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Started By
Message
Business owners, tell the tale of your early days and when you found success
Posted on 1/23/24 at 9:11 am
Posted on 1/23/24 at 9:11 am
Would love to hear how you started, if you had doubts, when you found footing, and anything you'd change.
12
Posted on 1/23/24 at 9:45 am to Thundercles
I opened an insurance agency in April 2016 with a closet of an office, a printer, two chairs, and a desk. Hustled. Went to chamber events. Prayed. Door knocked. Worked as a bartender on nights and weekends for three years. Was up at night, constantly worried. Around the three year mark, hit my stride. Hired several people. Won a couple of awards. Survived a hurricane where my agency had over 700 claims with myself and two others as only full time employees. Only had two ppl hire lawyers due to claims going sideways. Continued to grow agency. Opened up a construction business and an hvac business based on capital and name from insurance agency.
Recently sold agency for multiple 7 figures.
Working on growing other businesses and not being on call 24/7 at agency.
Recently sold agency for multiple 7 figures.
Working on growing other businesses and not being on call 24/7 at agency.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 10:06 am to Thundercles
quote:
if you had doubts
There should always be concerns, doubts are strictly related to profitability and knowing your business.
I did what many do and my business was at the time my 3rd job. I worked a 9-5, then I worked a night job, then I ran my business on the weekends and off hours. I eventually quite the night job, and when I had enough work and profit I quite my day job.
I'm not a huge Dave Ramsey believer but he has a saying to never step off the dock into the boat until the boat is close enough to dock that you won't fall in.
Most small business's fail due to lack of capital, lack of understanding how to make a profit, or owner's abuse of their profit/ capital.
If you operate conservatively and understand how to make a profit, there really shouldn't be a lot of concern. The best thing is just to be patient. Trying to get rich quick or not put in the work gets a lot of people.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 12:43 pm to Thundercles
quote:
Would love to hear how you started, if you had doubts, when you found footing, and anything you'd change
In 2016 I decided to open a small boutique winery in Tampa, Florida focused on Mead/honey wine.
I used some crowdfunding money as well as effectively wiping out my retirement savings to open the business. No loans, no partners. Legitimately bootstrapping it.
I was scared shitless. We would be the first of its kind in the entire State. And at the time, there was roughly 100 Meaderies in entire United States. Most of which weren’t making much money.
Through a mix of happenstance, luck or good timing it worked out. We arrived right around the time the craft beverage wave was cresting and made a considerable amount of money in those first few years.
I don’t think anybody has a global pandemic in their business plan, but things have certainly changed since the pandemic. Peoples attitudes towards craft beverages have changed. Young people don’t drink like older generations. Inflation has impacted people’s spending habits.
In addition, there are now upwards of 1000 Meaderies licensed in the United States. In fact, I now have six just in my home county.
Needless to say, the competitive landscape has changed, and our earnings have declined every year since 2020.
We have decided that we will be walking away from the business later this year. Trying to find a buyer has been challenging.
It’s difficult, knowing that the operation is still profitable; but, that I could be earning more with a lot less risk by returning to the workforce.
I’m not mad at it. I have loved the job immensely and it made my family millionaires.
Lessons you can learn from me.
First, being among the first entrants in an emerging space can really pay off. There are people out there who are equally or more talented than me and they made a fraction of the amount of money we did. They showed up two or more years too late.
Secondly, if you are doing something new that is generating a considerable amount of money you will be copied and fast. At least a dozen of our original crowdfunding donors have gone on to open their own winery. Many copying our concepts.
Third; if your business is tied to a very specific location do everything in your power to own the physical real estate. Our landlord has refused to sell the building to us. It’s a huge part of our reasoning for exiting.
Finally, very few small businesses make it five years. The data shows that more than half fail before they reach their second anniversary. There’s a time to get in and also a time to get out. Both of them can slip you by. We were offered a few million dollars in 2019 for our business. In retrospect, I probably should have taken it. Things are always clear when viewed in the rearview mirror.
Entrepreneurship has simultaneously been the most rewarding and terrifying experience of my life. You learn a lot about yourself and people when it’s all on the line. I have a huge respect for those willing to open a business.
This post was edited on 1/23/24 at 8:40 pm
Posted on 1/23/24 at 1:49 pm to wiltznucs
I don’t know if the character limit or time will permit me to really go deep, so I’ll keep it coarse.
Mine is a little unique in that I took over the family business as the third generation owner. I actually never had any intentions of getting into the business, and ran from it for a while. I was successful in another field and worked my way up that ladder, but as I explain to people, family businesses have a sort of gravity around them, and if you get too close it’ll suck you right in.
