No Time to Start a Business? Ken Chester Says You Need Just Two Hours

Ken Chester Jr., an Iowa entrepreneur, wrote the book “Two-Hour Entrepreneur: Build a Real Business in Two Hours a Week: A Step by Step System for the Idea Stuck in your Head” for people who want to start a business but are stuck on the reasons they can’t.

After more than 40 years in business, Chester began noticing a common obstacle among the small-business owners he worked with. The idea for the book came from giving the same advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. He kept running into people who wanted to build businesses while having full-time jobs, families, but other obligations were getting in the way. This book is meant to help those who want to pursue entrepreneurship without uprooting their current lives.

To help readers overcome those obstacles, Chester developed a framework centered on dedicating two hours a week to their business idea. Chester noticed that a lot of people pursuing entrepreneurship will start, then stop. They will spend a lot of time on it, then leave it alone for a while. He believes consistency matters more than throwing huge amounts of time at something. 

“Consistency trumps throwing a bunch of time at it.” 

The goal of the book is to help readers get unstuck and turn their ideas into action, eventually working toward their first paying customer. 

Chester believes getting unstuck also means confronting the doubts that can keep people from taking the first step. He calls “but” the most dangerous word in entrepreneurship, pointing to excuses such as not having enough time, money, or qualifications. 

“The most dangerous word in entrepreneurship is the word ‘but.’ For everybody that had an idea and wanted to pursue it. ‘But that’s in the way.’ ‘But I’m too busy’, ‘but I have no money’, ‘but I have no time’.”

For Chester, entrepreneurship does not have to mean completely changing your life. Instead, he hopes “Two-Hour Entrepreneur” gives people a practical way to finally act on the ideas they have been putting off. Chester is currently working on his next book, “Launch Broke, Market Smarter,” which will focus on helping entrepreneurs get started, get open and get seen.