Bootstrapping for your boss

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Resources on December 7, 2007

I haven't mentioned it here on the blog yet, but I'll be changing jobs soon.

Now how, if at all, does this effect my efforts as a bootstrapping entrepreneur?

Well, as Dr. Steve Gedeon of Ryerson University explains below, entrepreneurship does not necessarily mean that you work for yourself.

And just as entrepreneurship can occur from within a large corporate structure so I believe can bootstrapping.

Here's how:
• Be a self starter. Don't wait to be asked. Don't find out how the company usually does things. If you've got a better way without the need for more resources, give it a try.
• Create something new. A new source of revenue, a new kind of product a new way of doing things more efficiently that saves money. Create it out of existing resources the way only a bootstrapper can. Your boss will love you for it.
• Keep costs down. Don't ask for more money in your department. You don't need it. You're a bootstrapper, remember? And you know how to create your own resources.
• Think uniquely. Listen patiently to advice from your employer than do it your way using your own resources with no extra cost. Focus on results and sustainability and procedure will remain an afterthought.
• Be remarkable. Do something no one else can. The benefit of bootstrapping is that it's about making due. You may not have the resources others do, but when you solve problems in you own unique way you create a product that is unlike the rest.

I'll be taking a bootstrapping approach with me to the new gig. (More on this later.) Try it in your own work environment and create value for your boss and for you.