Ronald Reagan Would Endorse This Book

Here’s another book to tell you about.

It’s The $100 Start Up by Chris Guillebeau.

Here’s the podcast if you would rather listen.

It’s a good read – especially if you’re looking for work, you want to make a career change, or you want to make some money on the side.

That’s why Reagan would have liked this book.  Reagan gets credit for writing the final chapter on the downfall of the Soviet Union.  He also raised our government spending while cutting and then raising taxes. 

But his biggest contribution was to inspire and pave the way for aspiring entrepreneurs to grow a business out of their house or garage.

Neither political party inspires people anymore to start businesses and create their own jobs.

Granted, this book and its message are not the answer to the jobs crisis.  There are many solutions that need to work together.  However, this book could open up new possibilities to people who need to escape the old economy.

Some key points.

• Guillebeau interviews more than 1,500 entrepreneurs who have succeeded like he did.
• He surveys them for their advice and solutions to success.
• These businesses are not high-tech.  As Guillebeau says: your grandmother can understand these businesses.
• You don’t need a $60,000 a year MBA.
• The book is short, but loaded with info and no nonsense.  (My kind of book.)
• Guillebeau also knocks down an adage we have had for years.  Teach a man to fish and he eats for life.  Guillebeau says, “Give the man the fish.”  In other words, give him what he wants.

In today’s complex world, people want solutions.  They want you to be the specialist; that’s why they’re hiring you.

As I read the book, I was trying to think of people I know who have done the things that Guillebeau talks about.

That’s when I realized my wife Teri, without reading the book, has already used the theories of The $100 Start Up. 

She runs Daly Workout Fitness, a personal fitness training business.  What’s so cool is that she trains clients on Skype – nearly 3,000 miles away.  It’s mind boggling.  I watch her talking to the computer and actually showing the client how to do the exercises correctly and safely.

And if you don’t include her years of training, she only spent the cost of a small computer and a website.

Who knew?

Tagged as: book review, Chris Guillebeau, creating jobs, Daly Workout, Daly Workout Fitness, e-commerce, John Daly, John Daly NECN, make your passion your business, passion and business, Ronald Reagan, Teri Daly, The $100 Start Up, the new economy