This blog brings us to the final section of the book Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide.  Rich discusses the three attributes necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Writing this book has required more effort and patience than either Ron or I thought possible. I now understand why I have never found a volume like it on the shelves. Setting the work aside, it has been an amazing opportunity for reflection and contemplation and has brought me to a conclusion I had already come to: entrepreneurship is truly an art form.

Several months into the writing, Ron suggested we create a company as a test case for the book. This has proved to be an invaluable exercise. As we went through the creation and launch of this company, we forced ourselves to analyze each important action in light of the principles espoused.

I am delighted to report that the fundamental tenets have held fast. Ron and I started the company with a total of $5,000 in March 2007. In seven months we grew the monthly revenue stream from $0 to over $60,000, with a gross net profit of $40,000. As of October 2008 the business is generating monthly revenue of $110,000 at a 65% margin. Has it been easy? No! Were there moments of confusion? Yes! After all, this is entrepreneurship.

Many of the things that haunted me during my first voyage into starting my own company are the same things that keep me awake now. There are no guarantees in life or in business. However, 27 ventures later, my nerves have settled. I have “learned” my way to solid ground. The principles herein will help you learn your way to solid ground much sooner. This learning was achieved through a progressive series of choices, ventures, successes, and failures.

The entrepreneurial path is worth the climb. It has provided countless individuals with financial stability, it has allowed personal freedoms, and it has facilitated an exhilarating and liberating lifestyle. One of the greatest joys I have in my life is helping young entrepreneurs who are facing the same quandaries I encountered early in my career. This has been one of my main motivations for writing this book.

Inevitably, as associates find out about this project they ask me, “What’s the key thing I need to know to be a successful entrepreneur?” Honestly, it isn’t as simple as one thing, but following are three critical attributes I have found are necessary to succeed.

1. Unalterable Determination
I am associated with a young entrepreneur named Mike Proper. When he was in the ninth grade, he was placed in foster care. Under duress he ran away from the foster family, finding safety in another state. Mike dropped out of school in order to support himself. Even though he does not have a formal education, he possesses an intense, relentless drive and an unconquerable spirit. Mike has since founded a company that has grown to a value of over ten million dollars. Mike Proper simply will not be denied.

The single most important factor to success in entrepreneurship and life is unalterable determination. I often say I’m not the smartest, I’m not the fastest, and I’m not the most handsome, but I’m definitely the most determined.

2. An Undeviating Support System
I had a young man in my office the other day who possesses incredible entrepreneurial drive and talent. He stood on the threshold of his first entrepreneurial venture. He was looking for some final advice and encouragement as he jumped from a warm, safe corporate job into the cold, harsh realities of business ownership. As we discussed the required sacrifices ahead of him, his face took on a look of fierce determination. As I looked in his eyes, I knew he had what it takes; however, I still had one remaining question. “How is your wife doing with all this change?” I probed.

At the very mention of his wife, calmness transformed his countenance. He responded, “She is amazingly supportive.” He nervously laughed as he recounted a dream his wife had the night before. She woke him in the middle of the night to share what she called a “hellish nightmare.” In a state of terror, she recounted how she went shopping and bought a vast array of expensive makeup and clothing. In the dream, she felt sick and was worried she had jeopardized her husband’s dream of starting his own company. He commented, “I am so lucky to have a wife like this.” Indeed, he is a lucky man! Some of the most talented and capable individuals I have known simply could not follow the course of their dreams due to the lack of support from their significant others.

Without an undeviating support system, it will be very difficult to succeed. Not only will this type of relationship provide fortitude, but the sharing of all you do will enhance the joy of the ride.

3. A Greater Purpose
The final key to entrepreneurship is having the source of your motivation rooted deeper than the shallow objective of making money. You have to be driven by a purpose greater than owning a BMW, something beyond cashing a big check. Making money will be a natural derivative of achieving a greater purpose. Your motivator must be deep and meaningful. It will make the entrepreneurial journey more purposeful, more enduring, and more valuable. I wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about enabling educational opportunities for disadvantaged girls in third-world countries. It consumes me, it inspires me, and I am drawn to it. This type of motivator is far stronger than making money.

