#100Startup: Failure Is Overrated

This past week I’ve been blogging through Chris Guillebeau’s new book The $100 Startup and giving away a free signed copy! Today is the last day to enter to win »

There’s a lot more great stories, enlightening insights, and practical advice in Chris Guillebeau’s book The $100 Startup — more than I could blog through in a week, so I just want to wrap-up this series with a rapid-fire list of some of the other stand-out nuggets in the book for you to chew on:

“The blueprint does not tell you how to do less work; it tells you how to do better work.”

“Commerce may have been around forever, but scale, reach, and connection have changed dramatically.”

“If you make your business about helping others, you’ll always have plenty of work.”

“You usually don’t get paid for your hobby itself; you get paid for helping other people pursue the hobby or for something indirectly related to it.”

“One business model is especially useful for location independence: the business of information publishing. … Some parts of information publishing are still in a Wild West stage, but this strong business model is here to stay.”

“Always return to the all-important value question: How can you help people more?”

“Whatever success I’ve had in my own work thus far has always come from saying yes, not from saying no.”

“Since it’s so much easier to start a microbusiness, why do something different unless or until you know what you’re doing? Small is beautiful, and all things considered, small is often better.”

“Almost none of the people I met with talked about thriving in their new businesses because they always offered the lowest price.”

“It’s not market share; it’s share of the customer.” [Multiple ecclesial belonging?]

“The not-so-secret to improving income in an existing business is through tweaks: small changes that create a big impact.”

“People follow you (or your business) because that’s what they’re interested in — you. … Want more Twitter followers? Then do something interesting … away from Twitter.”

“True partnership must create more than just a divided list of tasks.”

“Entrepreneurs are not necessarily risk takers; it’s just that they define risk and security differently from the way other people do.”

“All the bad days have two things in common: You know the right thing to do, but you let somebody talk you out of doing it.”

“You don’t need anyone to give you permission to pursue a dream.”

“If you know what you need to do, the next step is simply to do it.”

“Most likely you’ll have at least one false start on the road to freedom. But failure is overrated — who says you’ll fail? You can just as easily succeed.”

Today’s the last day to enter the contest to win a free, signed copy of The $100 Startup, so don’t miss out! There’s a reason I called this book “the handbook to hustling,” it’s just jam-packed with great information and stories to inspire you.

We need more missional entrepreneurs, men and women who’ll think outside the box of traditional church planting and find ways to create financial sustainability apart from denominational funding or weekly worship attendance and tithing (not that those things are necessarily bad or should be ruled out). What’s your passion? What do you need to get started? Share your story and good luck!

What are you passionate about that you could imagine turning into a missional business? Share that idea in the comments on the contest giveaway post for a chance to win the book!