re: Tell me about starting your own business

good advice

I have learned that if I live, eat, drink it.... I can make money. But here is what I learned.:

- Take as little as needed in pay to build up funds.

- Always work to establish credit. Even if it's secured. Better credit gives you room for growth. An example here is my wife's business. She needs more floor space. Soon, she will find land and build what she needs. That's hard to do without credit.

- Just because you have credit, does not mean go into debt just because.

- always look for viable ways to cut costs. Example in travel. Stay at cheaper places instead of the best most expensive place. If you fly, have a card that gives you miles so that you save money. Find a card that gives cash back to pay bills with, but be disciplined enough to pay that off every week.

- Never allow yourself to think that your scope has to be narrow. What I mean by that is don;t rely on one aspect to generate income. Under this thought, think investments. Your hardest working employee will always be your dollar. Buy steady stocks and learn how to trade/invest. Back to my Wife's and I'll throw in my Sister's business. They both have investments that generates income. My sister has dividends coming in weekly. That pays her loans if she has a bad month. My wife... Same thing plus the business owns a rental in a tourist area.

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Charge everything you can to it, as much of your AP as you can

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I'll add to watch out for vendors that charge a CC processing fee. A lot of my vendors charge 3% to use a credit card. They didn't used to a few years ago, but things have changed. I use a Cap One Spark as my main business card, and it's 2% cash back. I wore that out when I initially got it, but I saw my usage go down nearly 80% when most of my suppliers started charging fees.

OP, I know this is an older thread, but find a good banker, not a good bank. Form a genuine relationship with that person. There's the old saying about how a banker only hands you an umbrella when it's sunny, and wants it back as soon as it starts to rain. Find a banker that knows your business and trusts you and will keep the umbrella over you when it rains, because it will rain. I am so thankful for my current banker. I followed her when she went from one bank to another. I'm going to hate to see her retire in a few years. She's saved my arse a couple of times.

Email me derekleblanc80@gmail.com

I have this set up.
File for LLC with Secretary of State.
You need to get licensed with the contracting board, up to 75k residential you can get a Home Improvement License. I have this and I’m also working on an electrical license. You can do electrical and plumbing work up to 10k without licenses, BUT no insurance company will insure you. Insurances will cost you 2500 up front minimum for liability and workers comp. The state will make you get workers comp even with no employees.

Get a quickbooks account and one bank account. Use the bank account for all income and expenditures and link it to quickbooks. Don’t get stupid with write offs.

Email me if you want to discuss more. I’m focusing on more handyman work until I get my electrical license, but I used to self perform remodels and sub out a few things.

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Get a quickbooks account

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You had me until this. Use Xero over quickbooks. The QB fees are ridiculous and its UI was wrecked this latest update.

Good stuff here. Employees really are the hardest part in my opinion

Getting clients to pay is a bitch

that was awesome

DID YOU EXPENSE THE LAPDANCE?