Here is my parting thought: You can do this. You will have family, friends, mentors, professors, and any number of other folks tell you otherwise. Honestly apply the principles of this book, and you will not only survive entrepreneurship, but you will thrive in it! The hardest step for most people is simply taking those first few determined steps toward making something happen.

We did it!

Yesterday, CastleWave was formally sold to Imergent. CastleWave will be used as a key infrastructure component in Crexendo which is IMergent’s venture into creating a nationally dominant SEO Marketing Agency.

This was a cradle to grave (hopefully not grave) exit in 2 years 3 months and 10 days. CastleWave was formed on November 1st, 2007.

As all of you know, this business was created with $5,000 to prove the principles in the book. CastleWave indeed was profitable from day one, generated over $1MM the first year at 50% margin and this past year did apx $1.4 MM. We have offices in both NYC and Utah and presently have 23 employees and apx 30 active clients ranging from smaller companies like Bank On Youself to large customers such as OpenTable and IMax.

What an amazing ride the past several years have been. We have built an amazing little team which was initially based on 4 teenagers that we affectionately refer to as our linker boys. The team now has 5 amazing account managers, several project managers, and a whole slug of off the chart smart linker boys.

The main thing I will miss will be the association with this high energy can do little team. I personally thank this rag tag team for their efforts and want to let them know of my confidence and belief in them in their future careers. I expect great things from you guys.

CastleWave Team

I am thrilled that we were not only able to talk about the principles in BootStrap Business, but prove it. Indeed, we ate our own cooking and went through the entire process from chapter 1 to now chapter 19 the exit.

It is really a satisfying feeling to be able to write this post closing both chapter 19 in the book and in the business.

With this exit, I will now be freed up to be much more active in dialog, discussion, and yes posting to the blog. It is perfect timing with the blogs on the book now coming to the end of the book. If you have any specific blog topics or discussion items you want me to cover, please email me and I would be happy to hit them. rich at bootstrapbusiness dot com.

Today Ron introduces chatper 15 in Bootstrap Business by explaining the necessity of building a killer team.

When you consider all the activities associated with building a great team, what do you think of first? Where you are going to post the position? What about creating a detailed job description? Determining salary and title? Before you even consider filling your office with employees, there are three other people who need your primary attention. In this chapter, Rich will tell you who those people are.

As you build your killer team, make sure you are particularly deliberate with your first few hires. Prioritizing relationships, creating appropriate culture, knowing who to hire when, and keeping your employees technologically equipped and informed helps keep your team killer.

Rich and I had a close call when we were working on our team for a recent venture. While interviewing for an administrative assistant, one of our appointments committed a hit-and-run in our parking lot. When the police came, we discovered that she was a convicted felon. We consider our administrative assistant one of our most important hires. Needless to say, committing a hit-and-run was not one of our mandatory job qualifications!

In this chapter Rich will also give critical insight on the power of the team, and how to structure an effective organization. No individual can do as well as an effective team.

It is important to have a solid grasp on the concepts in this chapter. They are the foundational principles upon which you will build your business. You can’t build your team unless you have a good foundation, a killer foundation. Rich knows that as well as or better than anyone else I know.

Today’s Buzz Your Business features a special interview with Master PR Strategist Jill Lublin. Jill is an international speaker and the author of three bestsellers; Guerrilla Publicity, Networking Magic and Get Noticed… Get Referrals, her latest book to hit the shelves. She teaches crash courses on publicity around the world  and her passion is to help people bootstrap their publicity. That’s the tip she wants to share with you today: How to bootstrap your publicity, improve your visibility and get your business moving!

BB: How would you say bootstrapping relates to publicity?

JL: Guerrilla Publicity is all about bootstrapping; the subtitle of my book says, “Using time and imagination instead of money,” and that means bootstrapping! I’ve always been a bootstrapper myself. I started my own business on credit cards. I’ve grown it and I am now a successful author, I run courses all over the world; but truthfully it started on nothing; some good ideas, and me and my energy! And I think that’s what bootstrapping often is; it relies on terrific people with their vision and their purpose; and then you go out into the world. But you do it smartly, using specific tactics and techniques. In regards to publicity, you don’t go out and buy expensive ads. That would be crazy. You don’t go waste money on high-falutin’ marketing strategies. You take step-by-step replicatable systems that drive profits to your pockets and prospects to your door.

BB: In terms of you own consulting; how would you support someone who is launching a new business and bootstrapping?

JL: The first thing I look at with any client is what I call, “It’s all about your message.” How are you going to get your message out to the public so that the public embraces it and says, yes! I want to hire you. I want to play with you. I want to buy your product or service. And that’s what we’re trying to get people to do; buy your product and your service but without hitting them over the head. We do it by giving them stories and placing stories in the media using what I refer to as, “Everything you’ve got;” which is all about creating a message that works. You have to solve people’s problems and present yourself as an expert. Experts solve problems; so stop thinking of yourself as a widget maker, or a provider of services, instead think of yourself as an expert. So what are you helping other people with? What problems are you solving? Once you focus on that, then you can go into the media, then you can make the media interested in you. It’s never about your business and that’s a mistake most bootstrappers and entrepreneurs make. They keep thinking that the news – and that’s what we’re talking about here, the media, publicity – is all about them and it isn’t; it’s about the readers, and that’s what they need to keep in mind.

BB: What are the three publicity tips you would give to bootstrappers? Are there three things they can do?

JL: Yes, first thing is baby steps. Focus on your message. Don’t just bring yourself out there until you have honed in on your message. That will help you have something to say when you’re addressing prospects without being a deer in the headlights… it will become a script that you can use in networking events, with prospects, clients, customers and with the media.

Number two is become a celebrity in your own backyard. In other words, don’t forget where you live and your geographical region; make sure you get lots of local publicity. National publicity often comes from local, from the city or provincial news. Create ongoing announcements that you can place in the local business journals and the local daily newspaper every sixty days or so.

The other piece that I would suggest is focus on your “ooh and aah factor.” What is it about you that makes people go “ooh and aah” about you? What is it about your personal message that other people would be interested in? A variation of that is to do what I call “Everything you got;” which means capitalizing on your ethnicity or your religious affiliation, so if you’re a Christian, you will want to target Christian media.

BB: What do you think it takes to be an entrepreneur?

JL: It takes guts, determination, focus, commitment, and a “No matter what” attitude, because there’s going to be plenty of “No matter whats.” You have to be willing to keep going and to believe in yourself.  And to stand tall, because sometimes it’ll be all rough, sometimes you won’t know where the cash flow is coming from and sometimes you’ll be praying for your next customer, but by being consistent and persistent – those two key words are very important, consistent and persistent – and if you focus on publicity, marketing and keeping your vision forward, no matter what, then you will find success. I know very few people who don’t who are that committed. So keep going and keep a “No matter what” attitude so that you can stay in the limelight.

BB: How did you get your idea for your current business?

JL: I was working in the music business helping musicians promote themselves and I found out I was really good at it. That was after going to law school for a year, which I did not like because for a creative mind like mine, it just wasn’t the place to be. So I ended up working for a music business attorney, and the music side of the business was interesting so I started promoting entertainers and musicians – usually for independent record labels. Then I started working my way up and became Director of Promotion and Publicity at several independent record labels. And here is where I learned to bootstrap because I was working for independent record labels with no budgets and no marketing department besides for me – I was the marketing department – and I could see these big record labels marketing departments with two million dollar budgets! I mean, give me two millions and I’ll make anyone famous! But we had to do it with zero budget, or by bootstrapping, or with fifteen thousand dollar max. We once sold out a Carnegie Hall show before the artist even arrived in New York! We used what is now called viral marketing and which I then called grassroots marketing. We used all our resources and got very creative in order to build interest for our artists. That’s were I got started and then I opened my own business because I thought if I can do this here, I can do this for others as well. And I love working with all kinds of businesses and all kinds of entrepreneurs because each one presents a new challenge, a slight variation on the marketing aspect, and this brings together all my bootstrapping ideas and my Guerrilla Publicity techniques. And it all serves to move entrepreneurs forward and my commitment is to helping entrepreneurs get their message heard. That’s what I am all about.

BB: Do you think it’s important to have support from friends and family when running a business?

JL: Yes, it’s important. I am not saying that you’re always going to get it because they’ll look at you and say, “gosh you’re not making any money,” or “how come you can’t afford this or can’t afford that?” What can help with that is to set out rules and have a strong foundation and get help for the gaps in your knowledge. Mine was around financial literacy and how to structure a business. So I got trained and I also got a team around me. I am all about hiring a team, even if it’s for one hour a week, if that’s all you can afford. Or get an intern, who does not cost anything except for my time and consulting and that’s a very good bootstrapping idea.

BB: Do you think it’s important to be aware of your higher purpose in business and if so, is your higher purpose related to your business?

JL: I think my life, my business and my spiritual practice; it’s all become one now. It wasn’t always like that and in fact I used to feel quite a bit of frustration because what I always wanted was to touch people’s hearts, connect people and help them get their message heard. And then I found myself in a man’s world of business and then I realized that this is exactly what I got to do! Touch people’s hearts, connect people and help them get their message heard! So yes, I want to be one with my life, my business and my spiritual life. Before I go on stage, I pray. I hope that I will touch the hearts of the people in the audience. I pray for God’s words to work through me so I can touch others. I pray that I can give them benefit and value by my being in that room and that I too shall be supported, because it is a symbiotic relationship, of course. I feel that I am here to do God’s work, and I don’t think of it as religious but a spiritual calling. Right now I am doing God’s work by helping people get their message out and that’s pretty powerful. I am also working on a TV show about hope, called “Messages of Hope” and that’s powerful too and that’s part of my calling. It’s important to structure my business so it works, financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. It’s all about doing what works for you.

BB: Does spirituality or religion play a part in helping you succeed?

JL: Yes. In the past few years, I have been working closely with spiritual mentor Bill Bowman. Prior to that, I had always been committed to my transformational work. I am very business oriented and I am very structured in many ways but then I have this spiritual world where I have always gone to learn about transformation and practice it too, first in myself and then in the world! I believe that as we heal ourselves, we heal the world and how fabulous it is for me that as I heal myself, I heal my clients and that, who I become, they become and we can all rise to the top together! So I am very committed to my growth and transformation, I have always been a seeker. But I have noticed that in the last few years of working with my mentor – who is very gentle and all about spirituality and soulfulness – I have noticed my business increasing, my revenues increasing, my clarity around my mission expanding, my level of peace expanding, no matter what is happening in the outside world and we all know it’s been a wild ride.

BB: One of Bootstrap Business’s principles is “Know Your Channel,” and I imagine that in publicity it’s very important to not only know your message but who wants to hear it. Could you share some comments about channel and PR?

JL: In that regard, what I would do is look at your target audience; you have to find your market. Once you determine that, you have to ask: what are they reading, what are they watching, what are they listening to in the media? And then you go after that. You want to get your message heard in those areas. One of the first sessions with my clients is all about that. So you call it channel and I call it reaching your target audience, but it’s the same thing. Who are they, where do they live, are they in your region, are they national, or international, are they in your age range, are they men or women, do they belong to a certain group either ethnic or otherwise. Those are the questions you need to answer and those are your channels. The good thing about those channels is that they each have media specifically oriented to them and that’s a good thing.

BB: Do you have any rules or guiding principles that you use in running your business?

JL: If it ain’t fun, don’t do it. And that includes working with clients now if I can see some… let’s call them warning signals. It’s come to a point where I won’t work with people if they are too demanding or too difficult to work with, or simply not enjoyable because life is too short. And I have rules in my business. I have no-refund policies; I have contracts people have to sign. I am much more structured. I know exactly how long I spend with each client. We have a system now on how to reach people and I think that having systems in place is a good guiding principle. In publicity, it means making replicatable and duplicatable systems and the truly magnificent thing to me about how I work with people is that they get to do this over and over again.

BB: What are the top three things people should make duplicatable in regards to their publicity?

JL: The first thing is how they send out announcements and what they do with them. The other is the step-by-step formula, like what are they going to do every day, every week, every month or every quarter. The third thing is having someone who is scripted and who can smile and dial; someone who will get your message heard and get people to pay attention to you.

