Book Review: $100 Startup and 4-Hour Work Week

When thrown into unfamiliar territory, I become a voracious reader.  You should see my Library check-out and request list now!

The two books I just finished reading (one paper edition for home reading, one audio for car listening) both address wildly different approaches to being, or becoming, and entrepreneur.

When thrown into unfamiliar territory, I become a voracious reader.  You should see my Library check-out and request list now!

The two books I just finished reading (one paper edition for home reading, one audio for car listening) both address wildly different approaches to being, or becoming, and entrepreneur.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau revolves around the premise of “Imagine a life where all your time is spent on the things you want to do” and profiles dozens of startup companies whose owners are combining their talents while filling a need with a product or service.   Guillebeau uses an encouraging but realistic tone (it’s not just a snap of the fingers to start a business) when explaining the steps to identify what type of business to start and how to prioritize actions.

By contrast, The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss leads the reader through a plan to start a business that takes no more than four hours per week to manage and allows its owner to work from anywhere in the world while pursuing other activities and interests; he calls it “Escape 9-5, Live Anwhere, and join the new rich.”  Ferriss would like to re-define retirement as breaks throughout your life, not a multi-decade rat race of unhappiness with a few decades of “now what?” at the end.  (I’m paraphrasing but he does have a harsh take on the normal lifestyle.)   Caveat – as a marketer I struggled to listen to Ferriss describe his marketing advice and his complete dependence on print advertising… though he does do a nice job of finding publications that are specific to his intended niche.

The unifying theory of both books is that a company must fill a need for ONE target market.  For some $100 Startup example companies, this market was both need and geographically based such as a specialty coffee shop or a yarn store / knitting studio.  In other examples, the market is national such as trail maps for bikers or assistance booking international plane tickets using credit card rewards.  Like the latter group, 4-Hour Work Week companies are never geographically based but instead conduct all sales over the Internet and are usually product companies.

When you read the above, you understood what each company did and who they did it for in just a few words.  Can you do the same?  What need do you fill for which target market?

Professional service providers can often easily explain WHAT they do, but then claim to do it for EVERYONE or for a dozen or more industries.  It’s too hard to be known as a specialist in that many categories and too expensive and time consuming to properly craft messaging and get known by that many audiences.  Particularly now, when our inboxes are full and our ability to ignore advertising is at an all time high, it’s important to focus on being a “go to” expert for perhaps one to three industries depending on your budget.  (By contrast, if you provide one specialty service quite well, that can also be a target market.)

Done right, you’ll win bigger and more profitable clients who will be glad to work with you, pay your fees, and feel confident that your advice is helping them move their business forward.  To me, that sounds like a great job to have!