No Cash No Fear: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business with No Money [Paperback]

Terry Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2001

If you've got big ideas and little or no cash--congratulations!

You're just the person Terry Allen speaks to in No Cash, No Fear--a powerful guide to start-up success bursting with invaluable lessons for the aspiring or struggling entrepreneur. Allen, who has started more than 20 businesses in his long and illustrious career, reveals exactly how he did it with none or very little of his own money--and how you can, too! He gives you his foolproof strategies for obtaining cash from a variety of surprisingly accessible sources. You'll discover ways to sell your product before it even exists and how to get someone to give you $1 million to invest (and a Rolls Royce to boot)! Allen also reveals:
* The four ingredients you need to cook up a business
* Why being short of cash should never be a problem
* How to start a business with $2,000 and make $15,000 profit in the first week
* Why you don't need a business degree to be successful
* Four commandments for running a solid, profitable company


"I love this book."--Andrew Tobias, author of the million-copy bestselling classic, The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

If you’ve got big ideas and little or no cash––congratulations!

You’re just the person Terry Allen speaks to in No Cash, No Fear––a powerful guide to start-up success bursting with invaluable lessons for the aspiring or struggling entrepreneur. Allen, who has started more than 20 businesses in his long and illustrious career, reveals exactly how he did it with none or very little of his own money––and how you can, too! He gives you his foolproof strategies for obtaining cash from a variety of surprisingly accessible sources. You’ll discover ways to sell your product before it even exists and how to get someone to give you $1 million to invest (and a Rolls Royce to boot)! Allen also reveals:

• The four ingredients you need to cook up a business
• Why being short of cash should never be a problem
• How to start a business with $2,000 and make $15,000 profit in the first week
• Why you don’t need a business degree to be successful
• Four commandments for running a solid, profitable company

"I love this book."––Andrew Tobias, author of the million-copy bestselling classic, The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need

About the Author

TERRY ALLEN is a classic entrepreneur who started his first business at the age of seven and went on to start more than 20 businesses. Currently he owns New Business Resources, LLC, a start-up company that offers a variety of services to over 100,000 newly formed businesses every month. Allen is also a partner in Chicago Venture Partners, LP.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (August 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471415324
• ISBN-13: 978-0471415329
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,584,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, funny, instructive, inspiring, December 14, 2001

By 

Steven F. Freeman (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Cash No Fear: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business with No Money (Paperback)

As a professor of entrepreneurship and a periodic entrepreneur, I read a lot on the subject, and this is the most honest book on entrepreneurial life that I have come across. I like the author's mildly self-deprecating tone, the wit, the brevity, the lessons, but most of all, what seems to be unflinching honesty.

I'm not yet sure how I'll use it as a teacher, but I do find it helpful to me in my personal life. What I most appreciated is the raw story of roller-coaster ups and downs. In my experience and observation, surviving the downs is the great challenge of entrepreneurial life, and it is reassuring to see how often he was able to recover from severe setbacks.

I like the list at the end: How to turn $10 into $10 million in ten easy steps. "See how easy it can be?" he asks. Of course it wasn't easy at all; starting out, there is no travelogue or map at all. Despite Mr. Allen's intelligence, top tier education, an apparently supportive family, an early start as an entrepreneur and unceasing efforts, he was well on in years before he hit it big. Along the way he suffered two divorces, two bankruptcies, and lots of lesser failures.

In a book filled with all stripes of lessons, the most important is this unstated one: No one makes it easy for us. Life throws us a lot of curves, and some of those curves will floor us. Mr. Allen's story is of an entrepreneur who just kept getting back up, enjoyed the game, and, incidentally, hit a homer at the end.

Thanks, Terry, for a great book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lessons in the Laughter, January 9, 2002

By 

H. Irvin (Jackson, Mississippi) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Cash No Fear: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business with No Money (Paperback)

THIS BOOK IS JUST WHAT BEGINNING ENTREPRENEURS AND STUDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP NEED. THE LESSONS ARE PRICELESS. THE VOICE OF THE BOOK SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO ANYONE WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT! EXCELLENT RESOURCE. BUT DON'T LOSE THE LESSONS IN THE SOMETIMES "BELLY-ACHING" LAUGHTER HIS STORIES EVOKE!

Lurlene Irvin

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why this is the best book on making and raising money., December 6, 2001

By 

James L. Palozola (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Cash No Fear: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business with No Money (Paperback)

This is probably the best book ever written on raising money for small and medium size businesses. Here's why. Usually these books are all about the author's successes...just brag rags. Terry Allen's authentic style and approach reveal both the many victories and the many defeats along the way. He unabashidly shares his schemes and dreams in a humorous, approachable and really human way. And each chapter is filled with engaging stories which become a fabulous list of entrepreneurial dos and don'ts.

The question is how can a guy like this with a Harvard MBA and also and a also business PhD. be so practical and at the same time funny. Most PhD. business authors are stuck in their ivory towers and really never get their hands dirty with the real work of the entreprenuer. Professor Allen, on the other hand, lays seige to the ivory tower of business rules and stifling protocol, with a refreshing, innovative and practical outlook. This is a must read for anyone who wants to own their own business and have fun doing it!