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Companion - Free Starter Library

Small Business Starter Library

Forty practical guides for testing and building a small business.

Fifteen general guides teach the common path from opportunity to sustainable growth. Twenty-five specialized guides apply that foundation to a specific service with practical budgets, pricing, outreach, risk controls, 30-day plans, and templates. All 40 guides are complete and free.

2 sections40 guides40 availableAbout 18 hours availableFree

Choose your route

Choose a Library Route

Use the complete path when the business is unfamiliar. Use the fast-start path when you already have a customer and need only the next practical decision.

Fast-start path

Use the smallest useful set of general guides, test one paid offer, and return for deeper setup and growth guidance after demand is real.

Continue to the Companion Resource

Building Your Livelihood When AI Takes Your JobUse the 32-chapter course and 90-day action plan for the transition that surrounds the business-building work.
Section 1

General Guides: Start Here

The complete common path from opportunity selection through low-capital testing, demand validation, selling, pricing, service, finances, marketing, workflows, contracts, sustainable growth, and owner wealth. G01 through G15 are available now.

G01Available
Finding a Business Opportunity That Fits
32 min

A complete process for choosing one customer problem that fits your time, capital, skills, access, and risk tolerance.

G02Available
Starting with Low Capital
35 min

Test a service offer with minimal fixed cost and spend money only after customer evidence justifies it.

G03Available
AI Assistant Basics
38 min

Use AI for bounded drafting, research, organization, and quality support while retaining human verification.

G04Available
Validating Demand
36 min

Collect credible evidence of a recurring problem, a budget, and willingness to pay before building a full service.

G05Available
Business Setup
37 min

Work through registration, banking, tax, insurance, records, and local compliance questions in a sensible order.

G06Available
Finding Customers
36 min

Build a direct route to a narrow buyer group and create a repeatable way to start useful conversations.

G07Available
Selling Services
39 min

Run a diagnostic conversation, connect a real problem to a small offer, and ask for a decision clearly.

G08Available
Pricing Services
40 min

Set a price from customer value, delivery cost, risk, and capacity instead of guessing an hourly rate.

G09Available
Customer Service
38 min

Set expectations, handle questions and mistakes, document commitments, and turn good service into referrals.

G10Available
Small Business Finances
42 min

Separate personal and business money, track cash timing, understand margin, and reserve money for tax.

G11Available
Marketing Fundamentals
38 min

Choose a clear audience, message, proof, and distribution channel before investing in campaigns or content volume.

G12Available
One-Person AI Workflows
41 min

Design repeatable human-checked workflows that let one owner deliver reliable work without hiding the responsibility.

G13Available
Contracts and Privacy
40 min

Use practical scope, payment, confidentiality, data handling, and approval clauses with jurisdiction-specific advice.

G14Available
Sustainable Growth
39 min

Grow demand and capacity without sacrificing quality, cash resilience, personal health, or service boundaries.

G15Available
Wealth Building from a Small Business
42 min

Turn business surplus into reserves and productive assets rather than allowing every gain to become permanent overhead.

Section 2

Specialized Guides: Choose by Interest

Optional service-specific routes. Each specialized guide points back to the general guides that cover shared setup, selling, pricing, delivery, and risk material.

B01Available
Administrative Services
38 min

Build a bounded back-office service around repeatable administrative work, clear access controls, and human review.

B02Available
Bookkeeping Support
20 min

Provide document preparation and reconciliation support within clear accounting, legal, and review boundaries.

B03Available
Website Services
20 min

Build and maintain focused small-business websites around content, accessibility, conversion, and handoff.

B04Available
Social Media Services
20 min

Run a sustainable content and community workflow tied to a measurable business goal rather than posting volume.

B05Available
Local Search Visibility
20 min

Improve local business profiles, service pages, citations, reviews, and measurement without promising rankings.

B06Available
Customer Inquiries
20 min

Triage, route, draft, and quality-check inbound inquiries while protecting customer data and response standards.

B07Available
Appointment Services
20 min

Support scheduling, reminders, rescheduling, and no-show follow-up with clear human escalation rules.

B08Available
Tutoring Services
20 min

Design a lawful, ethical tutoring offer around a specific learner group, outcome, and safeguarding practice.

B09Available
Resume and Interview Services
20 min

Help candidates present truthful evidence and prepare for interviews without overstating experience.

B10Available
Translation Services
20 min

Deliver translation and localization with subject-matter review, terminology control, and defined quality checks.

B11Available
Editing Services
20 min

Offer developmental, line, copy, or proofreading work with a clearly defined level of intervention.

B12Available
Video Services
20 min

Create short-form business video through repeatable planning, production, editing, and approval checkpoints.

B13Available
Real Estate Marketing
20 min

Support property marketing and lead follow-up within advertising, fair housing, and licence boundaries.

B14Available
E-commerce Operations
20 min

Improve product data, listings, customer messages, and operational reporting for a narrow store segment.

B15Available
Lead Research
20 min

Build compliant prospect research with source verification, suppression rules, and privacy-conscious outreach support.

B16Available
Newsletter Services
20 min

Produce a consistent newsletter through editorial planning, source checks, drafting, and approval workflows.

B17Available
Research Services
20 min

Answer bounded business questions with source quality, evidence notes, uncertainty, and reproducible methods.

B18Available
Spreadsheet and Report Services
20 min

Clean data, build small models, and produce recurring reports with validation and clear ownership of assumptions.

B19Available
Workflow Automation
20 min

Map, test, document, and monitor a narrow business workflow while keeping exception handling human.

B20Available
Digital Records
20 min

Organize files and records through naming, indexing, retention, access, backup, and deletion rules.

B21Available
Senior Tech Assistance
20 min

Provide patient device and account support with consent, fraud awareness, and clear escalation boundaries.

B22Available
Property Maintenance Coordination
20 min

Coordinate requests, vendors, approvals, records, and follow-up while respecting licensing and safety limits.

B23Available
Home-Service Administration
20 min

Support quotes, scheduling, customer updates, job records, and collections for small home-service operators.

B24Available
Event Planning Support
20 min

Handle a defined slice of event operations through checklists, vendor follow-up, guest communications, and closeout.

B25Available
Experience-Based Consulting
20 min

Package hard-won operating experience into a bounded diagnostic, advice, or implementation engagement.