The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future QUOTES

85 " I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The “Dilbert” comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That’s how value is created.† "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

86 " it’s always better to start from where you are than to wait for everything to be perfect. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

87 " Empowering others is our greatest marketing effort, "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

88 " starting with a list of what I wanted to do, and then figuring out how to make it happen. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

89 " Six Steps to Getting Started Right Now As we saw from the stories in Chapter 1, you don’t need a lot of money or special training to operate a business. You just need a product or service, a group of people who want to buy it, and a way to get paid. We’ll look at each of these things in more detail throughout the book, but you don’t have to wait to get started. Here are the six steps you need to take: 1. Decide on your product or service. 2. Set up a website, even a very basic one (you can get a free one from WordPress.org). 3. Develop an offer (an offer is distinct from a product or service; see Chapter 7 for help). 4. Ensure you have a way to get paid (get a free PayPal account to start). 5. Announce your offer to the world (see Chapter 9 for more on this). 6. Learn from steps 1 through 5, then repeat. Almost all microbusiness building follows this sequence of events. Of course, we’ll be discussing specifics as we go along, but it’s always better to start from where you are than to wait for everything to be perfect. If you have an existing business and are thinking about how to apply the concepts from this book, focus on either getting money in the bank or developing new products or services. These are the most important tasks of your business-not administration, maintenance, or anything else that takes time without creating wealth or value. If you’re not sure what to do, think about any of these ideas: Can you contact your customer list with a special offer or incentive? Can you introduce a new product or service to complement your existing portfolio? If you’re a coach or consultant, can you offer a special deal for clients who prepay? Is there a new way you can attract subscribers, clients, or customers? But one way or another . . . just do something. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

90 " Friedrich Engels said: “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” Choose the ounce of action today. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

91 " Contrary to conventional wisdom, success in entrepreneurship isn’t necessarily related to being the best at any particular activity. Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic series, explains his success this way: I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The “Dilbert” comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That’s how value is created.2 "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

92 " Contrary to conventional wisdom, success in entrepreneurship isn’t necessarily related to being the best at any particular activity. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

93 " shoveling "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

94 " Business opportunities are like buses; there’s always another one coming.” —RICHARD BRANSON "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

95 " At first it was awkward and embarrassing; he
didn’t know how to conjugate verbs, so he just used the present tense and wildly waved his arms behind
him to indicate that something had already happened. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

96 " I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.” —JAY-Z "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

97 " Meanwhile, even though Kelly makes less money (at least for now) in her new career, her health is better and she does work she enjoys—a trade-off she was happy to make. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

98 " People follow you (or your business) because that’s what they’re interested in—you. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

99 " Talk about yourself and your business. Really. If people don’t like what you do or say, they can unfollow you, but chances are that you’ll gain far more followers than you lose. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

100 " Many business owners talk about their work in terms of features it offers, bit it's much more powerful to talk about the benefits customers receive. A feature is descriptive, a benefit is emotional. "

― Chris Guillebeau , The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future