Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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

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!

I am a New Zealander working in Cambodia, and I picked this book up on a recent business trip to Malaysia, and started reading it on the plane coming back to Cambodia. Having read the other reviews already written, I find it interesting that there would be such a wide range of reviews. I like to read, particularly books on business etc as I am an entrepeneur. I was amazed at the open-ness and honesty shown in the authors writing, what other people have criticised, I found refreshing. I was glad that he talked not only of his successes but also his failures. So often books are written which give the reader the sense that business and/or investing is as easy as 1,2,3, however here is a very real and honest summary of one mans attempts. Does this mean that for everyone of us life will be like this, no, but it gives us more of a realistic idea of some of the struggles we may have to go through ourselves. I laughed out loud (on the plane) when reading what he did as a teenager, I anguished with him as he went through bankruptcy, but through it all I was amazed and astounded at his tenacity, his commitment. In all honesty I think I may very well have given up long before he did, and in the end he made it. And to me that was one of the lessons in the book, if you keep trying you will do it. The various ways he found to get some funds together were certainly creative. I think he adequately showed the reader that there certainly are a lot of different places from where to source funds. I have to be honest and say that I do not know if I would want to use some of the methods he did, but then up until this point in time I have not needed to.
Was it a good book, yes. Worth reading yes. Personally I think Terry probably has far more that he can teach those of us who are young entrepeneurs, simply because of the trials he has been through, than those so called very succesful business people who may never have had to struggle to see their dreams become a reality.
Thanks Terry for your honesty and being willing to share the downs as well as the ups.

I loved this book. Despite the handful of negative comments, let me tell you: they are simply wrong. The commenters seem more to judge the author, as opposed to the book itself. This book is actually quite good. I really enjoyed reading about the author's entrepreneurial adventures and how he bootstrapped himself through it all. You will learn from it, and it may give you some inspiration. This is a "real world" entrepreneur's story, unlike so much of the bloated theory you see in other books out there. I've bought thousands of 'theory' books over the years, so when I spot something like this, it's a real treat. If you love the idea of being an entrepreneur, and want to learn from someone who has done it, by all means, get this book. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it, as I did.

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!

I'm an entrepreneur myself and I work with many other entrepreneurs. Terry Allen has laid out what it's really like in a gutsy, tell-all way that you won't find told very often. Of course this isn't a paint-by-numbers book -- anyone looking for precise, reliable instructions would do better to buy a franchise or get a job with a large company that has well-defined work procedures.

I smile when I read some of the other reviews, and I'm reminded of the scene from the movie "A Few Good Men" where Jack Nicholson, when asked for "the truth," bellows with a sneer, "You can't HANDLE the truth!":)

It's hard for someone who hasn't been there to appreciate the wisdom in this book No doubt, Terry Allen is at the extreme of both failure and success, and it is not necessary to go through all he has gone through to find your place in the sun and achieve financial independence.

But be forewarned: Running your own show is, by its very nature, going out into uncharted waters, and there will be failures, frustration and obstacles to overcome. Once you are rich and famous, you certainly have the option of conveniently forgetting about these things and convicning all your admirers that the path is easy and the rewards are good.

But you're not doing anyone (other than your own ego) any favors by telling happy little lies like that. Terry Allen has done the world of emerging businesses a huge favor by showing you many of the things that can (and typically do) go wrong on the way to lasting success.

Think about it -- if most people could handle the failures that happen along with way, would 8 out of 10 start-ups go out of business, as they do now? Probably not; it's resilience and resourcefulness that you need to make it as an entrepreneur. Terry unashamedly models these two important qualities as he shows what went wrong and how he navigated his way through uncertainty until he finally hit it big.

I laughed out loud many times reading this book -- not at Terry's misfortunes, which are not laughable, but at his remarkable sense of humor. For a man with a Harvard MBA and a Doctorate in Business from the University of Virginia (and a mutltimillion-dollar net worth), Terry has kept an admirable sense of humility and what the Zen practitioners call "beginner's mind" in observing and recounting his life story as an entrepreneur.

If for no other reason than to realize there's still hope when your cash flow dribbles to a halt (temporarily), get and read this book. You'll have a great time and feel better about your own foibles. You'll discover that the only place "perfection" comes before "success" is in the dictionary. And, you'll certainly learn a lot that will help you in the day-to-day of running your own business.

I purchased this book looking for information on specific methods of financing my pre-startup with little of my own money. I read the book in it's entirety and here is what it is: A wonderful personal story of winning and losing in business. It shows that creativity can be used to overcome lack of cash, but gives few useful ideas. Like I said, it's just a nice story, not a business resource.

Wow. This guy left a wake of bankrupt investors, angry customers & employees (and all for good reason), everywhere he went!

He frequently spends money he hasn't earned and creatively parlays it until the house of cards collapses. And this happends over and over again.

Somehow, out of decades of disasters..., a business emerges that he sells for a lot of money.

What I took away from the book is that Terry has more business experiences than nearly anybody - but he still hasn't learned anything from it!

He got lucky 1 time out of 50 and wrote a book.

I finished the book still looking for the "invaluable lessons", but gave it 2 starts because it is an engaging read.

This is a book I wished that I had written myself. It is a tell-all tale documenting Terry Allen's starting and building up a number of businesses.

I have started a variety of businesses and have a lot of experiences. But Terry writes so well and none of my experiences can top Terry's. Not only does the book contain very valuable stories and specifics for an entrepreneur, it is superbly written and it reads like a novel.

Are you thinking that you want to start a business, but you don't have the money? Terry's book will inspire you. Terry's story is very instructive because he gives you the details. He draws lessons from his experiences, and the lessons are terrific.

Unlike many books of this type, Terry does not pull punches when it comes to analyzing what he did, even if on occasion he explains how it was not the brightest thing he could have done. He is not afraid of telling you everything, good bad or ugly, making the lessons here even more valuable.

You will think that "if Terry can do it, I can do it". I recommend this book to all entrepreneurs as one of the foundations of your library.