Page 135 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

session in a new location … and ended up regretting it. She was tired and
decided to spend the next year “dialing back and taking stock.” (She was initially
reluctant about speaking to me for this book, but warmed up after I promised to
write about the importance of community and relationships in her work.)

To register for Squam, attendees have to mail in their payment and
information. This old-school system is one way that Elizabeth maintains a close
connection with her tribe. She also carefully assigns people to specific cottages
to ensure that newcomers are welcomed and plays Whack-A-Mole in delicately
preventing cliques from forming. Invitations to take the Squam show on the road
have arrived from the United Kingdom, Australia, and a dozen cities in North
America; she always declines.

“I’m not a businessperson,” she says. “I just do what feels right, and it keeps
getting more interesting.” Elizabeth isn’t against capitalism, but she wants to be
sure that the growth of her business happens in a way that is comfortable for her.
Midway through one of our phone calls, she likened her business model to the
Amish, talking about a time when she visited a New England farmer’s market.
Self-reliance is a core value in most Amish communities, and nearly everyone
participates in commerce one way or another. But there is very little actual
salesmanship; the molasses cookies and apple strudel sell themselves. Even for
high-ticket items, prices are nonnegotiable—take it or leave it.

Elizabeth began the workshops as a personal project that grew into a
sustainable business. “I never set out to build something more than a structured
encounter with friends,” she says. Five years later, managing Squam—and
making sure it grows in the right way—is Elizabeth’s full-time work. After the
initial success, at least eight different workshops offering similar retreats sprang
up elsewhere, many of which were founded by previous attendees who sought to
replicate the event in their own way. It didn’t matter, though—the original
Squam was the experience you just had to have for yourself.

What Is Hustling?

This chapter is all about hustling, or how to get the word out about a project.
What does hustling mean? There are a few ways to look at it, but I like the
approach in this poster by Joey Roth: