Now that we’ve finished the introduction to Bootstrapped!, we’ll move into Chapter 1: Grit!  As I mentioned previously, Ron tees up each chapter and the principles that Rich will discuss.  Wondering if you have the grit of an entrepreneur?  Read on to find out…..

Do you have a fire in your belly and nerves of steel? Are you determined enough to take $5,000 and build it into a multimillion dollar business? Rich and I will be the first to tell you that without fire, nerves, and determination (some call this grit), you won’t weather the storms that inevitably accompany entrepreneurship. It is not enough to merely ask yourself tough questions; you must be willing to answer them honestly and act accordingly. Here are a few to start with.

How’s your appetite for entrepreneurship? In this chapter, Rich explains that entrepreneurship isn’t about having all the talents and skills yourself; it’s about how bad you want it. You simply need to assess the attitudes and aptitudes you have, and then either develop the ones you’re missing or partner with people who have them. This, in large part, is how Rich’s and my partnership came to be. We offer distinct but complementary skill sets and talents, but we are the same in one respect: we are hungry for success and we expect to see it.

Does the thought of bootstrapping a business strike fear into your heart and mind? If so, good! Fear can be an incredible motivator. A little terror never hurt an entrepreneur; you simply need to learn to turn terror into triumph.

What about your day job; should you stay or should you go? A lot of people are tethered to the corporate claim that life in the world of big business is more stable than their own venture. When the time comes, are you prepared to cut the lifeline?

How will you survive? The grim fact is 50 percent of new businesses don’t make it. And if yours goes down, it can take your personal life with it. It’s all about timing. Liberation from the corporate myth is exciting, but you don’t want to jump out of the airplane without your parachute on. In the early stages of bootstrapping a business, you might want to keep that day job around for a while. Managing all the demands on your time will take planning, but you can do it.

In our next section, Rich will walk through some questions to ask as you come to know yourself and your entrepreneurial appetite.  Until then!

Happy holidays! Thanks to everyone who’s voted on a title for the book. We’ve had an overwhelming response and are excited to post the results and official title soon! In the meantime, please feel free to continue to vote. As we finish out 2008, I’ll wrap up Rich and Ron’s story to-date then start blogging sections from the book the first week in January.

Looking back over even the past few months, I can’t believe how far we’ve come – in the business and with the book. We already have five New York Times best-selling authors endorsing the book and word of what we are doing is spreading. CastleWave is continuing to grow and increase momentum as well.

After the merger with the New York office that officially changed the company name to CastleWave, everybody kept working hard to keep the customers happy. One fun example of this – once, one large client challenged Rich: “I bet you one bagel you can’t get these words for $.35” (referring to search engine optimization keywords). Rich proceeded to not only get the words, but earn first $100 then all the way up to $15,000 revenue/day for that client. Let’s hope that was one tasty bagel!

Such attention to clients is part of the principle of acting big and behaving small. You want to show that you are established, secure, and stable so that your customers trust you, but at the same time maintain a personal connection with customers and awareness of their needs that earns their repeated business. The rewards for doing business like that will be a lot greater than just one bagel!

Starting next week we’ll kick of blogging the sections of the book , so stay tuned for that!

Let me start by introducing myself.  My name is Sharon Larsen and I first became associated with Rich Christiansen and Ron Porter a little over three years ago when I started working for Rich.  I had just finished my bachelor’s degree in International Politics and was looking for a meaningful job opportunity where I could get my feet wet.  Without really knowing what I was getting into, I accepted the job as an account manager with Rich and completely changed my life’s trajectory.  The next several months were a whirlwind of highs, lows, and everything in between that is associated with working in a small business.  After about 15 months, Rich decided to sell/close the 3-4 businesses we were running and take a break (more on this story later) and I had the opportunity to try something new.  My experiences with the businesses and Rich’s encouragement led me to pursue an MBA in finance.  I’m now in my second year of school and will be graduating in April.  I recently joined Rich and Ron’s team again; it’s a new business with new faces in the office, but the same passion and drive for success that drew me in three years ago. 

During the time that I was in school and away from the office, Rich and Ron began writing a book documenting the precise process they follow to create a new business, something Rich has done about 27 times.  As they wrote, Ron challenged the principles in the book and insisted they start a business to prove it.  The resulting company, CastleWave, made over $1 million in its first year of business and is continuing to grow.  The book is recently completed and will soon be going to press.  Over the next few weeks until the book comes out, I’ll be blogging the story behind the book because it’s so fascinating and I think you’ll enjoy it.  If you’ve had a chance to watch the video that’s posted on the website, you know a little about the book and the basic story behind it.  If you haven’t, I would encourage you to watch it – it’s a captivating story!

 While my involvement in this story started three years ago, the roots of the venture go back much further than that.  Rich had strong entrepreneurial tendencies even in college but, as he puts it, didn’t think that he had the nerve, background, or funding to start his own company.  After getting an executive MBA, Rich discovered that he had an aptitude for business even though his background was in engineering.  Rich and Ron first became acquainted while they were both working for Novell and then solidified their relationship when they served together in ecclesiastical positions for their church.  They become such an effective team that they could basically read each other’s minds and finish each other’s thoughts.  Even while I was first working for Rich, he and Ron had a side-business going that they later sold for a modest profit.  Little did they imagine, I assume, the partnership that would evolve in the future…