Bootstrapping Freeconomics
High Value Initiatives for You and Your Business at Low and No Cost
March 28, 2009

“People talking about you is far
more effective than talking about
yourself.”
- Seth Godin

Google much?

Others do...
1/5 Employers screen candidates online
1
✤
1/10 Admissions counselors screen students prior to
✤
acceptance
1
1/5 Working College grads are expected to maintain
✤
some form of self-marketing 2
1. Careerbuilder.com & Kaplan
2. Digital Footprints, Pew Internet and American Life Project, December 2007

Personal Branding:
The process by which we market
ourselves to others.

Rembrandt

Madonna

Henry Ford

William Wrigley
Steve Martin
Milton Hershey
Paris Hilton
Barack Obama

Personal vs. Corporate Branding

Personal
Pros Cons
Easy to establish Hard to transfer
✤ ✤
Popular with creatives Reputation
✤ ✤
Sick days / vacation?
✤

Corporate
Pros Cons
Scalable We/us syndrome?
✤ ✤
Potentially transferrable Masquerade?
✤ ✤

How to develop your personal
brand.

Be Honest

Be Honest
Build your Reputation

A personal brand means that your reputation
will always be directly connected to the work
produced by and business with your name
on it. That’s something that should encourage
better business practices, not discourage
people from using their name in a business.
- Skellie, Rockstar Personal Branding

Be Honest
Build your Reputation
Pay for the Pretty Stuff

Logo
Website
Letterhead
Photography
Email Signatures
Blog
Business Cards
Attire

Be Honest
Build your Reputation
Pay for the Pretty Stuff
Avoid Brand Killers

Brand Killers
DIY’ing it
✤
Friend’s nephew took a class...
✤
Glamour shots
✤
Freebie templates
✤
Facebook/Myspace embarrassments
✤
Kiss of death: “my mother thinks I’m really good at...”
✤

yourlogomakesmebarf.com
don’t...

Be Honest
Build your Reputation
Pay for the Pretty Stuff
Avoid Brand Killers
Unique Selling Proposition

Unique Selling Proposition
The take home point; the one-paragraph point of
✤
difference made to stick in the minds of your target
market.
Defines you
✤
Sets you apart
✤
What can you do that sets you apart?

Be Honest
Build your Reputation
Pay for the Pretty Stuff
Avoid Brand Killers
Unique Selling Proposition
Become an Expert

Are you an Expert?
Blog
✤
Trade related organizations
✤
Experience
✤
Long client list
✤
Get published
✤
Teach classes / hold talks
✤

Be Honest
Build your Reputation
Pay for the Pretty Stuff
Avoid Brand Killers
Unique Selling Proposition
Become an Expert
Spread the Word

Spread the word.
Read
Mail flyers
Send emails
Comment
Hand out business cards
Share
Shake hands
Ask for referrals
Kiss babies
Attend
Contxts text CHRISTIANROSS TO 50500

High Value Initiatives for You and
Your Bootstrap Business

Bootstrap Business Initiatives
Do Market Research
✤
Prototype an Idea
✤
Boost Marketing and Sales
✤

Do Market Research
Use government data...
✤
after all, you paid for it!
Think internationally as
✤
well as domestically
Try trade associations,
✤
SIGs, think tanks, and
unions

Prototype an Idea
Build a Prototype
✤
Find a design partner for a spec
✤
prototype
Arrange sample components
✤
Leverage an existing supply chain
✤
Partner with a customer,
✤
agency or university

Boost Marketing and Sales
Make sure your message is
✤
compelling!
Understand your prospective
✤
customers and investors
Refine and practice your pitch!
✤
Leverage talented amateurs
✤

Boost Marketing and Sales
Maximize unpaid coverage
✤
Make use of free trade magazine
✤
announcements
Write a newspaper or magazine
✤
article…whether credited or not!
Become a human interest story
✤
Host or Present at an event
✤

Boost Marketing and Sales
Use guerilla tactics at a trade
✤
show or association meeting
Buy the coffee, not the floor space
✤
Distribute your literature, not your IP
✤
Ride on a partner’s coattails
✤
on product rollouts
✤
events
✤
dinners...but cautiously!
✤

Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade
SaaS
✤
Open Source / Free
✤
Social Media / RSS
✤
CMS
✤

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Common software applications that are hosted
✤
remotely and share a common code base.
Pay as you need
✤
Access from anywhere
✤
Avoid licensing / admin costs
✤
No installation necessary
✤

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Time Tracking
Project Management
Statistics
Storage
Payment Receiving
CRM
Web Analytics
Accounting Communication
Payroll / HR IT / Security

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Project Management Accounting Payroll / HR
Payspace
Basecamp Quicken Online
Xero
ActiveCollab Mint
Paycycle
SmartSheet Wesabe
Boomi Boomi
Collabtive Xero
ClockingIt SmartSheet
Communication Invoicing Time Tracking
Campfire Freshbooks Toggl
Gmail / Hotmail / Yahoo Cashboard Harvest
Google Apps SmartSheet SlimTimer
Backpack InvoiceMachine ClickTime
MailChimp
ZOHO Docs

Open Source / Free
Software that has been licensed to allow access,
✤
modification and distribution rights to the user.
While many are, not all open source project are free
✤
Free software doesn’t necessarily mean open source
✤

Open Source / Free
Linux / Apache / Mail Skype
✤ ✤
OpenOffice Paint.NET
✤ ✤
Foxit PDF VLC
✤ ✤
CutePDF AVG / Avast
✤ ✤
SyncBack 7-zip
✤ ✤
Launchy / Quicksilver Klok
✤ ✤

Social Media / RSS
Establish a presence
✤
Be transparent
✤
Establish a good mix
✤
Gently promote yourself
✤
Connect organically
✤

Warning: be wary of the danger
of confusing activity with progress

RSS - Get Productive
Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
✤
Content published in a way that is easily subscribed to
✤
Bring the web to you
✤
Feed Reader:
✤
Google Reader
✤
Yahoo
✤
NetNewsWire
✤
Bloglines
✤

Content Management Systems
Become your own webmaster
✤
Control your content
✤
Save money
✤
MoveableType
CompleteSite
SquareSpace
WordPress
ExpressionEngine
Joomla
Drupal

Resources: Government
www.gpoaccess.gov
✤
www.firstgov.gov
✤
www.science.gov
✤
http://factfinder.census.gov/
✤
www.fedstats.gov
✤
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html - Location of local Federal document
✤
libraries
http://answers.firstgov.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php - Get your
✤
FirstGov questions answered by email

Resources: Marketing, Research, and Sales Sources
www.officelive.com - Build a free web presence
✤
http://researchinfo.com/ - Free market research sources
✤
http://www.slideshare.net/ - Share a presentation
✤
http://docs.google.com - share documents
✤
http://www.pr.com/promote-your-business?
✤
gclid=CNmr5aeWjJkCFR2dnAodLlf2mg - Do it yourself PR

Resources: Marketing, Research, and Sales Sources
http://www.prweb.com/destination.php?awsrc=prweb_plainenglish_fp
✤
- More do it yourself PR
www.vyew.com , www.dimdim.com , www.yugma.com - Host a free
✤
web conference
www.salespider.com , www.leadvine.com - Network for leads
✤
http://www.vistaprint.com - Free business cards, pens (postage not
✤
included)
www.37signals.com, www.officezilla.com - Individual and group
✤
organizing and collaborating tools

Resources: Open Source Packages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
✤
List_of_open_source_software_packages
http://freeopensourcesoftware.org/index.php?
✤
title=Main_Page
www.sourceforge.net
✤
www.apache.org
✤

Resources: Alternatives to Commercial
www.osalt.com
✤
www.fosswin.com
✤

http://www.slideshare.net/christianross/mitef-bootstrapping-freeconomics
Thank you
Brad Taylor: Principal at Ausum, ausum.biz
Brad Taylor is the principal at Ausum, a technology consulting and
investment company. Brad will talk about low cost business, government and
technical resources to jumpstart your business.
Christian Ross: Managing Director, txgeeks.com
Christian Ross is a stickler for personal branding and knowing what
Google has to say about you. He works daily to stamp out ugliness in the
design world and has a pretty good understanding of all things web
related. An entrepreneur by both heart and trade, he’s always scheming
on how to build the next big thing. You can find him rambling in length:
http://christianross.net and in short: http://twitter.com/christianross