Book Review: The $100 startup by Chris Guillebeau

Chris Guillebeau sent me a review copy of his new book, The $100 Startup.  The basic premise of the book is that anyone can start a business, and that your business doesn’t have to include high upfront costs.  I skimmed some of the Amazon reviews, and noticed the same feelings I had when I read through it.

Most of the stories are about “infopreneurs.”  An infopreneur is an entrepreneur that deals in information products; things like books, courses, and training.  This reflects the author’s background and his current line of work.  The other thing noted in most of the Amazon reviews was that most of the example businesses in the book cost more than $100 to get started.

At this point, it’s important to realize that the title of the book is just for the wow factor.  Just get past the title and pay attention to the content of the book.

Quite possibly my favorite thing about the book is how well it flows.  The concepts being shared and the examples that illustrate these flow really well.  The book is written in a conversational tone and is very easy to read.  My other favorite thing is the number of examples of people who started their own businesses.

I feel that the real power of this book is in the examples.  The examples give a basic overview of how people got started and how their businesses grew.  I would have liked to see a little more depth in some of the examples, but I liked the number of examples given.  Each chapter had at least three or four examples of someone that started a business with a relatively low initial investment.

The Bad

• The examples don’t have much depth.
• Almost all the people in the examples had an external factor that pushed them to get started.  (Many had lost their jobs.)
• The book gives a high level overview of how to start your own business, but doesn’t go into much detail.

The Good

• Many, many examples of people that have started their own businesses.
• Most chapters contained an action item list.  Items to get you started, give you ideas, and grow your business.
• Conversational tone that makes for easy reading.
• Inspirational.

Conclusion

I enjoyed The $100 Startup.  The power of the book for me is the inspiration I got from reading examples of people that have successfully started their own businesses.  It’s worth reading if you are looking for some ideas and examples to get you started or if you are looking for some inspiration.

You can pick up a copy of The $100 Startup from Amazon or your favorite bookseller.

Tagged as: Book Reviews

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Eric West – who has written 195 posts on Eden Journal.

Eric is the founder of Eden Journal. He loves blogging about personal growth and desires to make a small difference in the world by providing a platform for bloggers to share ideas on a wide range of topics from personal development to spiritual and philosophical awakenings. Google