Welcome again to BootStrapMe.com

Filed in archive Entrepreneurship on May 27, 2008

For those of you new to this site, I thought I'd take just a few minutes to explain again what all of this is about and how it got started.

My name is Shawn Hessinger and though I currently work in the newspaper business, I've always had an interest in entrepreneurship including launch of a small independent record label in the mid-1990's to very modest response.

I started this blog in part as therapy after a frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful effort to start a small community newspaper with a business partner and the help(?) of the SBA.

I am now in the process of experimenting with the launch of PostRanger.com, a largely organic social network for bloggers with possible software driven features and platform at some point in the future. (If you're interested in helping drop me a line.)

My experiences have led me to conclude that, when it comes to start-up (of a new venture, non-profit or just about anything else) bootstrapping is the answer.

You'll get a lot of reasons for this depending who you ask, but I can boil my reasons down to four primary points:

• Bootstrapping is best for beginners. Like it or not, without a track record, your chances of finding investors for your great idea may not be good. And if your business is in a field where you have limited experience, investors will be understandably leery.
• Bootstrappers finish ahead. Without the need to give your company away to investors, you will keep what you create, one of the best reasons bootstrap evangelist Greg Gianforte gives for the approach.
• Bootstrapping limits overhead. Looking at boxes of cassette tapes freshly arrived from the duplication plant back in the 90's gave me a crash course in the meaning of the phrase "break even point". I quickly calculated how many of the things I would have to sell just to keep from loosing money.
• Bootstrapping encourages sustainability. Simply, any business must make money in order to survive, even if it is only enough to cover expenses and make it worth the entrepreneur's time and effort. Getting a bunch of money from a bank or an investor that has nothing to do with the product you create just complicates things.

Here are some other important resources on bootstrapping (Happy reading):

"The art of bootstrapping" Guy Kawasaki

"Bootstrapping your business" Greg Gianforte

"Tips for bootstrapping your startup" Charlie Burkett

"The Bootstrapper's Bible" Seth Godin (free download)