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Small business startup
Posted on 10/23/24 at 10:36 am
Posted on 10/23/24 at 10:36 am
Financing secure and time available, what business would you start tomorrow if you had the choice to leave your current job?
Excluding medical practice, law practice, CPA firm
I believe in residential fencing and boat/rv storage, but it’s difficult to leave the security of corporate America
Excluding medical practice, law practice, CPA firm
I believe in residential fencing and boat/rv storage, but it’s difficult to leave the security of corporate America
13
Posted on 10/23/24 at 10:54 am to brightside878
Small commercial contractor
Kitchen/bathroom renovation contractor
Residential roofing
Kitchen/bathroom renovation contractor
Residential roofing
Posted on 10/23/24 at 11:00 am to brightside878
quote:
I believe in residential fencing and boat/rv storage, but it’s difficult to leave the security of corporate America
Why do you need to leave your current job for these?
I hate to go Dave Ramsey on people but he always makes a good point on this type of thing. You want to dip your toes in not jump in head first. You want the boat to be close enough on the dock to where you can't fall in the water when you are trying to board.
You can start a fencing gig on the weekends. You can start a boat storage place part time nights, weekends, lunch shift, etc.
Posted on 10/23/24 at 1:45 pm to baldona
Great post man.
Posted on 10/23/24 at 2:36 pm to baldona
my wife and i have contemplated this, what keeps us from leaving the security of the corporate world is the fact that we agree with dipping our toes in the water BUT don't want to sacrifice our weekends/nights with our young kids. the chapter of life we're in we really need to spend as much time with them as possible.
Posted on 10/23/24 at 3:21 pm to brightside878
Lots of money in the self storage game.
Posted on 10/23/24 at 4:08 pm to TexasTiger34
quote:
my wife and i have contemplated this, what keeps us from leaving the security of the corporate world is the fact that we agree with dipping our toes in the water BUT don't want to sacrifice our weekends/nights with our young kids. the chapter of life we're in we really need to spend as much time with them as possible.
Ha, I get it. But it doesn't have to be forever. It doesn't even have to be mid term, it can just be short term 1-2 years.
I work for myself and it eats me alive some days. I had to work Sunday for my 7th day in a row and I was up past midnight dealing with an emergency. But I also make my own schedule for the most part and pretty much never miss a school event or kids game that I want to go to.
There's never a perfect time. There's also NEVER been a time that's easier to start a part time career while working full time somewhere.
There's so much risk to just up and quitting and starting something new. You may not love it like you think, the profit margin maybe lower than expected, the demand could change out of the blue, etc. Until you are really churning with a little experience I just can't imagine ever recommending anyone completely going out on their own without knowing the risk and having some significant savings and time to put into it.
Posted on 10/24/24 at 12:08 pm to baldona
i appreciate your honesty. i've talked to a lot of SMB owners who paint nothing but a rosy picture.
Posted on 10/24/24 at 12:15 pm to brightside878
Insurance brokerage
HVAC
Home Design/Remodel
Insurance is the best biz around due to residuals.
HVAC will always be needed, but you gotta deal with hvac guys/contractors, which is incredibly frustrating.
Home Design/remodel is simple, and the mark up is incredible. Women always spending money, hgtv is like the 5th most popular channel, and the markup on floors/cabinets is btw 30-60%.
I speak on all these from experience.
HVAC
Home Design/Remodel
Insurance is the best biz around due to residuals.
HVAC will always be needed, but you gotta deal with hvac guys/contractors, which is incredibly frustrating.
Home Design/remodel is simple, and the mark up is incredible. Women always spending money, hgtv is like the 5th most popular channel, and the markup on floors/cabinets is btw 30-60%.
I speak on all these from experience.
Posted on 10/24/24 at 12:16 pm to TexasTiger34
starting a business will be 10x more work than just working somewhere. You have to do EVERYTHING. Starting a business is usually more work than what you do now. You wont get breaks you wont get time off everything depends on you being available and ready.
