The $100 Startup Review: Chris Guillebeau’s Ultimate Startup Guide

What started as an ambitious goal to travel to every country before turning 35, soon evolved into a personal research project to understand how people all over the world were turning the smallest amount of capital into a massive return.

Chris Guillebeau first started in 2008 as a travel and entrepreneurship blogger.

Just two years later, he was publishing his first book, The Art of Non-Conformity, drawing inspiration from his blog of the same name.

In the same year, he took his travel tips and created a subscription service called Travel Hacking Cartel which dished on all the special tricks to using frequent-flyer programs to your advantage.

It’s clear Chris Guillebeau is a natural-born entrepreneur.

Over the past 10 years, through his travels, Chris has come to meet thousands of entrepreneurs from every background, particularly those with successful small businesses.

And it was these interactions that inspired the idea of The $100 Startup. His thinking was, “If they can do it, anyone can!”

So, Chris set out on developing the perfect formula for starting small businesses and turned it into the bestselling novel that we all know and love.

Chris is an advocate for self-employment, defining an entrepreneur as, “Someone who will work 24 hours a day for themselves to avoid working one hour a day for someone else.”

He has spent his career helping people achieve happiness, success, and fulfillment.

And, on top of all of this, he still managed to travel to all 193 countries before 35!

So, without further ado, let’s get into it!

“Reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love, and create a new future.”

Who wouldn’t be inspired by this subtitle?

As Chris simply puts it in the book, “this book isn’t about me — it’s about other people who have found freedom, and how you can do the same thing.”

Chris achieves this by sharing the stories of unexpected entrepreneurs and highlighting the crucial lessons you can learn from them.

To find these hidden gems, Chris uncovered 1,500 entrepreneurs that met at least 4 out of the following 6 criteria:

If only we lived in an uncomplicated world where we could get paid for doing the things that we love.

Except we do! It’s just maybe not that simple.

You can still do what you love, you just have to consider a few more factors.

This is what Chris Guillebeau calls the point of convergence.

When choosing your main concept for your business, you need to consider three things:

Both you and the consumer want something. You want sales and they want something of value.

These two desires work hand in hand. To get what you want, you have to fulfill the needs of the consumer, and vice versa.

It’s a win-win!

Chris connects the dots between freedom and value. Yes, you want more sales, because more sales equal more profits.

But, what do more profits equal?

The answer is freedom. The main motivation of any business owner is the drive towards financial freedom and independence.

So, to fulfill your side of the bargain, you have to supply value to your customers.

The trick is discovering what they actually need, not what they think they need.

This is because decisions made by consumers to purchase an offer are based on emotion, usually subconsciously.

Yes, they want something of value. But what does this value do for them?

A consumer usually wants to add something to their life (money, love, time) or take it away (stress, debt, pain).

You can use this information to better cater to their needs and desires.

You need to connect with the people. You should be spending 50% of your time creating and the other 50% talking to your customers.

And when you know what your customer wants, you need to keep reassuring them that you can give it to them.

Chris discusses three main methods:

Aren’t you tired of waking up early, sitting through hours of traffic, only to sit at a desk all day, staring at boring, gray walls?

Surely, the idea of waking up when you want, planning your schedule, working in the comfort of your own home, and having the freedom to travel whenever sound way more appealing?

Chris Guillebeau thinks so!

Fortunately, The $100 Startup is jam-packed with case studies involving ordinary entrepreneurs that managed to achieve this esteemed lifestyle.

And it’s not even that hard!

Because the book focuses on businesses with modest funds, it is aimed at low-cost traveling that is attainable for any newbie business owner.

Chris offers some extremely helpful tips on how to do this, based on the success of his experience and the experiences of so many others:

“In the battle between planning and action, action wins”

Chris doesn’t mean that you should go into your business blind, but rather, if you are always planning and never doing, your business won’t go anywhere.

Set your launch date as soon as possible. The sooner you get your first sale, the better.

Your planning starts with aone-page business plan. Yes, you read that right — just one page!

Lucky for you, Chris supplies a simple template with all the information you will need.

We all know that plans change, so instead of having to completely rework your plan every time something changes, take it as it comes.

Another important tip is creating a mission statement that is 140 characters or less.

Just another way to keep things simple.

In staying true to the name, you must try to keep your costs low.

One way of doing this is byputting marketing before manufacturing.

Before you start making the product, you need to know if people are going to buy it.

Surveys are a good way of finding this out. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, you can deliver just a taste of your product in the form of a prototype or mini-version.

Then wait and see if anyone bites.

If your trial product starts racking up some sales, then you know to go ahead with your actual launch.

You should approach your launch like a Hollywood movie.

Hollywood has devised the perfect formula for releasing a movie.

First, there is the prelaunch period — teaser trailers, trailers, and press are used to slowly build the hype.

Finally, we get to the day premier where they pull out all the stops, and people, buzzing with excitement, rush to the cinema doors.

This applies directly to your launch. You need to capitalize on the pre-launch period so that your sales are booming from the moment your launch is online.

It doesn’t end there. You must monitor the initial response.

The sooner you receive feedback and implement it, the sooner you can improve your product.

Make sure to analyze the initial success of your launch. Ask yourself if it was coincidental, or purposeful, and see how you could replicate it for your next launch.

Chris walks you through the perfect product launch process by offering a 39-step checklist.

With your first launch checked off, remember to keep your foot on the pedal. You have to use the momentum from your first launch to continue to grow your business.

Now that you have your business and offer launched there is only one direction to go — UP!

Though some entrepreneurs are content with remaining modest businesses owners.

However, maybe you are ambitious enough to take your business to the next level.

Chris offers some great advice on how to monitor your business to ensure it stays on track:

If learning about $100 Startup has sent you into a Chris Guillebeau frenzy, make sure to check out his other killer books: