Business Owners, how did you start?
 

Looking for some success, failure, advice stories from people who have started their own business. Doesn't have to be auto related. I've had this feeling of wanting to start my own business for the last 10years or so, but have never moved forward with it. I have a decent job, stable, in tech field, but I want more out of a career than what I have. Maybe getting a new job would fill that need, but I often go back to wanting to start my own business. I'd like to hear from guys/gals who started their own business. How/why did you do it? How did you pick the type, etc..... Anything you can offer would be appreciated.

self employed
 

Hope you like long hours and working weekends The first years I work 80 -100 hrs a week the most was 120 hr week, after three years I burned out. Made good money. The fouth year I went to 70-80 hrs Then found myself working for my men. I was up to 8 workers. In 2005 cut back sold off a bunch of equipment and went down to 2 men. Now starting to get back into the green. I never had to work for someone. I has been self employeed since 18, now 44. I would do it again. Keep in mind you will pay 100 percent of your medical insurance. Also the loan payments come every month.

I have 2 businesses myself. Pizza restaurants. Bought an already established one 6 years ago. Put about 150K into it after spending 500 on it. Yeah it was a gamble to try and drum up more business. Well it worked. I advertised like crazy and hired great staff.

2 years after that one I saved enough to open a second location. At the time a lot of Hollywood Video stores were closing and found one in a perfect location. I took a huge gamble and opened another restaurant in a dead economy (2009). I took what I learned from the first one and made this one better. Found all of the school accounts, sports teams, etc. A year after I opened I was able to put the competition out of business.

I work my butt off and it is stressful but its worth it. Business ownership is not for the faint of heart. It takes someone who is willing to work MANY hours and try new things constantly until you find something that works. And remember.... your customers are your paycheck. Keep them happy and you will continue to get paid.

so worth it! Check out Dan Miller at 48days.net he taught me how to transition from a job to self-employment

Did you know that 70%+ of millionares in this country are business owners? also intersting is the fact that 1/3 of them are first generation imigrants.

this is off of old stats from a book called "The Millionare Next Door"

It IS hard work and stressful, but worth it

I had a corporate job that was unfulfilling. I came home and worked nights for about a year for extra money, then one day, the boss screwed me over. He promised me health insurance for the wife and my newborn instead of a raise. That's what I asked for and he agreed. He changed his mind after my son was born. Got po'd and quit. Now I had a wife and a newborn with no job. She was working part time. I locked myself in the home office and worked my tail off drawing cars and making t-shirts to make ends meet. It all worked out thank God. We are blessed. Work smart and hard enough and you can be your own boss. :thumbsup:

By the way what type of business are you starting?

Part of my problem, I can't settle on anything....I know IT, but I don't love it, do it all day everyday...

There are different personality types and some just don't fit into the entrepeneur role. If you can't motivate yourself to get out of bed everyday and make work for yourself, it's not a smart decision. I've seen it in my business all to often. I work for myself, screw it, I'm going to the lake, bar, golfing, :D If you are doing something you don't like, it will be even worse.

Now, I am a firm believer in one door must close before another will open. If your life is dominated by your job, when do you have time to figure out a new direction?

Part of the reason why I don't think i've ever started anything. I've always had "good" jobs and hobbies (kids) keeping me busy.

Don't fall for the trap of doing what you love, or turning a hobby into your career. Many hobbies have been ruined that way.

You don't have to LOVE what you do everyday (sure, it helps) but it is far better to just like it and be DAMN good at it, or better than the competition at least.

And not every new business requires insane hours to start up and be profitable.

Think: Work smarter - not harder.

Find your niche.

Problem with IT is your competition will be Geek Squad and other computer places that most people will go to get their stuff fixed.

Before you do anything you will need a plan. A very very good plan. You will want to know the industry (of whatever your starting) VERY well. Look at your competitors. How well do they do? If the competition is making a ton of money then what can you do to take a piece of that? If the competition is not making any money and they are good at what they do then pick another industry.

