From Salary to Small Business Owner

Seriously though, set goals. Know how much money you need to make (Stuff you need to sell, deals you need to close), to achieve that salary. Set that as a daily goal. I need to sell $2,000 worth of stuff every day in order to get my $75,000 salary. Every year, adjust your goal. If you don't make your goal for the week, come in on Saturday or stay late to try and reach the goal.

I paid off all debt, including house mortgage, saved up 12 months expenses, gave myself 6 months to become profitable or I would look for a "real" job and then took the leap.

After saving a years salary, how did you go about funding your startup?

I'm assuming you had the same situation broke?

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Mr. Visa and Mr. MasterCard. (Along with a HELOC that I never had to use.)

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When my wife started her business, she got 0% credit cards and as the 0% would run out, she'd transfer it to a new 0% card- I think she only had to transfer twice or 3 times before she paid them off, which was 1-2% better than the Small Business Loan we looked at taking out.

What business sector if you don't mind me asking? That seems insane to me!

Data cabling

I appreciate the honesty about your failure. I bet you learned a lot from your experience. Learning is really about all we're entitled to do in this world if we take the opportunity to do so.

I remember living on $18K for several years when I first started. Now I hardly ever get to do what I like to do in my business, I usually just solve problems brought to me by others. I also don't work much anymore. I think I'm just as effective, and have learned to be much more efficient. I'm 47 FWIW.

Employees are always the toughest thing for me. I'm so far removed from working for someone, I need to take a moment and understand their commitment isn't my commitment before I talk to them some days.

I borrowed 100% from my bank on my signature. It was a stock purchase, so I guess they held stock as collateral, but never asked for it. I bought 25% of an ongoing business, which I worked for, and then the remainder later.

I guess really the first business I bought was an apartment building while I still worked at the above business before I bought it. I cut the realtor and banker out of that deal, and bought it on contract for deed. I lived in one unit, and rented the rest of the building.

We're a small business by any measure. I've learned to cut down the cost of legal, banking, accounting by either doing it myself, or having the job partially done before it is brought to the professional.

A couple pieces of advice. Work it like a job your first several years. Always spend less than you make. When you've had a record year, remember, it can, and likely will, turn the other way. Knowing it, and living it through a couple of cycles are different.

You'll be fine. I'm a believer that if it is what you want, you'll make it happen.

As many have posted here, just showing up is half the battle. So true about stealing second with your foot on first. Putting yourself in the line of fire is all important. I'd venture to say that where you plan to be 5 years down the road vs. where you actually wind up will be very different. Be resilient and be willing to adapt.

Leave it to Zig to simply what we often over-complicate: Prime the Pump Listen to ALL of his stuff!