BB: How important is it to set goals and reward ourselves when we meet those goals?

JL: I set myself a monthly revenue goal and, each day, I write three high value activities that I am going to do to meet that goal; those activities have to be measurable in both time and money and this is a powerful strategy that has guided my life for the last few years and interestingly enough, reaching my monthly revenue goal is often dependent on whether I accomplished those three high value activities. I highly recommend it!

Thank you Jill!

For more info on Jill Lublin, her books and her schedule of courses please visit: www.jilllublin.com

To find her books and more on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/ydxxwex

To win a chance to get your business buzzed on our network, please send an email to: buzz@bootstrapbusiness.org

Ed Viesturs and Rich Chrisitiansen

Last night I was able to spend a few minutes with Ed Viesturs. As you know, Ed not only endorsed Bootstrap Business, but he was also the center of content for the Chapter Climb High Sleep Low.

Ed just released a new book titled K2 Life and Death on the Worlds Most Dangerous Mountain.

I will be traveling to Japan and China next week with one of my companies FrogHair, I looking forward to reading this book on the trip.

The fun part of our discussion last night was having Ed explain his mindset as well as show the route he used to get up Annapurna ….. Which was his 3rd attempt and last of the 8,000 meter peak summits he climbed. Keeping in mind that 100 people in the world have climbed Annapurna, 50 have died.

Those of you who have seen my presentations or attended the Boot Camps know this story and the reason why I gained such respect for Ed after observing this experience.

If you don’t know why Ed Viesters is one of my heroes, READ THE BOOK ALREADY!

Getting to the Top Is Options Getting Back Down Is Mandatory both in business and in mountain climbing.

Rich has a busy couple of days. We know that a number of you will be attending or watching these events, but here is the 1-2-3 punch this week.

1. Tomorrow night Wed Oct 21 at 9:30PM MST Rich will be highlighted on the TV program Latter Day Profiles. This will air on BYUTV channel 21. This was recorded when Rich presented at the BYU Idaho Entrepreneurs Conference.

2. On Friday Oct 23rd, Rich will be giving the keynote address at the CEO Conference in Chicago Ill. on Entrepreneurship.

3. Saturday and Sunday Rich will be presenting at Book Publishing 2.0 Conference in Calvary Canada. These are always fun and entertaining events. I love to watch Rich and Mark Effinger verbally spar.

If you are at any of these events make sure you introduce yourself to Rich and say hello. He loves to hear from you.

Get building that business. No more excuses.

In order to aim and fire at a target you must have one in your sights. Finding a target can be a tricky process if you are not aware of how you are finding your target. How do you find your target? Do you spend your time carefully finding a target to aim at or do you fire first? Most entrepreneurs can be identified in one of two categories – those who fire at their target and those who aim. The question is who will be more successful? The entrepreneur who aims more or the entrepreneur who fires more?

Traditional business practices would have most entrepreneurs believe they should spend a lot of time planning their every move. While there is value in planning make the mistake of making a plan for the plan and then just keep on planning without taking their head out of the sand to see if the target they are aiming at is suitable for the environment above the sand. The flip side is the entrepreneur who is firing at everything in sight so there is a lot of movement but very little momentum in the absence of aim!

While it may seem comfortable to aim, aim, aim and exhilarating to fire, fire, fire the truth is being stuck in either mode is frankly quite useless. If you want real results the answer lies in fire, fire, AIM!
When you fire, fire, aim you are not stuck aiming or firing; you do a bit of both. When it comes to finding a target for your business you spend a short amount of time thinking about what you are going to aim at. Are you looking for a new niche market or distribution channel for your business? Maybe you have a few business ideas and you’re not sure which ones to focus on?

To aim and fire successfully you must quickly survey your environment. You can quickly and easily investigate your environment using these three simple techniques:

Completing the above techniques will only take you a few hours . By evaluating a few targets to fire at you will be much more savvy about where to aim. In the end, if you don’t know if there is a demand for your target then you don’t really have a business do you?

