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

First if there is enough potential profit in your idea you can always hire engineers, programmers etc. So keep that in mind and start keeping a list of every idea you have, I keep one in my phone that is gigantic now. Stop limiting your self to just what you can do and it will really open up your mind.

I would recommend the $!00 startup, it is full of case studies on what others have done. After reading this book it seemed like I just started thinking in an entrepenuerial way about almost everything and ideas came like a waterfall. I now have more solid ideas than I can possibly ever pursue, and get new ones daily.

Another great one is Lean startup. It has the most practical advice I've encountered on how to test and then go forward with an idea. After this book I was able to mentally test ideas and see profit or failure in them much easier. This book is also invaluable for once you actually start something.


http://www.amazon.com/The-100-Startup-Reinvent-Living/dp/0307951529/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373772742&sr=8-1&keywords=%24100+startup


http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373773392&sr=1-1&keywords=lean+startup

I've got a few different unrelated comments.

1. I am surprised people from Austin have not mentioned this... If you have any passion for food, you could join the ranks of the gourmet food trucks that are downtown. If you've not already tried them, you need to go to the gourmet donut truck downtown. I think it was called "Gourdo's Doughnuts".
   
   
2. As others have mentioned though, successful entrepreneurs do not normally start as people who have money to burn and no ideas. Successful entrepreneurs come from people with no shortage of ideas bootstrapping themselves to success. This is what I am trying to do right now..
   
   
3. A good place to start may be to read or listen to "The $100 Startup", by Chris Guillebeau. Here. This book uses lots of examples to explain how a lot different people started different types of businesses. It also points you toward a lot of good resources.
   
   
4. It sounds like you have just enough money to file a patent.... Yes a full patent can cost about that much depending on lawyer fees. If you were working overseas, my first guess is that you were doing something engineering related... perhaps in manufacturing. Rather than trying to start a business, try to solve a problem. Have you ever wanted something that didn't exist? I found a good approach to generate products is to develop simple solutions to problems that you have. Other people have likely had the same problem and would kindly pay you for an elegant solution. File a provisional patent application (PPA), and then go look for investors. Well, build a prototype, file the PPA, and then go look for investors to get it off the ground. Your $20,000.00 should be more than enough to get through a few design-build phases, especially with resources like protomold, and protolabs
   
   
5. "The $100 Startup" denounces franchises. The short version of their explanation is that they take a lot of your $, make you work for them, and only give you a modest return on your investment.
   
   
6. Join meetup.com and go to a entrepreneur event in Austin, TX. Occasionally,they will have weekend long events where people come together with ideas and money and try to put a business plan and product together. I am yet to attend an event, but I just signed up for Orlando and look forward to my first meet up. Success as an entrepreneur is not required to attend. I think you just have to go ready to work through the night and pitch your business in the morning.
   
   
7. List at things you are remarkable at, and then look at how you can use your skills to help others.
   
   Hope this helps.
   
   FSMspeed on your journey.

This book: The $100 startup is insanely motivating and outlines all the things you need to make it happen.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

This is filled with low cost ideas: https://www.amazon.com/100-Startup-Reinvent-Living-Create/dp/0307951529

You have some ideas that remind me of this PDF (48 Low-Cost Business Ideas).

Take a look at Chris Gullibeau's $100 Startup for inspiration, too.

I've read a lot of business books in the past year. These include:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Think and Grow Rich

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Secrets of Closing the Sale

How to Master the Art of Selling

The E-Myth Revisited

The Compound Effect

The Slight Edge

The $100 Startup

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

I have 4HWW waiting to be read, in addition to about 15 other books that are sitting there, waiting to be read.

The $100 Startup is very inspiring, especially for people who have no chance at securing a "normal" job (I dropped out of college). The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is also very informative. But out of this list, by far, my two favorite books are The Compound Effect and The Slight Edge. #1 going to The Slight Edge. Read this book. Maybe it won't apply to everyone as much as it did to me, but it totally changed my attitude towards life.

It infuriates me that there are so many people that NEED "capital" in this thread.
You need virtually ZERO cash to start a business in this day and age.

---------------------

Read:
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0307951529

Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6RsLxro9s

Chris Guillebeau wrote two great books:

The Side Hustle

$100 Start-Up

Check them out and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Greg

After some searching, looks like it's from "The $100 Startup" by Chris Guillebeau.

https://www.amazon.com/100-Startup-Reinvent-Living-Create/dp/0307951529

If you are looking for a deeper understanding of how to build and start a business at lower cost and risk, I would recommend reading: "The $100 Startup" or "Side Hustle". Resources like these advocate finding markets through low cost, low risk attempts to find customer interest and build entrepreneurship skill.

