their heads up their asses, and that’s nothing to be happy about. Nobody likes to see a guru without a head.
So anyway — back to the subject matter.
The NEW financial gurus have a much better clue what’s happening in the World 4 Realz. Instead of instructing me to cut back (I have nothing to cut except my pubes & they’re already trimmed short and good, thank you very much), they are explaining that I need to increase my income. And then they give me a plan to go out and do it. On top of that, they provide encouragement and are extremely engaged with their readers. Most excellent. I love these new gurus.
Which leads to why I chose The $100 Startup by Chris Guillegeau.
I’m more of a fiction / sci-fi / fantasy / snarky / comedy kind of girl. Non-fiction doesn’t typically float my boat. There isn’t enough cussing to please me. And maybe a bit of romance would be nice. There is nothing sweet and sexy about saving, making, or investing money. But I also admit that it sucks to be poor. And I’m going to allow The $100 Startup to be my guide in beating that lifestyle.
*go team Andi-Roo*
So now on to my review.
The first bit — the Prologue, or Manifesto, or what I like to call Introductory The Shout Out — covers some basic vocab:
Microbusiness:
business typically run by only one person,
without much in the way of startup capital,
earning enough to make a good living.
and some basic cheerleading:
“You can do this, too.”
The two Key Themes discussed throughout are:
(a) Freedom
Learn to think in terms of how to get the money you need,
rather than by cutting costs or working for someone else.
Start with a list of what you want to do
(and how to make it happen),
rather than with a list of available choices
based on your current budget.
If you even make just enough to pay the bills,
and not much more,
you will have gained something
more valuable than money:
FREEDOM.
(b) Value
Value is created
when a person makes something useful
and shares it with the world.
Your odds of success will go up
the more you understand
how your skills and knowledge
can be useful to others.
I’m not sure what skills and knowledge I have that would be useful to others besides a well-slung “douch-nugget” now and again, but I’m going to sit down and attempt a list. It might include, “I write good words.”
Find a way to live your dream
and make a good living
from something about which you care deeply.
My dream is to have someone ELSE put away all the laundry so I can sit here on my laptop and cuss in a variety of ways. I find that an entertaining notion. I wonder if I can make a good living off of cussing? Probably not. But, to be fair, it *IS* something about which I care deeply. I also care deeply about having Coke in the fridge. Wonder if there’s any money in that? OMG, I’m being facetious. I’m sorry. I’ll stop now.
Microbusiness Revolution:
the new movement urging small business owners to
“[earn] a good living
while crafting a life of independence and purpose.”
Finally, my favorite part of this section:
“The goal isn’t to get rich quickly
but to build something
that other people will value
enough to pay for.”
And you know why this was my favorite part? Because my hubz and I have said over and over that we really don’t WANT to be rich. We don’t want a bigger house — just maybe the same house without all the paint peeling off, and perhaps floors that aren’t so crooked that they create a new atmosphere in our aquarium. We don’t want five shiny new cars, just maybe two old cars that both run, and the money to have regular check-ups and oil changes applied. We don’t want a pool in the backyard, but maybe just the money to afford a summer pass to the community pool up the road in our little village. And we don’t want to ever eat at a five-star restaurant, because that would just be an exercise in ON PURPOSE looking stupid.
I’ve actually read all the way through Chapter Five in The $100 Startup… but only taken notes through Chapter One. Yet this post merely covers the Prologue. Methinks we’re in for a treat. Hope you’re all in it with me!