This week, I started The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau by reading the first two chapters. The first chapter was all about how and why to start your own business. One of the main reasons mentioned was that you have a passion for whatever business that you are getting involved in. I thought this was interesting because I always assumed it was a bonus if you loved your work and it was much more important to have a viable business. After reading this I thought about it more and it started to make sense. When someone quits their job to work on a startup, they will be scraping by and I assume it would be hard for them to motivate themselves to stay in the business; but if it is their dream, they won’t stop working until they have achieved their goal. Another thing stated in this chapter is that “to start a business, you need three things: a product or service, a group of people willing to pay for it, and a way to get paid”. This seems very important while considering to start a business.
The second chapter was all about giving the customer what they want. A main point in this chapter was that one should give the customer something that helps them; this could range from something that physically helps them with their work or something that helps them emotionally or mentally. I think that while considering to start a business, it is important to focus on something that you can add or take away that would improve the customer’s life. I feel like this is usually forgotten and people with good, but not helpful, ideas try to start businesses that fail.
What I like most about this book is the author's encouragement to just dive in. It's easy to think, "I can't do this," or "I need to be an expert first." Instead, he tells us to just get started, and that's a message I've heard from a lot of other entrepreneurs. His focus on doing what you love is part of our own thinking (in this course) behind getting you guys to identify the projects you want to work on (rather than having us assign them to you).
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