The gravity caught me at a fortuitous time. I came back right before my father had some pretty serious health issues. Like the day before. After 50 years of being a service company, we had diversified into manufacturing and distribution for our industry. That was all getting going as soon as my dad had to bow out for a bit. At the time, I was scared shitless. I had no idea what I was doing and I was thrown into the fire. I knew the service side of the business from growing up in it, but the manufacturing side was a whole different beast. If you want to talk about doubt, then yeah, I had it by the truckload.
It honestly took a few years to get things stabilized and profitable again. Not gonna lie, it got financially hairy there for a bit. Living on a hope and a prayer that a check will come in so you can make payroll at the end of the week will take years off of your life. This is where a very good relationship with our banker (note: not bank. An actual banker.) saved us. We had worked with her for many years, and she knew what we were trying to achieve with our new manufacturing business. She had the belief in us to keep her bosses off our back in the hard times and helped us finance some tough situations. Most bankers won’t give you an umbrella when it’s raining, but our banker built us a house. I will forever be grateful to her.
To get through what we did, I had to sign my life over to the bank. It is what it is, and I’d do it again, but unless you’ve had to sign a personal guarantee and put your family’s house on the line to ensure you make payroll, then you’ll never understand that pressure.
Another big thing that helped me was joining an organization of other entrepreneurs. I joined EO, but there are others just like it. I learned from those people and applied their experiences to my own company. It also gave me an outlet to confidently share things with others. I could not have turned this place around without the help I received from my now very close friends from that organization.
I could go on and on and on. I’ll pump the brakes for now as I have other things to do, but I’d be happy to answer any questions. I’m fairly transparent about my failures and successes, and there have been many of both.
Mine is a little unique in that I took over the family business as the third generation owner. I actually never had any intentions of getting into the business, and ran from it for a while. I was successful in another field and worked my way up that ladder, but as I explain to people, family businesses have a sort of gravity around them, and if you get too close it’ll suck you right in.
The gravity caught me at a fortuitous time. I came back right before my father had some pretty serious health issues. Like the day before. After 50 years of being a service company, we had diversified into manufacturing and distribution for our industry. That was all getting going as soon as my dad had to bow out for a bit. At the time, I was scared shitless. I had no idea what I was doing and I was thrown into the fire. I knew the service side of the business from growing up in it, but the manufacturing side was a whole different beast. If you want to talk about doubt, then yeah, I had it by the truckload.
It honestly took a few years to get things stabilized and profitable again. Not gonna lie, it got financially hairy there for a bit. Living on a hope and a prayer that a check will come in so you can make payroll at the end of the week will take years off of your life. This is where a very good relationship with our banker (note: not bank. An actual banker.) saved us. We had worked with her for many years, and she knew what we were trying to achieve with our new manufacturing business. She had the belief in us to keep her bosses off our back in the hard times and helped us finance some tough situations. Most bankers won’t give you an umbrella when it’s raining, but our banker built us a house. I will forever be grateful to her.
To get through what we did, I had to sign my life over to the bank. It is what it is, and I’d do it again, but unless you’ve had to sign a personal guarantee and put your family’s house on the line to ensure you make payroll, then you’ll never understand that pressure.
Another big thing that helped me was joining an organization of other entrepreneurs. I joined EO, but there are others just like it. I learned from those people and applied their experiences to my own company. It also gave me an outlet to confidently share things with others. I could not have turned this place around without the help I received from my now very close friends from that organization.
I could go on and on and on. I’ll pump the brakes for now as I have other things to do, but I’d be happy to answer any questions. I’m fairly transparent about my failures and successes, and there have been many of both.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 1:59 pm to Thundercles
Running a couple business has allowed me to become a multi millionaire by 35. It's extremely stressful and time consuming, but great if you want to be your own boss.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 3:51 pm to Thundercles
Looking forward to this thread.
I have a buddy that decided to go out on his own as a plumber. He paid all this money for marketing and ad campaigns and waited. Didn't get a call for 2 months, was depressed. Then suddenly his phone started blowing up. Does really well now.
I have a buddy that decided to go out on his own as a plumber. He paid all this money for marketing and ad campaigns and waited. Didn't get a call for 2 months, was depressed. Then suddenly his phone started blowing up. Does really well now.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 4:00 pm to Carson123987
quote:
have a buddy that decided to go out on his own as a plumber. He paid all this money for marketing and ad campaigns and waited. Didn't get a call for 2 months, was depressed. Then suddenly his phone started blowing up. Does really well now.
