Authors are Entrepreneurs, Too

Carolynn Duncan has launched her second Hundred Dollar Business Venture. She is going to start, operate and wrap-up a micro business. Why are we posting her info ... because authors are entrepreneurs, too, and if you are a fan of Carolyn Howard-Johnson's and Christine Hohlbaum, you know that creativity is at the heart of promoting your book ... so take a creative look inside and read on!

The Entrepreneur Story." This is our second Hundred Dollar Business venture, and follows our model of using 30 days and $100 to start, operate, and wrap up a micro-business.

The Update

Our goal is to gather 100 entrepreneurs' stories (1 from each of the 50 states, 1 from each continent, and the rest from any location), edit and publish the book (digital and print versions), find 100 customers, and ship the book by March 13th!

The project is off to a great start-- 39 entrepreneurs and 10 customers have signed up, and we are actively working on publishing options. We are moving forward on a tight schedule, but things are right on track. For daily updates about how the project is coming together, check our blog at www.hundreddollarbusiness.com.

Guidelines To Help You In Writing The Profile

To help you share your story with us, we've developed the following guidelines. (If you've already sent your story to us, feel free to skip this section).

The first portion of the book will describe the Hundred Dollar Business concept and our experiences with it. The second part is all about entrepreneurs like you!

Please don't worry about your writing skills or style. We're not looking for the next Hemingway or J.K. Rowling, we just want your most heartfelt story. The most important thing is for you to explain why you love entrepreneurship & how you got started, so that the book will be capture your experience vibrantly.

Ok example: I started my business in 1997. I have two employees. We make cheese that is easy to digest. We like making it, I guess. (Not bad, but not exciting.)

Great example: When Ethan began to show signs that he was ready to crawl, I worried that the tile floors would be too rough on his knees. Sewing had always been a hobby, so I made him a pair of pants with built-in foam padding in the knees and shins. They were so useful that I made him several pairs. If he wasn't sleeping, he was wearing those pants. Moms in my neighborhood fell in love with them, and it didn't take long before I had more orders than I had time to make. I had finally found my business calling.

(This is from Marina Westerdahl's story, and really speaks of her motivation & experience– the full version will be available once "The Entrepreneur Story" is published.)

Some Questions to Consider:

What happened to make you start a business?
What kind of business did you create?
How much capital did it take to start?
Have you had a nausea-inducing crisis or mistake that you'd tell us about?
Did you have a mentor or mentors?
How long did it take to become profitable?
What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?
What would you do differently now?
What is the hardest part about being an entrepreneur?
Can you think of one sentence of advice you'd offer someone who's got an idea and wants to start a business?

Please respond in roughly 600 words. (Note: This is about one page of 12 pt. font text.)

Other Information:

Since we're doing this project in 30 days (fingers crossed!) we're hoping you'll be able to work on this over the weekend and have it back to us by Monday evening, February 19, 2007. If that won't work for your schedule, please let us know.

We love hearing your stories as they come in-- the experience of becoming involved in entrepreneurship is always interesting, and it really does inspire others to try starting their own business!

If you know of any entrepreneurs across the United States (we are looking to find entrepreneurs from each state in the U.S.) or in other continents (specifically, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia), please invite them to contact us at hundreddollarbusiness@gmail.com.

(Here is a map which shows the states/continents we have representation from so far.)

Thanks again for participating in this exciting project! Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Carolynn Duncan
The Hundred Dollar Business
www.hundreddollarbusiness.com
hundreddollarbusiness@gmail.com

Authors are Entrepreneurs, Too

http://thereadingtub.blogspot.com/2007/02/authors-are-entrepreneurs-too.html