Question for those business owners here...

Bitches be payin' to ride this hog.

OP, your best bet might be to buy an existing business.

I started my business in 2002 without anything from my family. Started it with an $8000 signature loan from a credit union for cash flow. Still growing today.

I did sales for another company in this industry for 9 years up until I started my company. This is a pretty specialized niche in the packaging industry so I figured worst case scenario I would go get a job with another company. I was sick and tired of my employer’s ineptitude and was leaving one way or another.

My biggest obstacle was having to completely build a customer base almost from scratch. When I worked for the other company, I was selling to companies like Coca-Cola, French’s Mustard, McCormick, Tropicana, Bayer, Snapple, M&M’s, etc. My company is a distributorship, and companies like the ones I was selling to aren’t following a one-man-band new company. I have since grown significantly and now have a lot of big name companies as customers, but it was wild that first year. I would definitely do it all over again, but it’s a big step and definitely isn’t for everyone.

I grew up in it, never wanted to be a part of it, & went elsewhere after college. My dad had a key employee leave and asked me to help. I told him I'd pitch in but only for a couple months. I've been working with him for 25 years now. He's nearly 80 and still comes in every day. I regret nothing.

My Father and I went into business together about two years after college. He was retired and I had been working in engineering. In 2020 I got paid to "work" from home, which resulted in about 2-3 hours of real work a week for about 4 months. So we started a small commercial construction company and are still rolling 5 years later. Left my job in August of that year a few weeks after we returned to the office.

Opened my own collision repair business. Graduated from LSU in something totally unrelated. Worked in the auto insurance industry for a few years, where I worked closely with a bunch of local collision centers. Left the insurance side and worked at a large collision center in Baton Rouge for a few years. Got tired of trying to deliver cars with crappy repairs to customers, because that's what I was told I had to do. The shop I worked at didn't care about the quality of work that was done, only the quantity of work we were doing. This weighed on me heavily, because that's just not the type of person I am. So, along with my business partner, who was a body man, decided to open up our own shop. I taught my business partner everything I knew about management, estimating, and insurance. He taught me everything he knew about bodywork. That was almost 13 years ago, and we've been rocking and rolling ever since. Did absolutely everything ourselves for the first 2-3 years with no employees, except for the final paint work. Had a painter come in the evenings to do the paint work, after he got off from his other job. Worked many 12-14 hr days during that time. We now have 8 employees and pretty much handle just dealing with customers, insurance, estimates, and parts.

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Bought into an existing business after working there for several years. Best decision I ever made.

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Same here. Started working for a company that was rapidly expanding at the time I got on. Owner asked if anyone would be willing to buy a part of the business if he bought a new shop/machines and expanded. Myself and another guy (who has since moved on) put in about $15k a piece and got a small part if the shop. I have since invested more and own about 40% while the original owner is semi-retired. He brought up selling to me and another guy a couple years ago, but I just couldn't swing it when the other guy said he wasn't interested. If he gave me the same offer today, I'd jump.

I was terrified at the time. I didn't really have much after that $15k, but I pushed it in anyway. Glad I did.

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your perspective will change alot once you have people working for you. I can guarantee you that.

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that’s a fact. Once we got to 10 employees and $1MM in payroll I knew it was time for me to go

I did a while back, but he has just jumped into another business with someone else and he needs some of the money he gets to get that up and going. As soon as it starts making him some money, I'm going to ask again.

ETA: I would need to learn a lot more about the financial side of things. I have basically dealt with the customer base and purchasing/scheduling/production side of things. He will come to me every now and then and say things "hey last mother was slim. We need to pick up here or cut back here...". As far as I can tell, he has been pretty transparent with the earnings. I have access to all the books and have sat in with every new customer we have gotten since I threw in, so I don't think I'm getting screwed or anything. I've just gotten kinda bored lately and would like to see if I could just go it alone.

I own three businesses. No one in my family has ever owned a business. Couldn't find the job I wanted so I started my own. Best decision I've ever made. Financially able to retire at 36. But I also work all the time and think about the business non stop.