Did you get high and watch the Mario Bros cartoon again?
Posted on 1/23/24 at 4:56 pm to Thundercles
quote:Same story as others here. Took risks. Set up a solid business model. Stayed focused on quality and efficiency, and alert to SWOT's. Worked my backside off. Partnered with likeminded folks. Several mergers and acquisitions later and our small group morphed to a company with ~300 employees. Then we sold.
Would love to hear how you started, if you had doubts, when you found footing, and anything you'd change.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 4:58 pm to NC_Tigah
quote:
Several mergers and acquisitions later and our small group morphed to a company with ~300 employees. Then we sold.
You rich rich.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 7:36 pm to Thundercles
Slow at first.
The golden ticket is to ANSWER THE PHONE. Consistently and quick.
I grew up pretty poor, didn't realize it at the time but it was a motivator. Never lost that blue collar work ethic.
The golden ticket is to ANSWER THE PHONE. Consistently and quick.
I grew up pretty poor, didn't realize it at the time but it was a motivator. Never lost that blue collar work ethic.
Posted on 1/23/24 at 8:11 pm to Thundercles
In the process of starting a small business. This includes purchasing real estate, construction of building, purchase of furniture, fixture, equipment. I am walking away from a lucrative JOB to get into starting my own business.
It has always been my aspiration to own my own business. I am in a professional field in a metropolitan area.
I am stressed, paying lots of money, and reaping no benefit of my endeavors as of now. I have children to provide for. It is hard to push through.
However, I trust in myself and the business I am creating. I truly believe that this is the best long term decision I can make financially.
I really hope it works out, will update you if I can lol
It has always been my aspiration to own my own business. I am in a professional field in a metropolitan area.
I am stressed, paying lots of money, and reaping no benefit of my endeavors as of now. I have children to provide for. It is hard to push through.
However, I trust in myself and the business I am creating. I truly believe that this is the best long term decision I can make financially.
I really hope it works out, will update you if I can lol
Posted on 1/24/24 at 3:04 am to Thundercles
I was working for another lawyer who was traveling the world while I worked. That didn't bother me too much because I needed the experience but he would sign up cases that I was unfamiliar with and then not respond if I ask for assistance through email or text so I finally had enough. I left and did my own thing.
I represent a lot of small businesses - a lot of construction and trade related businesses. The #1 issue I have seen for them and me personally...is simply answering the phone. Most people are either (1) good at what they do whether it be plumbing, hvac, whatever or (2) good at running a business - marketing, etc. It's more rare to find someone good at both sides.
I've seen great workers but they forget routine things like sending invoices and never collect what is owed. They have no organization and no processes. They miss calls.
These aren't for every type of business but in my opinion they apply to a lot of different industries:
(1) Answer the phone. Respond to inquiries ASAP. Spending money on marketing is a waste if you aren't there when the phone rings. They will just call the next guy.
(2) Be organized. Spend money on software, etc.
(3) Get some $$$ stashed away ASAP for slow times whether it be seasonal-related business cycles or whatever the case may be. Small business owners need more in savings that your standard dual-income W2 family. You aren't guaranteed that paycheck every Friday.
(4) Have enough money for advertising/marketing. I see businesses who don't have enough capital starting out so once things aren't going well their first response is to turtle and stop spending what little money they have. They are more worried about personal bills, naturally. At that point, it becomes a death spiral.
I represent a lot of small businesses - a lot of construction and trade related businesses. The #1 issue I have seen for them and me personally...is simply answering the phone. Most people are either (1) good at what they do whether it be plumbing, hvac, whatever or (2) good at running a business - marketing, etc. It's more rare to find someone good at both sides.
I've seen great workers but they forget routine things like sending invoices and never collect what is owed. They have no organization and no processes. They miss calls.
These aren't for every type of business but in my opinion they apply to a lot of different industries:
(1) Answer the phone. Respond to inquiries ASAP. Spending money on marketing is a waste if you aren't there when the phone rings. They will just call the next guy.
(2) Be organized. Spend money on software, etc.
(3) Get some $$$ stashed away ASAP for slow times whether it be seasonal-related business cycles or whatever the case may be. Small business owners need more in savings that your standard dual-income W2 family. You aren't guaranteed that paycheck every Friday.
(4) Have enough money for advertising/marketing. I see businesses who don't have enough capital starting out so once things aren't going well their first response is to turtle and stop spending what little money they have. They are more worried about personal bills, naturally. At that point, it becomes a death spiral.