By going through fire, fire, aim as quickly as possible you will save yourself a lot of heartache from getting stuck in aiming at something that will end up being a lot of motion without any momentum. In case you haven’t noticed yet, we’re big fans of MOMENTUM!

So, what if you’re an aim, aim, aim or a fire, fire, fire kind of person? Don’t fret! There is hope for you in aligning yourself with partners and staff who compliment you.

Next time, we’ll be looking at exactly how you can be confident that you’ve found your perfect match when we discuss focusing on your strengths!

I’ll keep this blog short – just wanted to update everyone on the recent media splurge surrounding Bootstrap Business!  Rich and Ron have had a busy couple of weeks with the launch of the book.  I’ve included here links to a sampling of online articles about Bootstrap Business. 

Dave Young’s blog on Bootstrap Business

Rich’s online interview with Marty Zwilling

Hope you enjoy those! 

The exciting news is that I’m sending out this post in time for everyone to listen to Rich and Ron on air tomorrow morning, Friday, April 17^th.  They will be on at 11:20 MDT on 88.3fm and 105.3fm.  If you’re not in the immediate area, you can listen online at http://kcpw.org/listen. 

 Hope you can all tune in tomorrow! 

This afternoon we had a party in the office to celebrate the release of Bootstrap Business!  The festivities included music, pies for the whole office, and even some dancing, courtesy of Rich.  J  We have a lot to celebrate – finally holding the published book in our hands!

The past two years, three months, and nine days have brought more pain, excitement, anxiety, relief, and every other emotion possible.  Finally the fruit of Rich and Ron’s labor – the Bootstrap Business baby is born!  The formal title of the book is Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide.  For those interested, the book is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Wizard Academy Press, and our website – www.bootstrapbusiness.org.

We want to offer a special thanks to all those who have supported, expressed interest, and contributed. 

This long journey started two years ago when Ron and Rich began outlining the steps necessary in order to achieve small business success.  Prior to this, Rich founded or co-founded 27 different businesses – 9 outright failures, 7 moderately successful, 4 in process, and 7 have become million dollar businesses.

Three months into the writing process, Ron remained unconvinced and insisted that Rich prove it to him by creating a company as a test case for the book.  They started a business, both bringing $2,500 to the table. Following the book chapter by chapter, after twelve months CastleWave’s top line revenue was 1.2 million at 50+ percent margin. The principles of the book were once again proven, adding another million dollar business to the count, making a total of 8.

The timing of this book is relevant.  The current economy is making people realize they need to take their future into their own hands.  Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide, the ultimate entrepreneurial handbook, teaches three things:

     1.  How to bootstrap a business starting with $5,000 and in one year turn it into a successful business

     2.  How to avoid the big mistakes that kill most small businesses

     3.  How to secure your future financially while maintaining a balanced lifestyle

This tried-and-true recipe book is for people who want to get out of a dead-end job, business owners needing a recipe to help them grow their business, and entrepreneurs looking for a guide to mentor them to success. 

You can do this!  This step-by-step recipe guide makes it possible to control your life, maintain balance, and find personal fulfillment.  Rich and Ron have outlined the proven principles and steps necessary to make this happen.

“Years of blood, sweat, and tears have been poured into this book.  This is the best we have to offer and we hope you get as much out of it as we’ve poured into it.”  

          Rich and Ron

It’s only been a few weeks since we announced the official title of the book, but already we’ve had a change of heart.  Or, more precisely, the publishers changed our hearts!  They pointed out that “bootstrapped” is not a term that many people are familiar with and that using “small business” in the title was limiting our potential reader base.  In the spirit of their feedback, we have selected a new (and permanent) title for the book – Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide. 

We realize this is a sudden and unexpected change for many of our readers.  If you’re having a hard time copping with this abrupt turn of events, leave a comment on the Bootstrap blog and I will do my best to console, comfort, and convince you that this is for the best.

In addition to a new book title, we’d also like to announce the launch of our new and improved website, www.bootstrapbusiness.org.  The new site makes it easy for readers to preorder copies of Bootstrap Business and features details about and registration for upcoming Bootstrap Business Boot Camps.  If you haven’t already, we invite you to visit the site and reserve your signed copy of Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide today!