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Status:
"Very soon to be retired"
(set 5 hours ago)
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
45,049 posts, read 82,304,253 times
Reputation: 58681
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No. My business did really well in the 1990s, and was very good up to 2008. As the crash hit and companies started laying off workers, my business started to lose customers, and those that managed to make it stopped spending money. Now I have a good job and find that only working 40 hours, having paid vacation and other benefits is nice. There is really no recession-proof business. Most important is the need to have money to start a business and be able to get through the first 6-12 months while building it before the real profits start coming in. Most of the unemployed having trouble finding a job don't have $50,000 in the bank.
Owning a business takes discipline and a willingness to put off what you want to do for what you need to do.
If you just want a side business or a business that you can scrap by and pay your bills with, it is not hard to create or manage. Once you get a system in place with enough clientele flowing your way it is actually pretty simple, but to be real honest all you are doing is giving yourself a job. If that is your goal than it is not hard to build.
Now if your goal is to own a business with enough work and employees to really get you somewhere and eventually make it so that you are not doing the work yourself, than it takes a lot more sacrifice upfront. You have to be willing to work a ton of hours developing your knowledge in places you do not have the knowledge, you spend many hours working on developing more business accounts, working on marketing, sleepless nights going over new ideas on how to improve yourself and business. Then to top it off when you finally have enough money to pay your bills, and even have a $100 more than you absolutely need, than you get to make a decision, do you take your significant other out for dinner, go out for drinks, or are you willing to put that money into more advertising? maybe buy a little more inventory? If you are willing to put that money back into the business than you may get somewhere but it takes a ton to get there, otherwise you are just building your own job.
Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It takes uncommon staying power, dedication, and work ethic to survive in the early years. Until you start a business, you have no idea how stressful it is every day and every 2 weeks. If you haven't started a business, imagine the following scenarios:
- As the sole breadwinner, tell your wife that you will not have any income for 2 years and then when you do, you will make 1/4 as much as you used to.
- Imagine what your businesses' daily break even number is and at the end of each day, ask yourself if you did enough today. Lets say your break even number is $1000 a day. Think about how hard it is to earn $1000 from customers, services, etc.
- Imagine that every two weeks, you have to come up with (tens of) thousands of dollars to make payroll. As soon as you do it, you will have to come up with that money again in a few days.
- Imagine writing a check to attorneys and accountants for thousands of dollars from your own bank account. For most people, that's a very uncomfortable thing to do - its hard to really see the value in that. If you own a business, you do that regularly.
That said, for the right person, starting a business is the best way to maximize the risk/reward. And we haven't even talked about working 60+ hours a week yet.
Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It takes uncommon staying power, dedication, and work ethic to survive in the early years. Until you start a business, you have no idea how stressful it is every day and every 2 weeks. If you haven't started a business, imagine the following scenarios:
- As the sole breadwinner, tell your wife that you will not have any income for 2 years and then when you do, you will make 1/4 as much as you used to.
- Imagine what your businesses' daily break even number is and at the end of each day, ask yourself if you did enough today. Lets say your break even number is $1000 a day. Think about how hard it is to earn $1000 from customers, services, etc.
- Imagine that every two weeks, you have to come up with (tens of) thousands of dollars to make payroll. As soon as you do it, you will have to come up with that money again in a few days.
- Imagine writing a check to attorneys and accountants for thousands of dollars from your own bank account. For most people, that's a very uncomfortable thing to do - its hard to really see the value in that. If you own a business, you do that regularly.
That said, for the right person, starting a business is the best way to maximize the risk/reward. And we haven't even talked about working 60+ hours a week yet.
Your points are valid, however, that stuff only applies if your business is doing enough volume to require all that.
No income for 2 years? A good business should make money within a few months, unless it's a poorly designed business. Are you running a business or just doing a lot of activity to make it LOOK busy?
Gross $1000 a day? Do you REALLY need to be at that scale to get something small started?