This post was edited on 1/24/24 at 3:06 am
Posted on 1/24/24 at 6:28 am to TigerToGeaux
You've got this. 
Posted on 1/26/24 at 6:48 am to TigerToGeaux
quote:Best of luck.
I really hope it works out
Regardless of result though, I'd argue it's better to have tried, than to lament what might have been.
Posted on 1/26/24 at 9:53 am to Thundercles
Back in 2008-2010, can't remember exactly, I was a PM for a large local builder that was a breakaway from a large national builder. Had a large meeting with everybody and one of the owners stood up and said, "I need less than half of you in this room to survive as a company."
I came up with a separate business plan that we could use internally for a small but profitable subset of customers that were less effected by the market conditions. I presented it to executive management. They poo pooed it and punched holes in it and basically ignored it. In house custom design. I was self taught on design software.
It pissed me off that they wouldn't consider it so it set my mind in motion. My brother was in a similar situation at another large regional builder. He bailed out and we put that business plan in to motion. We scraped some money together and built a spec house to use as a model.
Signed our first contract on the hood of a pickup truck.
I started designing a suite of floorplans that could be modified and drawn in-house. As our plan inventory grew, we started marketing the plans, with the ability to sit down and redesign the house real time. We started clicking, slowly but surely.
We started to get a bit of traction when my brother died in an accident on his boat. Not knowing what to do, my brothers widow stepped in and helped. She is a realtor, and CPA and had always helped with sales and doing the books. It was sticky at first til we found our way.
Fast forward to today. We have had up and down times but have recently opened a division in another state. We are still small, We have since partnered with my cousin who was an Executive at another large regional builder. He's actually the President of the new division.
It is just us 3, with 2 supers and a senior consultant that works part time. We now do between 8 and 12 million a year. 80% of our contracts are presale on existing properties. There are no selling costs, or financing costs on those. They are our bread and butter.
BTW, the company that poo pooed my idea is now defunct.
I came up with a separate business plan that we could use internally for a small but profitable subset of customers that were less effected by the market conditions. I presented it to executive management. They poo pooed it and punched holes in it and basically ignored it. In house custom design. I was self taught on design software.
It pissed me off that they wouldn't consider it so it set my mind in motion. My brother was in a similar situation at another large regional builder. He bailed out and we put that business plan in to motion. We scraped some money together and built a spec house to use as a model.
Signed our first contract on the hood of a pickup truck.
I started designing a suite of floorplans that could be modified and drawn in-house. As our plan inventory grew, we started marketing the plans, with the ability to sit down and redesign the house real time. We started clicking, slowly but surely.
We started to get a bit of traction when my brother died in an accident on his boat. Not knowing what to do, my brothers widow stepped in and helped. She is a realtor, and CPA and had always helped with sales and doing the books. It was sticky at first til we found our way.
Fast forward to today. We have had up and down times but have recently opened a division in another state. We are still small, We have since partnered with my cousin who was an Executive at another large regional builder. He's actually the President of the new division.
It is just us 3, with 2 supers and a senior consultant that works part time. We now do between 8 and 12 million a year. 80% of our contracts are presale on existing properties. There are no selling costs, or financing costs on those. They are our bread and butter.
BTW, the company that poo pooed my idea is now defunct.
Posted on 1/26/24 at 10:30 am to Thundercles
We are almost 3 years into a restaurant, with no restaurant experience. Opened in the middle of covid. Recipe for disaster.
We picked the unique area close to our home, picked a high-profit item in need, and made it fast and of high quality. We started small, 1350 sf right of first refusal on the unit next to us for expansion. We did good from the start, 2 months after opening I had to decide on the expansion, and we pulled the trigger. 10 months after the grand opening we had the second grand opening with a full bar. Lots of hard work, lots of hours. Life is good right now but you never know about tomorrow, it can change in an instant.
We picked the unique area close to our home, picked a high-profit item in need, and made it fast and of high quality. We started small, 1350 sf right of first refusal on the unit next to us for expansion. We did good from the start, 2 months after opening I had to decide on the expansion, and we pulled the trigger. 10 months after the grand opening we had the second grand opening with a full bar. Lots of hard work, lots of hours. Life is good right now but you never know about tomorrow, it can change in an instant.
Posted on 1/26/24 at 6:04 pm to wickowick
quote:Congrats! Restaurants are really tough.
