This is a guide I prepared for this blog post: http://justinmcgill.net/why-first-time-entrepreneurs-should-bootstrap-their-startups/ You will learn who to follow, what blogs to read, tools to use, and even some cheat sheets and templates to use.

1. Bootstrapping Startup
Resources
BY JUSTIN MCGILL
HTTP: / /TWITTER.COM/JUS10MCGILL
HTTP: / /JUSTINMCGILL.NET

2. Bootstrapping:
“Building a business out of very little or virtually nothing.
Bootstrappers rely usually on personal income and
savings, sweat equity, lowest possible operating costs,
fast inventory turnaround, and a cash-only approach to
selling.”
BusinessDictionary.com

3. Index
Introduction …………………………………………… 4
Benefits …………………………………………………. 7
Communities ..………………………………………… 8
Podcasts ………………………………………………… 9
LinkedIn Groups ……………………………………. 10
Blogs …………………………………………………….. 11
Books ……………………………………………………. 12
Cheat Sheets ………………………………………….. 13
People to Follow …………………………………….. 14
Bootstrapper Tools …………………………………. 15
Bootstrapping Mistakes ………………………….. 16
Conclusion …………………………………………….. 17
My Last Recommendation ………………………. 18

4. Introduction
Much to learn, grasshopper!
Early in 2008 I was getting my entrepreneurial journey started. I had experience with Dreamweaver and could dabble
with websites (I did it as a hobby) so I decided to start by offering that as a service. At the same time, I was helping a
friend get his business off the ground. I was fully immersed in starting up and obsessed with trying to find ways to
grow a business. My days consisted of 16 hour days of work. I was a father to a 2 and a half year old. It was hectic and
incredibly stressful. My back was against the wall and I remember saying:
“This has to work!”
I was stubborn and relentless, but sure enough I eventually got through. Both of those businesses are still around
today! It is these lessons of business management, developing sales skills, learning marketing techniques, exploring
partnerships, outsourcing, bartering, and more that make you a MUCH stronger entrepreneur and will aide you in
future endeavors.

5. Consulting first, full-fledged startup later
Six-plus years later I have begun a new journey by transitioning from service consulting to product. I think
this is the best route for a Bootstrapper, simply because you can start to scale back on your consulting work
as your product begins to take shape.
In my case, my web development business became a full-fledged digital marketing agency with a team I
can trust to run it.
In my opinion, I think it is going to be a pretty long road if you are working full time and just working on your
startup during weekends and off hours. It was hard enough for me when I was working 16 hour days!

6. Bootstrap first, then you can consider investment
An alternative to bootstrapping is to obviously secure an investment. This comes with its own set of
hurdles (not to mention a chunk of your time in trying to find investors, creating pitches, etc). Typically,
you aren’t going to get any serious investment based on an idea anyway. So to secure a decent investment
in the several hundred thousand range or more, you are going to need to show your business model is
working, you have customers paying you, etc.
So even if you are going to try securing capital, you are going to need to go through a bootstrapped
phase to begin with anyway in order to get your first customers onboard.

7. Benefits of Bootstrapping
1. Keeps focus on revenue
2. You keep more profit
3. You have more control
4. No investor meetings
5. You learn lessons that secure your future
6. You learn to stay lean by coming up with creative ways to get
results without a big budget
7. As the only decision maker, you can move fast
8. You wear all the hats, so you have a complete understanding
of your entire business

8. Communities to Participate
Discuss Bootstrapped
Bootstrappers
Inbound.org
Entrepreneur Connect
Startup Nation
Biznik

9. Podcasts to Listen To
Bootstrapped
The Business and Bootstrapping Podcast
Bootstrapped Web
Startups for the Rest of Us
Entrepreneur on Fire
Starting from Nothing
TechZing
The Tropical MBA
Marketing for Founders
Let's Talk Serious Startups

10. LinkedIn Groups to Join
Bootstrap Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur—Think Big!
The Entrepreneur Zone
Bootstrapping Social Startups
On Startups
A Startup Specialist Group

11. Blogs to Follow
Self Made Businessman
Matt Kremer
Justin McGill – aka ME
Alex Turnbull @ Groove
Signal v. Noise
Dan Norris
Joel Gascoigne
Kate Kendall
Ryan Carson
Justin Khan

12. Books to Read
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days
Bootstrapping
Bootstrapping Your Business: Start and Grow a Successful Company with Almost No Money
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Launch
Start Small, Stay Small

13. Cheat Sheets
An Entrepreneur’s Cheat Sheet of 10 Useful Business Reminders
The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Starting And Running Your Business
The Ultimate Small-Business Cheat Sheet
Startup Marketing Plan Template

14. More People You Should Follow
Amy Hoy
Jason Cohen
Brian Casel
Adii Pienaar
Rachel Andrew
Rob Walling
Mike Taber

15. Bootstrapper Tools
12 (Mostly Free) Web Tools for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur and Business Start-Up Tools and Resources
6 Productivity Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Use
21 Tools to Make Every Busy Entrepreneur’s Life Easier

16. Bootstrapping Mistakes
Not starting with what you know
Stick with your domain of expertise so that you have not only insight but an understanding of who your customers are right
out of the gate.
Thinking too big
It’s great to want to be the next Zuckerberg, but even Facebook started small. Launch with the smallest version of your
product as you can. It ends up costing you less, it gets you talking to potential customers sooner, and gets you working on
the ultimate iteration of your business that may lead to success. Chances are it won't be the first iteration that makes it.
I also follow Rod Walling’s model of using no employees – just contractors on an as-needed basis.
Fear of Failure
There is value in failing. You learn a tremendous amount when dealing with failure. Not just
learning from mistakes for business purposes, but you learn a lot about yourself as well.

17. Conclusion
Don't get me wrong: having investment in an idea or early stage startup can certainly help grow your business
substantially. That doesn’t necessarily increase your odds of succeeding, though.
Chances are, if you can’t get your business off the ground in a bootstrapped fashion then your business isn’t
going to succeed anyway, since you are going to need to validate the model regardless.
You don't know what you don't know, so taking the lumps as a bootstrapper allows you to learn some pretty
Important lessons.
These lessons and the experience make you that much more likely to land investment in the future while
putting you in a position to be able to negotiate a more favorable equity split.

18. My Last Recommendation
Read and learn as much as you can, but don’t forget to take action. As I always say, “Get Shit Done!”
Follow along as I let you in on strategies I used to grow a 7 figure digital marketing agency and the things
I learn as I transition into products like Workado.
Catch me on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.