Tens of thousands of dollars to hit payroll? That's neither good or bad, assuming you did the sensible thing and GREW to those numbers.
Are attorney and accountant fees going to tip the whole thing over? REALLY?
Didn't I read somewhere that Steve Jobs started in a garage somewhere? In his parents house? Didn't Gates and Allen start with a modification to an existing program with a handful of help? AFTER failing with thier first idea which was a traffic control program in Phoenix, Az? And didn't the Google guys run a travel agency for spring break students out of thier parents basement and end up with over a million dollars from that alone? Didn't Mark Cuban finance his early college tuition with an elaborate ponzi scheme? Sam Walton's big point of "critical mass" was when he bought his second big rig to haul goods to his stores.
Most big businessmen had pretty humble begginings. Nobody that I can think of off-hand has been an overnight success right outta the gate....
The truest statement I ever heard came from a man who was my mentor years ago. He said "You will never get rich working for someone else." He was right, I have worked side by side with multi millionaires a lot in my life, and it never made me rich. Made me a good living, but never rich.
Owning your own business is certainly not easy, but drive down any street in America and there are thousands and thousands of businesses that someone owns. That person took the gamble and put their sweat and know how into starting and operating their dream.
You might not get rich, but you will at least try and that is more than 80% of the population has the guts to do.
Don
There are plenty of rich (depends on your definition) people that work for others.
How about enjoying your work for 40+ years and not making a ton of money? I've never been unemployed. I've always been able to establish my own practice wherever i have worked. But I do prefer companies that are flat and relatively small, since it is much easier to be independent of top management decisions and these types of companies don't have bureaucratic deadwood types at the top, anyway.
some people who are very wealthy are business owners.. all business owners are not very wealthy
I have done both and owning a business is no golden ticket. I make more money at this job i have now working for a big company. Plus my taxes are A LOT easier And i can take a vacation.
Usually I tend to slam MBA programs but I think their role really should be in mentoring and helping small businesses. There are some areas probably around you that can be found here.
It might help to start out small maybe as a hobby.
There is a whole growing concept called the sharing economy. Basically the lower cost of communicating coupled with higher unemployment has led to people having assets that are just not used...well now they are. http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Mine-You.../dp/0061963542
Have a car? You can make money driving for Lyft. Have a house? Rent out a room at Airbnb. Have airtools sitting there rent them out at Zilok.
Don't forget crowdsourcing for donations and for design. Amazon Turk has been doing a bit of this for marketing and surveys for years.
I won't say that running or starting a business is easy by no means but there is more support now then ever.
Even just the internet alone and word of mouth can help. The best bagel place I know is a small chain that built up since '92. It only has five locations but they do well. The best donut place I know is the size of a bedroom downtown and they do well. Not everything has to be big and crazy.
Well, I think many people are overlooking the fact that you don't need any money or capitol to start a business. If you have a skill, you can sell it. Income might be nonexistent or very low at first, but the only investment is your time and effort. Landscaping is a good example. Heck, I ran a landscaping business in my teens just going around to neighbors asking if they needed landscaping service. My first year I was only doing 1-2 lawns a week, but as the year went on I got more and more customers, bigger projects such as gardens, deck staining, tree trimming, etc. My second year doing the job I was making $500 cash a week and only working about 20-30 hours! I stopped eventually to go off to college, but man, I could have easily expanded this into something where I could have been pulling $1000 take home a week.
Point is, if you have a skill and the effort, you can start a business for nothing. Sure you might make below minimum wage for awhile, maybe only $100 a week for the first month, but it will grow quickly if you're good at what you do. It just takes time to pick up some steam and get your name out their and your reputation known.
Location: In a city within a state where politicians come to get their PHDs in Corruption
2,908 posts, read 2,090,285 times
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Don't ever start a business out of sheer desperation. Desperation leads to poor decision making. Do start your own shop after you have mastered the craft, strategically planned every move-short and long term with an expectation to be profitable from day one. I have, and I couldn't be happier.
Best of luck.
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