I agree with Todd. What type of personality are you? Business owners need to have some serious balls and be able to manage/motivate people. If business is slow you need to be motivated to go out and find business. You will also need either a rather large amount of cash set aside to keep you going while your starting out or be able to rely on your wife or some other sort of income to pay the bills. Do not rely on the business making money right off the bat as this rarely ever happens. When you do finally start making money don't go out and splurge. Use it to pay down the business debt and save some in case you ever have a machine break, etc.

Decide what you want to do, research it endlessly, and make a plan. The SBA will need that plan if you try to get a loan through them.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...sinesses-fail/
http://www.woopidoo.com/articles/kin...ss-success.htm

I'm subbing this thread. I've been interested in starting my own business for a while, and I've done it before (wasn't a registered business), but could not keep up with it (I tried to start it while in High School, wasn't smart). Hopefully some more good advice in this thread.

I think one major key to success is keeping your overhead as low as possible especially in the beginning. Save as much as you can and spend wisely. You will certainly learn how to manage money and if you dont, get ready to shut down fast.

Sales and making the money is the easy part, especially if your a good talker or are personable (IE people like you) it's servicing the customers, dealing with problems, and sometimes losing money doing that which can be hard.

And also I'll second what others have said, lots of time, many long days and very stressful, but certainly rewarding most of the time :lol:

FYI I am in Furniture retail. Retail can be tough as you have to advertise and wait for people to come to you, outside sales are definatley geared towards aggressive salesmen. IE you can chase the work rather that waiting for customers to come to you.

I'm in a very specialized IT function, not home computers, etc... that geek squad services. Interesting blogs I will have to read them in more detail.

Sage advice once given:

Pick your 2nd favorite thing to do, and make that your career.

The number one failure of small businesses is the lack of capital to capitalize on their own success... and the usual "figures lie and liars figure" when calculating on paper how things are going to go.

Costs tend to be far higher and unanticipated - and sales lower - or margins lower than "figured". When money gets tight - then you can't "capitalize" on opportunities such as advertising etc to grow the business.

Happiness - BTW - Is making lots of money - not "loving" what you do. You'll love what you do if you're making lots of money - and you'll hate what you do if you're failing. This is a very broad statement... but trust me on this.

Generally where people fail is that they underestimate the profit and the taxes and the sales needed to fund themselves (pay wages). Look at your paycheck and see how much tax is withheld. Now add to that what your employer pays - they match your SS withholding -- and now being self employed YOU have to come up with all of that - and that of your employees (figure this cost to be 35 to 40% OVER what you're paying - in other words to make 100K - will cost the business 140K). Then if you're making a profit -- the BUSINESS has to pay taxes as well! Most people never factor this kind of overhead in - then they're robbing Peter to pay Paul... and you know what happens next.

Having said all that -- if you are HONEST with the figures -- and truly honest with what it's going to take to get started - and how long you need to go without a paycheck of any kind... and are truly willing to work for nothing and work twice as hard as you are now... then go for it.

Most small business people will tell you they work more and work for less than they used to make working for someone else -- but they wouldn't go back. So obviously there is a plus in all of this.

I owned an import business with 29 employees - a 50,000 square foot warehouse - and offices on Fifth Ave in New York City.... and I loved it. It was never simple - it was never easy - it was always a blast.

:cheers:

That's as simple and realistic as I've ever heard :thumbsup:

Accurate summary.........without the shock and awe. :D

I've never heard anyone say it like that but it seems very true.

I don't agree with that. I've met a bunch of lower income people that are happy as a pig in **** and rich people that would pull the trigger with a gun in their hand.

Celebrities are a perfect example of the latter.

My two cents worth. What ever you decide to do, go to the library and get some books on business plans and how to write them. Then, write your own. If you do not have the follow thru to write a business plan, do not get involved in starting a business. Plain and simple.

I am self employed, started three successful companies and sold 2 of them. (I still own my current company) All of them I wrote business plans for.

Darren

I'm with you on this one. I made killer money at my old corporate job - but I was miserable. Why? Because it sucked ass. Period. The work sucked slightly less then all the coworkers. But hey, I made killer money, so I should just be 'happy'. Nope.

Same thing goes with my brother. He makes good dough, but he hates his job and his redneck clients. But he's pulling good money so he should be happy, right? Not exactly.

Don't get caught up in that 'if you make $ you'll be happy myth'.

