The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

by Chris Guillebeau

Write a strong launch message to your lists of readers, customers, and/or affiliates.

Prepare a blog post and any needed social media posts...

Set two alarm clocks to ensure that you’re wide awake and available at least one hour be...

Schedule your launch time to suit your audience, not you. All things being equal, it’s usually best to launch early in the morning, East Coast time.

Soft launch at least ten minutes early to make sure everything is working. It’s better for you to find the problems than to have your customers find them!

Write the first three to five buyers to say thanks and ask, “Did everything go OK in the order process?” (Side benefit: These buyers are probably your biggest fans anyway, so they’ll appreciate the personal check-in.)

As long as it’s possible, send a quick personal note to every buyer in addition to the automated thank-you that goes out. (If it’s not possible...

Most important: Ask for help spreading the word. Many readers, prospects, and acquaintances will help by telling their friends and followers, but you have to ask them.

Write to affiliates with a reminder about the new offering.

Write to journalists or media contacts, i...

Post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other social networks you already participate in. (It’s not usually a good idea to join a n...

Write the general thank-you message that all buyers will receive when purchasing.

If applicable, write the first message for your email follow-up series that buyers will receive.

Outline additional content for future communication and plan to schedule it after you...

How can you overdeliver and surprise your customers with this product? Can you include additional deliverables or some kind of unadvertised benefit?

Is there anything special you can do to thank your customers? (For a high-price launch, send postcards to each buyer; for something extra, call a few of your customers on the phone.)

Don’t forget to celebrate. It’s a big day that you’ve worked up to for a long time. Go out to your favorite restaurant, have a glass of wine, buy something you’ve had your eye on for a while, or otherwise do something as a personal reward. You’ve earned it.

Start thinking about the next launch. What can you build on from this one? What did you learn that can help you create something even better next time?

What if you deliberately said yes to every request unless you had a good reason not to? The next time someone asks for something, try saying yes and see what it leads to. Whatever success I’ve had in my own work thus far has always come from saying yes, not from saying no.

DAILY • Maintain a regular social media presence without getting sidetracked or overwhelmed. Post one to three helpful items, respond to questions, and touch base with anyone who needs help. • Monitor one or two key metrics (no more!). Read more about this in Chapter 13

WEEKLY • Ask for help or joint promotions from colleagues and make sure you are being helpful to them as well. • Maintain regular communication with prospects and customers.

AT LEAST MONTHLY • Connect with existing customers to make sure they are happy. (Ask: “Is there anything else I can do for you?”) • Prepare for an upcoming event, contest, or product launch (see Chapter 8

ONCE IN A WHILE • Perform your own business audit (see Chapter 12) to find missing opportunities that can be turned into active projects. • Ensure that you are regularly working toward building something significant, not just reacting to things as they appear.

hustling can take you far. When you’re thinking about how to get the word out and build your business, think about hustling first and paid advertising later (if at all).

If you’re not sure where to spend your business development time, spend 50 percent on creating and 50 percent on connecting. The most powerful channel for getting the word out usually starts with people you already know.

On any given day, there are all kinds of things you can do that have nothing to do with making money—but you should be careful about those distractions, because without the money, there is no business.

She’s not reluctant to spend money on things that will (1) build her brand and (2) boost her sales. This kind of spending can grow a business.

Price your product or service in relation to the benefit it provides, not the cost of producing it. 2.Offer customers a limited range of prices. 3.Get paid more than once for the same thing.

When we see a superhigh price, we tend to consider the lower price as much more reasonable…thus creating a fair bargain in our minds.

“It’s not market share; it’s share of the customer.” Like many of the people in this book, Brian doesn’t spend much time worrying about what other people are doing—he worries about improving his customers’ lives through helpful services.

Shine a spotlight on your best customers; let them tell their own stories about how they’ve been helped through your business.

HOLD A CONTEST.

Ironically, people who pay for high-end products tend to be better customers all around. “Low-paying buyers are the worst,”

Great displays (in store) and great photos (online). Display, color, and placement are important,

Note to Service Providers: Raise Prices Regularly

(When your clients complain about the price being too low, you should listen.)

“Before my price increase, I was worried that no one would hire me again. After the price increase, I realized how easy it was, and I wish I had done it sooner.”

One freelancer likened it to going to the grocery store: No one expects the price of milk to be the same from year to year.

Others said that they offered an ongoing discount for current clients, among whom the work is more familiar and a strong relationship already exists.

By making careful choices, you can often grow the business without dramatically increasing the workload, allowing you to scale without hiring more people.

However it is structured, a good business needs nurturing and continuous improvement. As your project grows, take some time to look at each aspect of it, especially any public communication that customers review while making a purchasing decision. Answer these questions and think about how you can improve. The goal is to (1) fix little problems and (2) identify small actions you can take that will create significant results over time.

“WHERE DO YOU MAKE MONEY?” Once a business gets up and running, it’s very easy to get trapped in all kinds of things that have nothing to do with making money. The solution is simple: Focus on the money. In the audit, you’ll want to look at where the money comes from and determine what you can do to keep it coming. Sometimes new opportunities present themselves; sometimes there’s an easy fix you can make to turn on another tap. If you have a range of projects, products, or activities, it’s almost always better to devote your efforts to the strong performers than to try and pull up the weak ones. Most people do the opposite, but if your goal is for everything to be average, that’s the best you’ll ever get. “HOW GOOD IS YOUR MESSAGING?” The marketing materials you use, whether online or offline, probably involve some use of words, known as copy. Go back to the beginning and read the copy carefully. Review each page of the sales material slowly and then read it out loud. Does it still present the message that you want? What information should be culled or revised? “ARE YOUR PRICES WHAT THEY SHOULD BE?” When was the last time you raised your prices? You can have a sale or give out discount codes from time to time, but like all businesses, you should also plan on raising your prices on a regular basis as well. Always remember that trying to price for “everyone” is a business death trap. Since business owners live or die by the free market system, the way you decide whether your...