Book Review: The Bootstrapping Book
The Secrets To Working and Making a Living in Spain by Nick Snelling & Graham Hunt. 
Reviewing any book is not easy task, but when an ebook is 353 pages long you do wonder whether it’s going to be a marathon. I always thought that the best thing about ebooks was that they were easy to read and generally ‘short and sweet’.
And easy to read? Well there are some imaginative stock images on most pages, and sadly some are in the background so the text so it is not always easy to read.
The 1st Section, all about the reality and legality has some basic and fundamental information, with some good references but I think I would have liked a little bit more – perhaps some actual case histories? This is the only bit that really refers to Spain.
The 2nd Section, in particular “New Opportunities” is all about setting up a new business and the skills, knowledge and experience you need – and this could be from anywhere in the world. Social media, blogging, copy writing etc all great ideas but not essential for living in abroad, or in Spain particularly. Yes, the internet gives us all the chance to capture clients and customers from anywhere, and making a living at it is a challenge where ever you are. Having said this, there are some excellent reminders and tips about how to set up a business, website etc and how to research so full marks for this.
Section 2 then goes on to explore the “Conventional Work”. This is more like it. OK, I speak some Spanish, I’ve got my home now I want to work. What could I do? Yes, teaching English is a possibility, letting property a consideration and being a problem solver something to think about.
The Appendix and Useful Resources are just that. Very useful, however I would have liked the Terms & Definitions split into Spanish words/vocabulary and the technical jargon.
As a by… and if the ebook is a real marketing tool, I would suggest that all the links should open in a new window. So frustrating when you click through and lose your original page. [Could be included as a tip too in the ebook]
As a social media and internet marketing book, this tome has some excellent information and reminders of how and where money is to be made and how you could make a reasonable living from an online business. But as for doing it in Spain, I think you could be anywhere.
If you are thinking about uncovering the secret about moving to Spain and making a painless transition, I would suggest Nick’s website and other book as well as checking out Graham’s website for more information.
Lynn
http://assessment4potential.tel/
The Bootstrappers guide to working and making living in Spain can be found here
About Lynn TulipLynn Tulip is a career management and HR professional running her own HR consultancy. Her passion is working with individuals, helping them rekindle their work passion. Read the newly published Get That Job, the art of successful job hunting.. Apart from loving food and fitness, she enjoys her ever growing family. Find her online or follow her @LynnTulip and @A4P_HR
View all posts by Lynn Tulip →
12 Responses to Book Review: The Bootstrapping Book
All that jazz – All in A Day
Review of: Cousin Alice Jazz Music by Cousin Alice: Elaine Sturgess Reviewed by: Elaine Sturgess Rating: 5 On January 21, 2012 Last modified: January 30, 2012 Summary: What makes Alice so distinctive is her wonderfully smokey voice, a quality that furniture designer William Yeoward found so arresting at a concert she was performing for the [...]
The smallest ebook I have is 59 pages, the longest is 570.
I think it’s the info that’s in them that makes it worth their money, not the fact that because they are ebooks they must be short and sweet
It has some excellent info on setting up an online business, as you say you could actually use the info to set it up anywhere
Pingback: Tweets that mention Book Review: The Bootstrapping Book | Birds on the Blog -- Topsy.com
Hi Lynn, I am also writing a review for Blokes on the Blog, I think you will find there are several case studies in the book from letting agents to language tutors. I was also worried it’s too long to read, but an ebook like this is also a reference guide as well as a how to book.
I agree there are some great references, and yes, some case histories – I just thought I was reviewing a book more about the Spanish influence. I think some of the information and ideas are universal. And if I was wanting to live and move to Spain, then this would not necessarily be one of the first books I would look at.
You might want to try the book by Nick called “Move Safely to Spain”. That covers everything about moving to Spain so try that as a first point of contact, we didn’t want to repeat it. This is aimed at those already here an those thinking of coming here but not knowing what they are going to do, and yes, it is rather Universal which is what we were hoping for.
Twitter: grahunt
Thanks for the review and comments. I have just actually finished off the final draft tonight.
I have a question Lynn, what programme were you reading it with because for me it does open everything in a new window. So I might need to change some stuff in there
As we are in Spain we thought we would aim it at the Spanish market but there is an expat version, an intenret only version and a Spanish language and example version coming up too
Twitter: grahunt
Hi Graham, I was using Firefox to read the book. I hope the review wasn’t too harsh. I’m however using some of the info to motivate myself on my own business!
Cool. Even if it just helps one person it will be useful. Obviously we hope it helps a lot more people.
then the magnificent preview.
The downloaded version should be read on Adobe or Preview on a Mac and therefore there won’t be the problem with things opening in the same window (We will advise people of this in the download page thx!). If you are looking at the resources I suggest opening the file in Adobe or if you have sen the light and have a Mac
Twitter: grahunt
I don’t even have to read this ebook to approve of it, Graham. It was probably your comment about seeing the light, with reference to using a Mac
The pain of a PC has gone now for me
Twitter: grahunt
Pingback: Tweets that mention Book Review: The Bootstrapping Book | Birds on the Blog -- Topsy.com
I like reading books but i’m not good at reviewing at all, thanks for your post!! my short video review of the book Bootstrapping: Weapons of Mass Reconstruction by Sramana Mitra, I mentioned that she brings up the topic of mental capital. At many points throughout the book,