You can start your own business, but if its a suck job, its a suck job. No two ways about it. Pick something you love to do, but not your favorite hobby, because after all, the old cliches are true, money can't buy you happiness and when a hobby turns into a job, it stops being fun.

I made an appt with SCORE counselor to see what they are all about. They offer free business advice.

You get what you pay for.. lol jk. Good luck, hopefully they offer some good advice.

Do this for sure, I did this when I was thinking about buying an auto repair business and the advice I got was awesome. Talked to a really old guy who wrote a business column for the newspaper and had worked as a business broker for a long time. I know it's free but there are people there that really care about giving back and you should be able to get some great help.

SCORE hold classes walking through various different services available through the community as well walking through a business plan, etc. I went through the classes (they were free for Veterans) and got a lot out of them.

http://www.score.org/

http://vetsfastlaunch.org/

Highly recommended.

:cheers:

Did that business broker even own a business? Some car salesmen know very little about cars.

I've dealt with some business brokers before and boy oh boy....

Some race car drivers around here don't know **** about cars either but they still talk a big game. Not singling anybody out.:lol:

Hey quit following me in these threads. :_paranoid

I'll come show you how to drive that car of yours any day you want since you ask every other Tom, Dick and Harry to show and teach you how to drive it. :lol:

:lol:

Good one Todd!


Seriously -- business isn't really that hard. I'm living proof.


I owned a wholesale import business with 29 employees - and a 50,000 sq ft warehouse - and had independent representatives as road salesmen.

My motto was --- SELL IT --- SHIP IT --- GET PAID FOR IT.


It's usually just that simple -- sadly -- all manor of other stuff seems to get in the way during the day.

It's the more complicated details that trip people up. Accounting.... as in accounts payable and accounts receivable.... Answering the phones and emails.... Getting statements in the mail so they arrive prior to the end of the month (surprisingly - this small fact can really mess with your aging).

In the end -- you'll find RELATIONSHIPS to be most valuable. Relationships with bankers - accountants - customers - sales staff - and office staff. Screw this up and find yourself fighting an uphill battle.


Nothing happens until you make a sale.... once you've done that - now the work begins. Trust me -- making a sale is the hardest part. Inventory management is what will break you. Cash management is what people spend the most time on -- because they're not making enough sales - or their inventory is out of whack... Then they start jerking their customers off with slow shipping times etc. That's the death spiral.

Most people don't understand simple business terms such as INVENTORY TURN.... Or aged accounts receivable.... or OVERHEAD.

Run a business with low inventory turn - you need to have a higher markup/margin --- higher turnover you can operate on less markup/margin - but finding the balance is the hard part. Too little of one or the other... you're done.

Sales per square foot is another thing people overlook. Particularly in retail. You can have great sales - but your square footage is killing you. And you have a long term lease... Great if you don't mind working for the landlord. A start up rarely will get this equation right. How could you know? This is where experience comes into play -- and a business plan that IS NOT ridiculously overly exuberant. It's easier to go to the landlord and rent MORE space --- he'll love you then -- but try asking him to cut you back.... :D

Sometimes I think it is more important what goes on in the office then whole rest of the business. If that ain't right, Nothing will ever be right.

You're exactly right. Since I was thinking about buying a business he was the guy I talked to since he was very well versed in how to value a business i.e. assets, goodwill, blue sky, etc. I never bought the business, based mainly on his advice. The seller claimed nothing on his tax return because he ran his kids go kart gig through it. SBA guy at the bank saw that and all he said was, "we have a saying in this business, you don't get paid twice" If you already have a business or are starting one, there are people at SCORE that know about that stuff too. They will put you with the best person they have for what you are trying to do.

I would also add to the great points Greg already made that it's all about the customer, without them you have nothing. I took the customer service principles that get pounded into my head working for Lexus and applied them to an apartment property I own in a lower income part of town. I give them a decent, clean crime free place to live, fix things right away when they break, even painted it colors that I hate but they would like (primarily hispanic tenants) so it feels like home to them. The result? A full house, never have to advertise and have a list of people waiting to move in when a unit becomes available.

If you want to know what to not do, just read some of the recent complaints about several vendors lately.