ENTREPRENEUR/STATRUP SPECIAL..STARTUP BIBLE

STARTUP BIBLE

Have $100? Kick Your Boss & Kickstart Something

Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup, says it’s easy to make money chasing your dreams

Thirty-four-year-old Chris Guillebeau believes anybody can start a business with $100. To test this belief, Guillebeau has been living out of a suitcase since he was 24. So far, he has been to 185 countries, and he wants to visit all the 195 UN member countries before he turns 35. The Portland, Oregon-born inveterate traveller is the author of the bestselling book, The $100 Startup. Guillebeau has also dabbled in online publishing, coffee trading and travel writing — all things he likes doing. In the process, he made money. And that's exactly what he wants others to do: convert one's passion into money. Here is his big tip: “Imagine giving your greatest attention to a project you create yourself, instead of working as a cog in a machine that exists to make other people rich. Imagine handing a letter to your boss that reads, ‘Dear Boss, I’m writing this to let you know that your services are no longer required. Thanks for everything…’.” The $100 Startup is a short guide on how to make money chasing your dreams. It doesn’t profess the usual get-rich-quick advice about setting career goals on an excel spreadsheet as a starting point. “What I’m saying is that you don’t need to spend months or years writing a business plan, because most business plans don’t operate according to preexisting plans,” says Guillebeau. “I’m encouraging people to take action quickly, within 30 days or less, without spending a lot of money and by using the skills they already have,” he told ET in an interview. He was in India in 2006, touring Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata. He feels there is much more opportunity in India than challenge. He adds: “It’s a great time to be an Indian entrepreneur. The middle class is growing and will continue to grow, offering a lot of opportunities.” More and more Indians are gaining access to technology and becoming comfortable with online shopping, Guillebeau says, but “this doesn’t mean everything is easy, of course”. He says small businesses are vital to global prosperity. “Much of the world’s economy,” he explains, “especially the developing world, runs on small businesses.” Sure, it is his pursuit of “freedom at work” and his multi-year research in his books that have taken him across the world. For The $100 Startup, he studied over 1,500 entrepreneurs across the world. The key, he says, “is to focus relentlessly on the point of convergence between what you love to do and what other people are willing to pay for”. Guillebeau has been travelling for more than 10 years, mostly for free. How? “I’m a travel hacker, so many of my plane tickets are free thanks to frequent flyer miles or other deals.” Interestingly, one of Guillebeau’s favourite quotes in his book is from Karl Marx: “Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.”

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