For Startups: Advice From The TrenchesFor Startups: Advice From The Trenches

Most of us have fantasized about being our own boss, making our own schedules, and setting our own rules instead of following someone else's. Many have forged ahead with that vision and started a business. But an equal number have fallen prey to the vicissitudes of life as the owner of a startup.Clate Mask and Scott Martineau, co-founders of InfusionSoft, a self-named leader in Email Marketing 2.0, think they can help. This past Tuesday, they released a book called "Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business without Going Crazy" (Wiley & Sons). In it, the authors offer strategies for getting organized, achieving a work-life balance, and cultivating "realistic optimism."

In setting the stage, Mask and Martineau cite some statistics that would prove daunting to the best of us: In the next 12 months, 600,000 new small businesses will be created. By the end of the year, half of them will have shut their doors. "Despite the recent recession -- or perhaps because of it -- there has been an epic shift in people diving into entrepreneurship," said Mask in a press release about the book. "We're in the Entrepreneurial Revolution, and like all revolutions, there will be massive casualties. We're not OK with that. It's the reason why [we] wrote 'Conquer the Chaos.'"

These are no armchair warriors. Mask and Martineau started a business themselves  InfusionSoft  and lived to tell about it. Heck, they did more than live through it; they actually succeeded, so SMB owners and those wading into "startup-hood" are sure to find a few gold nuggets of wisdom here.

Check out my blog next week for more on InfusionSoft.

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Michele Pepe-Warren was an editor and reporter for CRN and VARBusiness and has 10 years of experience covering the technology channel.