Once you get more established you can create more boundaries and be more "free" than a traditional job but you will always be on working on something.
Once you get more established you can create more boundaries and be more "free" than a traditional job but you will always be on working on something.
Posted on 10/24/24 at 1:42 pm to brightside878
quote:
Financing secure and time available, what business would you start tomorrow if you had the choice to leave your current job?
Mentioned a few times on here, but I'm a hobby welder. I've bought just about all of the more expensive equipment I would need to start up a welding operation. It is sorta my backup plan for if things go south at some point in my current company. I'd like to build metal buildings, carports, pipe fence etc. . . But one avenue I'd like to explore most is building docks. We had gotten a quote to rebuild our dock at the lake house. The quote came in at $45,000 and I ended up rebuilding it for $6,000.
Dock building would require a barge and a mechanism for driving posts, which is much more than I'd purchase as a hobby welder, but the markup on docks is steep. Probably need 5 to 10 jobs a year to turn a reasonable living at it.
Posted on 10/25/24 at 7:39 am to WhiskeyThrottle
I’ll be honest, as a small business owner the #1 reason I tell people to go to college is so they can work with college educated employees.
One major thing to consider, is if you start a business who would you need to hire and are you capable of dealing with that type of person or growing big enough to hire someone else to deal with them.
2 of my worst employees have actually been SEC graduates and one dropped out from an SEC school. I’m not sure how the first two graduated from an SEC school to be honest, their intelligence and lack of motivation at their age is somewhat mind boggling. But, given that dealing with people that live paycheck to paycheck with whatever job currently will hire them and all of their life drama from divorces, to self induced health issues, money problems, etc is a major chore in and of itself. Starting something like a fence company, construction, etc will be a majority of these type of people.
One major thing to consider, is if you start a business who would you need to hire and are you capable of dealing with that type of person or growing big enough to hire someone else to deal with them.
2 of my worst employees have actually been SEC graduates and one dropped out from an SEC school. I’m not sure how the first two graduated from an SEC school to be honest, their intelligence and lack of motivation at their age is somewhat mind boggling. But, given that dealing with people that live paycheck to paycheck with whatever job currently will hire them and all of their life drama from divorces, to self induced health issues, money problems, etc is a major chore in and of itself. Starting something like a fence company, construction, etc will be a majority of these type of people.
Posted on 10/25/24 at 8:03 pm to brightside878
I sound like a broken record with this but go find a construction services business that has been around for a long time but doesn’t have an exit strategy. Right now is one of the best times in history to execute this plan due to so many boomers leaving the trades.
Like others have stated it won’t be easy but you should have an idea of this if you’re heading down this path.
Be prepared for it to take time to become successful. Too many ppl looking to hurry up and make money. Take out only what u need to live and reinvest the rest for as long as you can stand it. There’s a direct correlation between delayed gratification and how much you can scale and hire others to do what you’re not good at. My partner and I went 7-8 yrs of reinvesting and it allowed us to scale up with amazing ppl. We’re finishing yr 9 now and our people can run the businesses for the most part. I think 10 yrs is a pretty good timeframe to lock into your mind for how long it’ll take to get to cruise control. That also depends on how big you want to grow and how well you’re able to delegate.
Make quick decisions, always set the tone with a sense of urgency, know how to sell and be good at attracting talent. Of course it would be best if you already have these skills but if not they’re learnable to certain extent.
Almost forgot…my attitude toward leaving a career job is you can always go back and get another one of those if this doesn’t work out. It’s not that big a deal. Sack up and make it happen. If you can’t get over this then you’re likely a massive overthinker and not meant to be running your own company.
Like others have stated it won’t be easy but you should have an idea of this if you’re heading down this path.
