Page 81 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

without a hitch, and it was as if it had been planned that way the entire
time.

In the end, the resort we were originally booked into kept half our money
despite being in breach of contract. Their attitude was if you want us, you’ll
have to come and get us. That showed us how worthless contracts can be
overseas. Our guests rallied to us and offered to pay the additional money,
but we declined and ate the loss. It wasn’t our guests’ fault, and they
shouldn’t have to pay. It was a hell of a way to start a new business—taking
a big financial hit—but it was the right thing to do. That’s the way we’ve
chosen to operate, and I believe it always pays off.

How can you follow in the footsteps of Tom Bihn, the Kinetic Koffee
Company, Kris Murray, and even the Grateful Dead?

Strategy 1: Latch on to a Popular Hobby, Passion, or Craze
Popular diet plans come and go, but a few of them stick around. The Paleo diet,
which encourages its followers to eat a lot of some things (meat and uncooked
vegetables) and very little or none of other things (grains, dairy, sugars, etc.)
looks like it’s here to stay. Like all strict diets, Paleo attracts a passionate
following in addition to a passionate group on the other side that questions its
scientific basis. Situations like these—an industry or movement with lots of
lovers and haters—always present a good business opportunity.

Enter Jason Glaspey, who had adopted the lifestyle after reading The Paleo
Diet, a popular manual for Paleo followers. Jason noticed a big difficulty with
trying to follow the diet: It was complicated. “Eat natural food and avoid grains”
sounds simple enough, but adhering to the whole diet requires a fair amount of
ongoing planning. This is another sign of a good business opportunity: when lots
of people are interested in something but have a hard time implementing it in
their daily lives.

Jason got to work creating a solution. He understood that the demographics
for hardcore Paleo followers were more male than female and tended to fall in
the age range of twenty-five to thirty-five. More important, however, Jason
noticed that people of various backgrounds were attracted to the Paleo lifestyle
but weren’t sure they could devote much of their time to planning for it. Thus the
opportunity: Provide a comprehensive resource that “gave them the fish” (no
pun intended, although Paleo followers do eat a lot of fish) by telling them