Book SummaryThe $100 Startup, by Chris Guillebeau

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The $100 Startup

If you’re looking to break away from your current work arrangement and start doing something that you’re passionate about, consider starting a microbusiness: a business typically run by one person. This will give you the freedom to set your own schedule and focus on a product that you care about. Though microbusinesses have been around since the days of Ancient Greece and Rome, the advent of the internet and social media have made them easier to start and more lucrative than ever before. Where you once needed to have a fair amount of funding to start your own operation, you can now do so for as little as $100 and without loaning a cent from the bank.

There are really only six steps you need to take to launch your business:

1. Create a product or service. (Read more about this in Part 1.)
2. Create a website.
3. Create an offer. (Read more about this in Part 2.)
4. Have a way to process payments (either a credit card processing system such as Square or Stripe or an online resource such as PayPal or Venmo).
5. Market and launch your business. (Read more about this in Part 3.1.)
6. Repeat steps 1-5, using the lessons you’ve learned.

Throughout this summary, you’ll learn how to expand on these steps to grow your business from a barebones model and find success as a startup entrepreneur.

Deciding on a Product or Service

The first step of creating a business is deciding on a product or service that has worth: in other words, that makes people’s lives better or easier. To create a useful product or service:

• Find your target audience.
• Create a positive customer experience.
• Stay open to new ideas.

Find Your Target Audience

As you create your product, determine who you’re trying to sell to. To do this, break your ideal customers down into demographics. There are two kinds of demographics:

• Traditional demographics, which include age, sex/gender, income, race/ethnicity, and location
• New demographics, which include shared beliefs, skills, interests, passions, and values

While traditional demographics can be useful for specific organizations, new demographics are usually more effective as they pinpoint the wants and needs of your target audience.

When building products around your target audience, consider the following strategies:

• Jump onto a popular trend that appeals to your target audience. These often pop up in the areas of dieting, fitness, technology, social media, and entertainment. For example, you could coach people interested in fitness through a trendy diet plan such as Whole30 or Paleo by giving personalized meal plans and grocery lists.
• Ask your audience. Using surveys and interviews, ask people within your target demographic what they’re looking for in a product. One of the most straightforward ways to get people interested in your business is to sell them a product they already want. Once you have an idea about the products you’re looking to offer, reach out and ask for feedback on your ideas.

Create a Positive Customer Experience

Your primary goal as a business owner should be to develop a product that solves a problem or helps people. To do this, attribute the value of your product to its benefits, or the ways that it can help your customer, not to its features, or the details of the experience.

For example, if you were marketing a meditation retreat, the benefits of the retreat would be “freeing the mind” or “calming the body,” while the features would be “sound-bath meditation” or “guided practice.” While your customers would need to know the features eventually, they’ll likely be more drawn to your product by the promise of freedom and relaxation.

Use the following three strategies to provide an experience for your customer that goes above-and-beyond:

1. Fulfill unspoken or unrealized needs. Often, customers don’t know what they actually want. They may have an idea, but it’s your job as the expert to lead them to a product or service that’s going to give them the best experience.
2. Make the customer look good. People often look for products or services that will make them look impressive or skilled. When defining the value of your product, show your customers how your business can elevate them at home or in the workplace.
3. Don’t get bogged down with unnecessary details when marketing your product. Customers are typically looking for a simple, clear solution to their problem. If you bombard them with too much information, they may get overwhelmed or confused, disengaging with your product in the process. Keep your promises concise and straightforward.

Stay Open to New Ideas

As you start your business, changing trends in the market may lead to new ideas. Don’t be afraid of exploring these avenues because they often reflect changes in customer demand. For example, consumers are more aware of environmental issues than ever before. This has created a market trend towards sustainability, which may create an opportunity for you to develop new products using recycled materials to appeal to this trend.

The following are common sources of inspiration that could help you adapt to an ever-changing marketplace:

• Ineffective models: Observe other organizations that offer a similar product to yours and look for what works and what doesn’t. When you see something that’s ineffective, you can come up with a solution to offer your clients a more streamlined process.
• New technology: By keeping an eye on new technological trends, you can give your customers innovative and updated experiences.
• Unexpected space: If you have a storefront or office space, be on the lookout for new, innovative space solutions. For example, if you run a clothing boutique, renting a former restaurant space to house your storefront may be a unique draw to bring in curious customers.
• Side projects: When a particular product or...

The $100 Startup Summary Introduction

If you’re looking to break away from your current work arrangement and start doing something that you’re passionate about, consider starting a microbusiness. Microbusinesses, or businesses typically run by one person, give you the freedom to set your own schedule and focus on a product that you care about.

Though microbusinesses have been around since the days of Ancient Greece and Rome, the advent of the internet and social media have made them easier to start and more lucrative than ever before. Where you once needed to have a fair amount of funding to start your own operation, you can now do so for as little as $100 and without loaning a cent from the bank.

Before you start building a business plan or developing marketing plans, develop a clear idea of what you want to do and which of your skills may help you to do this:

1. Do something that you’re passionate about that also has consumer demand. This may mean that you need to find...

The $100 Startup Summary Part 1: Deciding on a Product or Service

The first step of creating a business is deciding on a product or service. Ultimately, your product needs to have worth: In other words, it should make people’s lives better or easier. Ideally, this product or service should also be something that you’re passionate about. However, before you dive into transforming a passion or hobby into a business, consider the following questions:

• Could you invest a minimum of 20 hours per week into the field you’re passionate about?
• Do you like teaching others about that field?
• Do you enjoy most aspects of that field, even the seemingly mundane details?
• If you had to put an administrative process onto your passion, would you still enjoy it?
• Is there a market surrounding your passion?
• Are there other businesses in that market?
• Do you have an idea of how your business could be unique in that market?

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, you’re ready to start developing your product or service. To do so:

• Find your target audience.
• Create an experience.
• Stay open to new ideas.

Find Your Target Audience

**As you create your product, determine who you’re trying to sell...

Shortform Exercise: Find Your Target Audience

To effectively market your business, you need to know your target audience.

How would you describe your ideal client or customer? Think about both traditional (age, gender, income, and so on) and new demographics (interests, beliefs, values, and so on).

Shortform Exercise: Create an Experience

Bring customers in by sharing the benefits that they’ll experience by purchasing your product or using your service.

List 3-5 features of your product or service. Remember, features are the details of what your product or service does.

The $100 Startup Summary Part 2: Launching Your Business

Once you've decided on your product, it's time to start planning your business launch. Be warned: It’s easy to fall into the trap of “perpetual planning.” If this happens, you may spend years trying to make the perfect plan and never actually turn it into action. Instead of overcomplicating things, take action quickly and adjust your plan as you go.

Before you launch your business, you need to ensure your product is marketable because, if it isn’t, you’ll struggle to convince people they should buy it. To check if your product is marketable, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the market big enough? Research keywords and phrases on Google and other search engines to see if a large enough number of people are interested in buying the product.
2. Does your product solve an apparent problem? It’s easier to sell the solution to an apparent problem than to sell the solution to an unknown issue.
3. Does your product make life easier or better? While selling a product that focuses on desire or luxury is possible, more people will be interested in a product that removes hardship or improves standard-of-living.
4. **Does your product offer a better solution than...

Shortform Exercise: Develop an Offer

Before selling your product, you have to develop a clear offer that entices your target audience by describing benefits, quelling concerns, and creating urgency.

What are you charging for your product? What benefits could you use to justify that price?

Shortform Exercise: Build Anticipation

To ensure a successful launch cycle, you must generate interest before your product or service goes on sale.

What makes your product unique from competitors?

The $100 Startup Summary Part 3.1: Continuing Development Post-Launch

The work doesn’t end once you’ve launched your product. Once your initial launch cycle is complete, keep your business moving forward through self-promoting and ensuring profitability.

Promote Yourself

Effective self-promotion is a balance between style and substance. Style is your ability to effectively market your product, while substance is the quality of your product:

• If you have style, but no substance, your shoddy product or service will undermine your charm.
• If you have substance, but no style, people likely won’t hear about your product, no matter its quality.
• If you have a quality product and market it effectively, you’ll be able to grow your client base and grow your business.

To organize your promotion efforts, build a promotion plan using the following template as a guide:

1. Goal
   1. What is the primary goal of your self-promotion? This could be to bring in more customers, to increase sales, or to develop relationships.
2. Daily Promotion
   1. Maintain your company’s presence on social media by creating 1-3 posts, responding to customer comments, and addressing any concerns.
   2. Monitor 1-2 metrics. These can be anything...

Shortform Exercise: Promote Yourself

Self-promotion is vital to spreading the word about your product or service.

What is the primary goal of your self-promotion? This could be to bring in more customers, to increase sales, or to develop relationships.

Shortform Exercise: Ensure Profitability

The most important part of maintaining your business is ensuring that you have a strong income stream.

What business costs could you cut? Think about ventures that aren’t leading to traffic or conversions. (This could include ad campaigns, website development, or branded merchandise.)

The $100 Startup Summary Part 3.2: Growing Your Business

Growing your business usually isn’t as hard as starting your business. If you can keep your customers happy over a long period of time, positive word of mouth will spread naturally. However, there are three things that you can do to keep your business moving forward effectively:

1. Make adjustments to increase income.
2. Franchise yourself.
3. Determine how much you want to expand.

Make Adjustments to Increase Income

Once your business is up and running, find ways to increase your income and expand your company. The first thing you need to do is determine your model of growth. From there, the key to finding which adjustments benefit your business the most is experimentation.

Determine Your Growth Model

There are two ways that your company can grow:

1. Horizontally: Widening your audience by providing different products and services for different kinds of customers.
2. Vertically: Deepening your relationship with your current audience by providing more in-depth products or services.

Both models are valid, and it is possible to see limited growth in both directions at the same time. As you start to make adjustments to your business,...

Shortform Exercise: Make Adjustments to Increase Profitability

Growth requires more funding. Make adjustments to your current model to ensure that you're maximizing your revenue.

List 2-3 ways you can increase your average price per sale. Think about upselling, cross-selling, and making sales after a sale.

Shortform Exercise: Franchise Yourself

Franchising yourself through partnerships and outsourcing helps alleviate your workload while building relationships with other business owners and new audiences.

What kind of business could you develop an effective partnership with? Do you have any specific organizations in mind? Think about your product and how it could relate to other products or services.