I've got some pretty amazing friends. Among them are business owners, teachers, authors, consultants and speakers.  Some of them manage to wear all of those hats simultaneously.

I first met Rich Christiansen and Ron Porter last October in Austin when they attended a class for new authors that I was helping to teach. This was a class for people who were contemplating a book and needed a plan for writing it, testing it and building a business platform around it. Rich and Ron were seated in the front row, directly in front of the podium, and they showed up with a completed manuscript. Serious over-achievers, huh?

The book was originally called "Get a Life: Build a Business, Control Your Destiny." I've still got my copy of the manuscript.

About a month later, we were teaching the same class in Salt Lake City and Rich was now a part of the faculty. See what I mean by over-achieving?

A group of us helped him brainstorm new titles over dinner and he put the finalists out to his email group for voting. The result was Bootstrap Business, A Step by Step Business Guide.

The premise of the book is genius. Rich had started 28 businesses over the course of his career. Some were flops, some mediocre and more than a handful had become million-dollar enterprises. His contention was that anyone can "bootstrap" a business with about $5,000. His friend, Ron Porter, had just been laid off from the corporate world and joined in Rich's book project with a challenge of his own: "Let's prove that we can do it." So, they both put in $2,500 and started a business. That business, Castlewave, is now a very successful SEO and PPC firm that turned over $1 million last year at a 65% margin. AND, while they built this business, they completed the book. Again, with the over-achieving.

If you are a business owner, or you want to be a business owner, or for purely economic reasons (like getting laid off) you must become a business owner, be sure to grab a copy of this book. Here's why:

Personally, I've pulled a few gems out of the book that have helped me get clarity about moving forward or not with projects, potential clients and other activity.

More importantly, I've been in conversations with people I trust and admire who have read the book and said that it is a better read, more useful and more practical than any start-up guide they've ever read, including Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start. 

Even more importantly, Rich Christiansen and I have become friends and he has given me some very sound business advice in recent months. He has also helped more than a few of my clients drastically improve their organic rankings and their PPC performance.

You can buy Bootstrap Business from the publisher, Wizard Academy Press, or buy it from Amazon, or get it autographed when you buy it from the authors at Bootstrap Business. Just be sure you read it.