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I started Personal MBA (http://personalmba.com http://personalmba.com) a few years ago as a side project. It's now a six-figure publishing business that's growi

I started Personal MBA (http://personalmba.com http://personalmba.com) a few years ago as a side project. It's now a six-figure publishing business that's growing rapidly. Offers include trade published books, self-published books, online courses, live training, and consulting. (Recently, I've been moving to less consulting and more products.) I quit my job at a big corporation a few years ago to work on the business full-time. I don't have employees, have very low overhead, have zero consumer/business debt, and we're in the process of building a house. I choose new projects primarily based on what I find most interesting, and I have no need to chase financing to grow. My wife also runs a bootstrapped six-figure publishing business in a different market. That business was built in a lot less time, and she was able to recoup production expenses for three high-priced professional training courses that sell very well to an addressable market. We also spend a lot of time with our daughter, which is why we both chose to build bootstrapped businesses. Building a great bootstrapped business is definitely possible. Keep at it.

lupatus 14y ago
How did you go about finding a printer and distributors? Btw, love the book.
- joshkaufman 14y ago
  Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. For book projects, I work with a trade publisher or publish myself, depending on the project. If a trade publisher handles the project, they take care of printing and distribution. (One of the major benefits of trade publishers is that they'll get you shelf space / promotion at major retailers.) I generally work with trade publishers if I think the book has mass market appeal that would benefit from broad distribution. (The threshold is 20k+ copies.) If I'm self-publishing, I use Lightning Source (http://lightningsource.com/ http://lightningsource.com/). They're print-on-demand, and owned by Ingram, so you get instant distribution on Amazon and bookstore websites. Most bookstores will also list your title as "available for order" if a customer requests a copy by name. 48hrbooks.com is great for one-off workbook or other specialty orders that don't need retail distribution. If I'm self-publishing electronically, I use my own delivery system and/or Amazon Kindle Direct publishing. Lots of control if you do it yourself, and/or hire specialized contractors. Hope this helps!
  - lupatus 14y ago
    Thanks for the insight, Josh!
maguay 14y ago
And I can personally say (as someone who received a review copy ... thanks Josh!) that the Personal MBA book is great. My teenage siblings even found it interesting enough that they have told me things they learned from it. It's seriously great.

lupatus 14y ago

How did you go about finding a printer and distributors? Btw, love the book.

joshkaufman 14y ago
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. For book projects, I work with a trade publisher or publish myself, depending on the project. If a trade publisher handles the project, they take care of printing and distribution. (One of the major benefits of trade publishers is that they'll get you shelf space / promotion at major retailers.) I generally work with trade publishers if I think the book has mass market appeal that would benefit from broad distribution. (The threshold is 20k+ copies.) If I'm self-publishing, I use Lightning Source (http://lightningsource.com/ http://lightningsource.com/). They're print-on-demand, and owned by Ingram, so you get instant distribution on Amazon and bookstore websites. Most bookstores will also list your title as "available for order" if a customer requests a copy by name. 48hrbooks.com is great for one-off workbook or other specialty orders that don't need retail distribution. If I'm self-publishing electronically, I use my own delivery system and/or Amazon Kindle Direct publishing. Lots of control if you do it yourself, and/or hire specialized contractors. Hope this helps!
- lupatus 14y ago
  Thanks for the insight, Josh!

maguay 14y ago

And I can personally say (as someone who received a review copy ... thanks Josh!) that the Personal MBA book is great. My teenage siblings even found it interesting enough that they have told me things they learned from it. It's seriously great.