An Introduction to "Bootstrapping Without Boots" (The Series)

Hello and welcome to the first podcast of the new series “Bootstrapping Without Boots: The Small Business Survival Guide”. 

I started this guide to help small businesses.  Both those that are up and running, and those that are still buried deep in the minds of future entrepreneurs.  This is a series that I wish I had when I first started my business several years ago.  A lot of what I’m going to share are “Tools of the Trade” that I’ve learned, sometimes through the “trial by fire” mode, and others through just experience and figuring out what are the best practices that work for me in my businesses.

Within the first phase of this series, I want to show how you can get what you need within the first year of your business for $365 or less.

I have a number of different podcast series, but I wanted something more “hand-on”, that can actually help people hit the ground running.  I was initially going to call this series the “Putting Myself Out of Business” series, then I realized that what I’ll talk about in this series and throughout this guide are things that only the do-it-yourselfer is gonna try.  I’m always going to have business at my company SSS for Success, because there’s always going to be people that aren’t interested in the fine details of getting things done.

In this series, I’m going to be as detailed and as transparent as possible in what I share, because I not only want to give my opinion, but give you what you need to go out and get things done by trying new things and exploring for yourself. 

Most of what I’ll talk about and show in video tutorials is going to come from real-time experiences that are happening while I’m doing them for learning purposes.  Much of what I’ll show in this series I’ve done before as a business owner, and I share it with you as sort of a “non-secret secret”.

When I was growing up, people used to say “If you want to hide something from certain people, put it in a book”.  Here, decades later, I’m surprised to see that’s still true, and it doesn’t even have to be a book.  It can be an e-book, or even something as simple as a Google search.  Part of me thinks that’s great, because it’ll mean I’ll always have a job, so I can’t knock it too much.  But this series is intended for those entrepreneurs, like me, who will go out, try new things, and see what happens.  I’m essentially putting this out there so that many entrepreneurs don’t make the same mistakes or missteps that I did, and I’m doing what I can to put good karma out into the universe.

Ok, so the first few weeks of the series will just be laying the foundation for what you need when you’re in business.  I’ll start by admitting that you’re the subject-matter expert in whatever it is you do, and I’m not going to tell you how to improve on your area of expertise.  What I am going to show you is how you can use a variety of free, and low-cost tools to improve on what it is you do, and present a more professional image with your brand as you do it.

I’m going to start by showing you how to sign up for a domain name, get a customized email account, how to get a website, what are the alternatives to a website, how to start blogging and podcasting, and much, much more.

This is going to be a learning experience for the both of us, so I encourage you to be as interactive as possible, and reach out to me in any of the ways that are available via social media outlets.  This series will definitely evolve over time, and I’m actually looking forward to that, so I want to hear from you.

So, with that in mind, I invite you to check out the YouTube videos that have already been uploaded to my Youtube Channel which can be found at YouTube.com/BootstrappingWithout

Leave comments on this blog, or send me an email at “podcasts[@]bootstrappingwithoutboots.com”.  There’s also a Twitter account where you can reach out to me in 140 characters or less, and that’s withoutboots.  Finally, you can give me a call on my Google Voice Line at 615-59-BOOTS (that’s 615-592-6687).

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist
Serial Entrepreneur: Jill of All Trades and Master of Two (Information, Technology).