Be prepared for it to take time to become successful. Too many ppl looking to hurry up and make money. Take out only what u need to live and reinvest the rest for as long as you can stand it. There’s a direct correlation between delayed gratification and how much you can scale and hire others to do what you’re not good at. My partner and I went 7-8 yrs of reinvesting and it allowed us to scale up with amazing ppl. We’re finishing yr 9 now and our people can run the businesses for the most part. I think 10 yrs is a pretty good timeframe to lock into your mind for how long it’ll take to get to cruise control. That also depends on how big you want to grow and how well you’re able to delegate.
Make quick decisions, always set the tone with a sense of urgency, know how to sell and be good at attracting talent. Of course it would be best if you already have these skills but if not they’re learnable to certain extent.
Almost forgot…my attitude toward leaving a career job is you can always go back and get another one of those if this doesn’t work out. It’s not that big a deal. Sack up and make it happen. If you can’t get over this then you’re likely a massive overthinker and not meant to be running your own company.
This post was edited on 10/25/24 at 8:08 pm
Posted on 10/26/24 at 7:19 am to brightside878
quote:
Excluding medical practice, law practice, CPA firm
Well that's fricking dumb. In that case...
Marketing/consulting firm for medical, law, and CPA practices.
Posted on 10/27/24 at 9:21 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
Well that's fricking dumb. In that case...
Great input I appreciate it. Applying to medical schools (at 36 years old) as we speak
Posted on 10/28/24 at 12:26 pm to BLM
quote:
massive overthinker and not meant to be running your own company.
I needed to see this!
This post was edited on 10/28/24 at 12:27 pm
Posted on 10/28/24 at 1:03 pm to brightside878
quote:
Great input I appreciate it. Applying to medical schools (at 36 years old) as we speak
It's not dumb to do it, it's dumb the thread excluded it.
Posted on 10/28/24 at 9:13 pm to brightside878
Insurance and financial services are great right now but I’m bearish on their future. The residual/renewal income is by far the best part of it. However AI may take over some aspects, and with the uncertainty of the market I’d be scared.
Self storage, whether it be the small storage units or the larger RV/boat yards, also has the residual income, but seems to be getting pretty saturated.
My next investment I’m looking into is RV/mobile home parks.
If I was starting over I’d buy a Bobcat, dozer, and excavator and do dirt work, lot clearing, house pads, pond building, road building, etc.
Self storage, whether it be the small storage units or the larger RV/boat yards, also has the residual income, but seems to be getting pretty saturated.
My next investment I’m looking into is RV/mobile home parks.
If I was starting over I’d buy a Bobcat, dozer, and excavator and do dirt work, lot clearing, house pads, pond building, road building, etc.
Posted on 10/29/24 at 1:30 am to jfw3535
quote:
Lots of money in the self storage game.
I see these everywhere I also see car washes damn near every two blocks now.
Posted on 10/29/24 at 7:03 am to baldona
quote:
I’ll be honest, as a small business owner the #1 reason I tell people to go to college is so they can work with college educated employees.
One major thing to consider, is if you start a business who would you need to hire and are you capable of dealing with that type of person or growing big enough to hire someone else to deal with them.
You kinda hit several nails on the head with your post. I'm a software developer currently and have no intention on leaving. Work with educated people.
I've got a golf buddy that was a welder as a profession previously. He seemingly struggles financially and I wanted to help him with a welding job he got. A local course needed some light welding done. It was a one hour drive for me, and a 10 min drive for my buddy. I tried to get him to go get me pictures of what we were doing and this dude wouldn't put in 20 min of effort to save me a 2 hour round trip to the supply house which I ended up needing. I went from thinking this dude would be a good person to have on a team to thinking, oh hell no, I won't even offer to help him do another job. I told him to keep the paycheck because the course gave us a free round and it was a one hour job. He still hasn't sent them an invoice and this was done 8 months ago.
You're 100% correct, people matter. I have met guys in the trade with an awesome work ethic though, some are better at having the job laid out for them and telling them what to do, and some can think through the job with less oversight. But there's a big difference in working with educated professionals and the rough blue collar types.
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