We are almost 3 years into a restaurant
Posted on 4/7/24 at 12:14 am to Thundercles
I started a construction subcontracting business in 2016 with a partner. We had a lot of relationships we built on the front end of our careers that helped us find early success. We cashed some retirement funds and put $10k each into an account to get it going…zero debt then and to this day we’ve self funded all growth. Never really had any doubts. We both always wanted to do it and had the attitude that if it didn’t work we could always go back out in the market to get an another good “career” job pretty easily.
We were profitable from the start. We weren’t killing it early on but we were making money and taking care of our families. We replaced our salaries within the first year or so. Our attitude has always been to scale the company to a size where we can attract great talent. This tends to create a snowball effect when you combine it with great incentives and great culture. We ended up separating that business into 2 companies and we now have roughly 120 employees between them. We now have offices in 3 cities across the southeast. All operational duties have been assumed by our management teams so we have time to work on the businesses. This is allowing for even more growth as we can focus on strategic relationships.
There have been so many things we’ve learned along the way and so many people that have been instrumental in our growth and success. You just have to rip that bandaid off and go for it. Nothing is ever going to have you 100% prepared for the journey. You need to be humble, grateful, determined, hard headed, confident, disciplined, self motivated, self aware, thick skinned, have a short memory and be a problem solver…and a lot more.
We’re about to sale those 2 companies for a large number. Along the way we started 2 other businesses in the construction realm and have plans to start/acquire more. We’ve discovered our skill set is being entrepreneurial and starting companies. I love what I do now more than anything I’ve ever done…I’ll never fully retire.
You need to be patient…do not rush the process. It’ll also be worth it in the long run to delay gratification once you start making good money. Don’t immediately let that lifestyle creep set in. Take care of your people and be creative with ways to incentivize them. Constantly be thinking about how to train your people and quickly delegate tasks so you don’t become the bottleneck. Hire the best people possible at each rung of growth. You’ll really regret those cheap or quick fix hires. They never work out and will be twice as costly as just hiring the right person the first time.
One last nugget…you can start a company and have a nice little lifestyle business. It’ll afford you the opportunity to make really good money, have a 2nd home and travel to really cool places. If you decide to grow it a little bigger than that you need to be prepared to take it all the way to scale. It’s because in between small and large is no man’s land…you’re too big to compete with the small guys and too small to compete with the really big ones. Don’t take that decision lightly. This is where poor capital allocation and under capitalization can put you out of business.
Sorry for the wall of text. I love talking about this stuff!
We were profitable from the start. We weren’t killing it early on but we were making money and taking care of our families. We replaced our salaries within the first year or so. Our attitude has always been to scale the company to a size where we can attract great talent. This tends to create a snowball effect when you combine it with great incentives and great culture. We ended up separating that business into 2 companies and we now have roughly 120 employees between them. We now have offices in 3 cities across the southeast. All operational duties have been assumed by our management teams so we have time to work on the businesses. This is allowing for even more growth as we can focus on strategic relationships.
There have been so many things we’ve learned along the way and so many people that have been instrumental in our growth and success. You just have to rip that bandaid off and go for it. Nothing is ever going to have you 100% prepared for the journey. You need to be humble, grateful, determined, hard headed, confident, disciplined, self motivated, self aware, thick skinned, have a short memory and be a problem solver…and a lot more.
We’re about to sale those 2 companies for a large number. Along the way we started 2 other businesses in the construction realm and have plans to start/acquire more. We’ve discovered our skill set is being entrepreneurial and starting companies. I love what I do now more than anything I’ve ever done…I’ll never fully retire.
You need to be patient…do not rush the process. It’ll also be worth it in the long run to delay gratification once you start making good money. Don’t immediately let that lifestyle creep set in. Take care of your people and be creative with ways to incentivize them. Constantly be thinking about how to train your people and quickly delegate tasks so you don’t become the bottleneck. Hire the best people possible at each rung of growth. You’ll really regret those cheap or quick fix hires. They never work out and will be twice as costly as just hiring the right person the first time.
One last nugget…you can start a company and have a nice little lifestyle business. It’ll afford you the opportunity to make really good money, have a 2nd home and travel to really cool places. If you decide to grow it a little bigger than that you need to be prepared to take it all the way to scale. It’s because in between small and large is no man’s land…you’re too big to compete with the small guys and too small to compete with the really big ones. Don’t take that decision lightly. This is where poor capital allocation and under capitalization can put you out of business.
Sorry for the wall of text. I love talking about this stuff!
Posted on 4/7/24 at 9:53 am to I Love Bama
quote:
I Love Bama
bro. you still doing the online training courses? is it all catered to government training now?
Did you keep any of your RE holdings or liquidate it all?
You still living in Colombia?
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