While the furniture business may be viable, your lack of experience and the initial capital investment may make that a better business after you have more confidence in how you can build and develop.

I'd suggest reading one of these:

• The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
  
  
• The 7 Day Startup By Dan Norris
  
  
• The $100 startup by Chris Guillebeau
  
  They're all sort of a good intro to the topic. Good for getting a newbie fired up.
  
  Or alternatively, just type your question into Google.

I honestly suggest this book to you.

It's about people starting from scratch with almost no basis to stand on. It's about people who started with literally nothing. No job, no education, no anything. It's also about people who gave up everything they did and simply followed their passion. Just a few days ago one of the guys that was interviewed for that book did an extremely successful AMA on reddit. The book motivates you with those people's stories and explains in great detail what they had to do to get there.

Really, you can make your own job. You will feel better about yourself because you do what you love and you most likely will make money (at least more money than when not working at all).

Seriously, if you really can't do anything... start knitting stuff. Start a pottery course. Start honestly learning new stuff and make an internet-guide for learning it.

Dude, even if your one and only passion is computer games: Start a review-blog. Start playing WoW and film yourself solving quests while commenting them. People will watch this.

Start a local natural protection group. Apply for government grants to renovate barren public land by building natural habitats. Plant native trees, dig a hole for a small lake Go around in your neighbourhood asking people to donate money to protect local parks and wildlife. There is so much you can do. Things that can make you feel better about yourself and your life. Things that earn you money. And even things that make other people like you. Sometimes even all of these things at once.

Yes. Read 3 books: "The $100 Startup" and "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "The Art of the Start." And do what they say.

In response to your second two points, have you read The $100 Startup?

You don't need to have a lot of money to start your business. What you need as was already mentioned is the right mindset and a solution to a problem that people are willing to pay for. I love some of these websites and books and recommend giving them a look.

Smart Passive Income

Tropical MBA

The Lean Startup

Tim Ferriss' 4-hour Work Week

The Suitcase Entrepreneur

$100 Startup

To avoid copyright infringement you can't use anyone else's copyrighted work, like music or images without clearance (paying them for it and getting the documents in writing).

To monazite it you can look at youtube ads, you can promote products as an amazon affiliate, you can set up premium content that you sell, you can build a brand and sell t-shirts or whatever. Lots and lots of ways. You should read The Four Hour Work Week [referral link] and the $100 Start Up [referral link] for ideas and systems you can use.

I believe the majority of the business owner does not come from the business background, some start with the hobby sell the hobby stuff, some start to sell stuff with the friends.

I would recommend you to understand the business,
I start my business with this book >>> http://amzn.to/2sio9VS <<< $100 Startup.

Let's continue to refine it together. I need a few more weeks to finish a few things I'm focusing on but then we can really dive in and see how we can break it all down and make it easy to digest.

I definitely want to dive into the social community aspect more and the identity side, two components which I believe are very strong in why we play.

For Bali (or travel in general...) it's all about perspective. A villa in Bali is around $300-400/month and food is cheap (like a dollar for a bowl of Pho). It's completely realistic to live in Bali for $10/day. To live really well (like a King) it would be less than $1000/month.

So if you want to go and not work for six months all you need somewhere between $1800-$6000 + flights (one way from Vancouver to Bali is about $500).

Now the benefit I have is that I'm still able to work while I travel (I have a few streams of income:

• Coaching through Kingpin Lifestyle (been doing that for over six years)
  
• Freelance/Web design. I outsource projects I find through friends/family. I also write for addiction.com and get paid for it.
  
• I have a food blog with my mom called Wheat Free Mom. She does recipes I do everything else.
  
• A friend puts on an event called The Higher Purpose Project and I've helped him out with finding attendees for a referral fee.
  
  It all compounds. Thankfully I've been doing this for awhile so it comes more naturally now, but it's something you're definitely able to figure out if you dedicate time and effort towards it.
  
  The key is to develop different skills you can offer to people as a service. This is the difference between a friend of yours saying they need a website and you saying: "Ya... a website is something good to have." compared to you saying: "Oh ya? I could probably help you with that.." The next thing you know you've sold a website for $2000 and by outsourcing the project you end up with $1000 for sending a few emails and overseeing things. :)
  
  Here are a few good resources to start with if you're interested:
  
  
• The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau.
  
