Small business owners/entrepreneurs, tell me your stories and wisdom.

[woodstock]

Don't do it all yourself or you will burn out .
At the very least use an accountant for all your billing and taxes. You keep hold of the checkbook though.
Hire good people and delegate .

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Don't do it all yourself or you will burn out .
At the very least use an accountant for all your billing and taxes. You keep hold of the checkbook though.
Hire good people and delegate .

 

[protective measures]

Started in sales after getting my G.E.D. in '87.
Started a packaging business (my first company) when I was 25.
Took it to $7 mill. in annual sales & sold it in 2000. It's now over $20 mill. in sales.

Started a real estate investment co. in 2001 & invested heavily in commercial & residential property till '07 & sold most of it precollapse.
Still own & manage a few properties. Like so many others during that period, made a ridiculous amount of income.

Bought a distressed daycare w/ 130 kids & 18 teachers in '03, turned it around and sold it for a six figure profit in '06.

Bought a distressed pizza franchise in '08, turned it around and sold it a year later for a mid five figure profit.

Have consulted for some companies to increase their business/ profitabilty and mentored some individuals to help get into business for themselves.

I was fortunate enough to learn from some older successful mentors who were kind enough to take pity on a young ignorant kid because I was willing to work hard, be respectful, & ask for their help.

Based on the other posts in this thread there is a wealth of experience on here.

Lots of excellent advice. Very impressed by the responses I read.

Mentoring is a great idea. Surround yourself with smart people as best you can & learn from them.

It's often even said that most businesses fail due to a lack of capital.
I believe that's oversimplified.
In my opinion, many companies fail because the principals, often blinded by greed or enthusiasm, don't understand the learning curve of that particular industry and lose their startup capital while figuring out what not to do.

The success I've had in a few different small companies comes partly from having the good fortune to access others who were successful in THAT particular industry & learning from their experience... what not to do as well as what to do & what pitfalls to avoid.

As I said earlier, there seems to be quite a few knowledgeable guys on here that have a considerable amount of experience to draw from.

Best of luck.

 

[brzelt]

It would sure be nice if you gave us some speckle of what or how you are thinking of proceeding instead of asking such a broad question....


Til then we are throwing chit on the wall....

 

[Bass Akwards]

Start your business out by doing something you love to do. Start out as small as possible, if you can, try not to buy a fleet of trucks, an office in Buckhead, hire a crew of 20 etc. Work from home if you can. You want to get your feet wet but not in debt, buy used stuff to get you started and do as much as you can by yourself. Yes you will have to sacrifice some cash, but if you have to wait 2- 5 years to make money, I would find something else to do.
When you take on employees, make damn sure you can afford them on top of what income you require. You have to realize that you are helping to feed their family, if they are not happy or hungry they will move on and you will have wasted all the time and money you spent training them.
Shop your competition to see where your pricing needs to be. Don't be afraid of the big boys, most of them are not making any money and loose customers often, you should come in cheaper and make more money than them because of your lower overhead. When you are big you MUST hit big numbers to win, when are small and hit big numbers, it's bad ass. One final piece of advice is, make sure you or an employee are out getting more work, I tend to be on job sites doing the labor v/s being the boss and getting more work.

 

[Zeake]

Dave Ramsey has a great book called Entreleadership. It is fantastic. Also he has a list of books to read. Read everyone of them. That will get you started. The most important thing is "Seek wisdom" and never stop seeking wisdom. For example you are seeking wisdom by starting this thread. Treasure troves of information is available for the cost of a book or three hundred books. All the most successful people read on a regular basis and I don't mean romance novels or Tom Clancey books. They read to learn. see the link below.

http://www.daveramsey.com/entreleadership

 

[jcountry]

Clark Howard has good advice:

Get a job in the line of work you are considering. Work at the lowest level you can for a while. Let someone pay you to see how it works. Lot cheaper than trying to figure out how a particular business works by trial and error.

I think that would be smart. Sure, you might get paid low wages for a while-but at least you are getting paid-instead of losing your ass trying to gain the same education.

 

[captdave77]

Get a good CPA.

 

[Zeake]

Get a good CPA.

And if he tells you to spend money in order to keep from paying taxes fire him and find a better one.

 

[strider12]

Get a good CPA.

It helps if you are already qualified.

 

[CostaRicaBound]

Over the past 28 years, I've started 6 businesses, and now working on my 7th. Lots of life lessons buried in those years, and painful ones at that. If I could impart advice, it would be to start small and be humble. There are a TON of people who are very knowledgeable about the millions of ways to work the kinks out while you see this venture through it's infancy, and into it's growing stages. Listen to them, read as much as you can, and although you don't have to use their advice, you can certainly listen to it and glean what you need to from it. Second, I would advise you to not take unneeded risks. If you find you are in a position where you think a payout will be worth taking a risk that could potentially harm you or your business, and/or your home situation, don't do it. There's a reason those warning bells are sounding. Trust your intuition, take it slow. Lastly, have your home life in order. Sit regularly with your spouse or significant other, have her on board 100%. All the stresses of opening a business pile up fast, and more times than not spill over into your personal life. Do your best to keep work at work, and be sure to not only include her in what you're doing, but also to keep what you're doing out of the home. Be present for her and your family. Believe me, if you gain the world but lose your love, man you have won nothing. And pray. A lot.

My 2 cents.