The $100 Startup — Highlights

I highlighted some paragraphs and marked some pages from Chris Guillebeau’s “The $100 Startup”, and I will share it with you!

The first inventory went quickly through Craigslist and word of mouth, and the biggest problem was answering questions from potential customers about what kind of mattress they should buy.

“Empowering others is our greatest marketing effort”, said Scott Meyer from South Dakota. “We host training sessions, give away free materials, and answer any question someone emails to us at no charge whatsoever.”

Convergence. Convergence represents the intersection between something you especially like to do or are good at doing (preferably both) and what other people are also interested in. The easiest way to understand convergence is to think of it as the overlapping space between what you care about and what other people are willing to spend money on.

To succeed in a business project, especially one you’re excited about, it helps to think carefully about all the skills you have that could be helpful to others and particularly about the combinations of those skills.

Many business owners talk about their work in terms of the features it offers, but it’s much more powerful to talk about the benefits customers receive.

Compelling Offer Tool Kit: FAQ, Guarantee, and Overdelivery. As you continue to work on your offer, three tools will assist you in making it more compelling: the FAQ page (or wherever you provide the answers to common questions), an incredible guarantee, and giving your customers more than they expect.

Just as you should usually place more emphasis on the benefits of your offering than on the features, you should think about basing the price of your offer on the benefit — not the actual cost or the amount of time it takes to create, manufacture, or fulfill what you are selling.

Relate your product or service to attractive benefits, not boring features.

I found it an interesting book overall and I recommend that you read it too. The $100 Startup.