• The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
  
• The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
  
• Tim Ferriss' Blog
  
• Chris Guillebeau's blog
  
• Sean Ogle's blog: Location 180
  
  

Your post made me think of $100 startup. I'm not sure if it's something you are open to, but could you keep your same job and start a side hustle doing programming or datascience work? Something else you could bill hourly at your own discretion? Give the book a shot if you think so.

This question is so hard to answer because you could write whole books on the subject.

My first recommendation would be something that pays you more than unemployment. Second, spend some time reading books about shoestring entrepreneurism: A really popular book is the The $100 Startup. A lot of people don't actually like the book, but it will answer your questions fully and the author is a smart guy (and a great marketer).

Honestly, check out The $100 Start Up. It's pretty straight forward and has some cool stories of people starting up businesses with little to no capital and experience, just doing what they love. I'm about half way through and I find it really interesting and refreshing from other business books I've read.

• Get some work experience
  
• Talk with interesting people at work/school etc
  
• Read books! I think these two will be a good start for you 100 dollar startup / Millionare Fastlane (Cheesy title, but really good book)
  
• Dont try to invent the wheel for your first startup
  
  And sometimes you just need to go for it, and dont listen to everybody elses advice.

Just bought this book-- may be of some help:

http://www.amazon.com/The-100-Startup-Reinvent-Living/dp/0307951529

With free webframes, you can start a web business for almost nothing. Check it out!

Really good one for monetizing games:

• Mobile & Social Game Design
  http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Social-Game-Design-Monetization/dp/1466598689
  
  Some basic business books I liked:
  
  
• The 4-Hour Workweek
  http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Anywhere-Expanded-Updated/dp/0307465357/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418777519&sr=1-1&keywords=4+hour+workweek
  
  
• The $100 Startup
  http://www.amazon.com/100-Startup-Reinvent-Living-Create/dp/0307951529/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418777588&sr=1-1&keywords=100+dollar+startup
  (edited for formatting)

It's just a book recommendation: https://www.amazon.de/100-Startup-Reinvent-Living-Create/dp/0307951529

I did not read the whole way through it, but it's for sure the little money it costs. ;)

​

I just read the $100 startup very interesting read

The $100 Startup

I have a business degree. You know what I didn't learn with my fancy degree? How to start a business. This book does that.

Lots of case studies. I guarantee after reading this you'll have a dozen ideas you can't wait to try.

I agree with you on some businesses requiring low financial capital to start. I read The $100 Startup to learn about that, but I found that many still require cultural capital or social capital. Also, too many of use can't afford to spend the time associated with failing and would rather spend time trying for standard jobs.

You are totally wrong with this. To build up a community while creating an open source project, its better/easier to keep people updated with what I'm doing while I'm working on it. This will build up an elite community around the project and when it will be stable, some developers will already like to contribute to it, if the project is good enough.

There is various books related to that topic including the 100$ startup.

Also, this project is separated in multiple projects because they are multiple projects. For example, it will be possible to use the sharding project without using everything else. Same goes for each of these 5 sub-projects.

By fragmenting the big project in smaller one, it makes each part easy to use separately, which make the code highly re-usable, scalable and maintainable.

Symfony2 and Doctrine also tries to separate packages. For example, I used the Annotation package of Doctrine inside my own project. This was possible because they made it a separate package at first.

Hope this makes sense.

Sorry to hear about your troubles!

Hmm, for job hunting I'd recommend:

Break The Rules: The Secret Code to Finding a Great Job Fast

It has the best way of looking at "selling yourself" to people I've ever seen in a book. Plus it came out in 2001 and you can buy it for a penny + shipping.

If you're interested in working for yourself (starting work now, not waitin around), I'd recommend:

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More

Or anything by Robert W. Bly. The guy's a genius.

For idea-generating for non-writing self-professions, I'd recommend:

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

If you create your own start-up, Bly has a marketing book too. I'd get that. Anything business-related written by the guy is worth its weight in gold.

If you don't see a job in sight, I would highly consider self-employment, just because you can start today. I think it's great that anyone, anywhere can say "I'm now employed" if they want to. There is responsibility for paying yourself, of course, but now no one can fire you, and they don't take a percent away from your earnings. You get all the kickback. And it's not a pyramid scheme-ish company like Amway, where layers of people are all getting a chunk of your profit (just like any other job you work for other people).

You sound intelligent and experienced; you should go for it if you've got the gumption.