People who became entrepreneurs or small business owners, how did you do it

[Kaio]

@Mr.Nylock

I just think it’s much better to have a more or less predictable and stable job and use your extra time and energy for creative things that you are not dependent on financially. It’s much less stressful that way. That is unless you are a born entrepreneur - but very few people are really like that.

Except that very often there is no such thing as a predictable and stable job in the industry in question (the arts, for one). You’re either an entrepreneur or you don’t work in that industry.

That’s becoming even more true now, as we seem to be moving more and more towards a gig economy where those stable, predictable companies are hiring consultants and freelancers instead of employees.

@TriPolar

You don’t need to write up anything. Business plans are for investors. You sound like you may enjoy writing up a business plan, and it’s not a bad idea, but you may find that your business doesn’t resemble your plan once you get started. This really gets down to what exactly you plan to sell. I’d suggest start by trying to sell something first to scope out the terrain. Any good business planning (IMHO) should concentrate on the things you don’t know, not the readily available information.

There is value in working through a business plan for yourself, though. Being able to articulate your (for example) target market demographics, your competition, market conditions, barriers to entry, your competitive advantage, can clarify for you what skills/talents/resources you have, and which you need to work on to succeed. If you’d like to work on a business plan, check out your local small business development center. They will probably have workbooks (or better yet, classes) in addition to templates. Even if there are a few items that end up not being really useful to you, there will be many that are, and some which will be more useful than you would have thought. I’d recommend developing a written marketing plan, too.

My general advice for the OP: make sure your main line of business is something you are REALLY passionate about, otherwise trying to run a business will suck. You will have to take on roles that you really don’t care for, or really hate, in order to succeed, because someone has to do them and unless you have a nice large nest egg, or investors with money, you won’t be able to fob it off onto an employee.

[Crafter_Man]

@Sattua

Honestly his biggest source of stress now is figuring out how to keep up with demand.

This means he needs to raise the price.

[Mangosteen]

About 25 years ago I quit my long commute job and bought an existing business. It was grossing around $3000 a month. It was a type of business I knew something about.

Because the company was already operating, I was making money from day one. Business kept expanding until I was forced to hire help. There were opportunities to really grow big, but I passed on them. When companies get big, other large businesses notice you and feel threatened. A friend in the same field got pretty big and was sometimes reported for doing this or not doing that by competitors. Governments also notice you and demand that you comply with their permits, licenses, taxes, etc.

Today, I’m content to make around $100,000 for a 5 day work week. I take about 3 weeks off a year and allow my crew to take over while I’m gone.

I think starting a business from scratch would be difficult. You have to be out there working where potential customers can see you. This is why I bought an existing business.

[drachillix]

@Wesley_Clark

I admire entrepreneurs, I don’t feel like I have the balls or the brains to find a niche in the economy with unmet demand then find a way to provide goods and services to fill it. I admire people who do though.

For those who did (either as a primary job or as a secondary job) how did you get into it? Did you get training in what you eventually did for your small business from working for someone else or were you self taught? What was the best education you got to find your niche and keep things running smoothly?

I had a pile of cash from a refi on my house so I had about 18 months of my bills easily covered, plus I was married to someone who made enough to support me for a while if need be. She did not need to.

I was a pretty solid computer hobbyist for about 15 years when I decided to take it on for real. Within a year I realized, its more about sales, handholding, and bookeeping than being an epic computer guru. You can make $30-40K a year net just hooking up printers and cleaning viruses from random folks off of a small phone book ad working 4-6 hours per day… Then I got swamped and was working 12+ hours a day because I was the cheapest guy in town, broke even at about 9 months, but killed my marriage.

I am pondering opening a second business at those same low rates just dealing with home users and hiring a couple bodies to keep it moving.

when I started

To my boss, you're fired!

[Mr.Nylock]

@Kaio

Except that very often there is no such thing as a predictable and stable job in the industry in question (the arts, for one). You’re either an entrepreneur or you don’t work in that industry.

That’s becoming even more true now, as we seem to be moving more and more towards a gig economy where those stable, predictable companies are hiring consultants and freelancers instead of employees.

I agree completely. I started my business in large because I could not find any decent stable long term employment. Now that I have that, I don’t look back and wish I had a business. I’m not getting rich any time soon though.

[Banquet_Bear]

@TriPolar

You don’t need to write up anything. Business plans are for investors. You sound like you may enjoy writing up a business plan, and it’s not a bad idea, but you may find that your business doesn’t resemble your plan once you get started. This really gets down to what exactly you plan to sell. I’d suggest start by trying to sell something first to scope out the terrain. Any good business planning (IMHO) should concentrate on the things you don’t know, not the readily available information.

…I strongly disagree. Business plans are for businesses. They may help to bring in investors if you need investors. But any business would be silly to have some sort of plan in place and the ones that fail typically don’t. There does exist a rare breed of entrepreneur who can fly by the seat of their pants and always make things work: but for the rest of us taking a little bit of time to do research, make a marketing plan, forecast your cashflow and just build the building blocks before you take your idea out to the world.

Which is what I did. I’m a photographer, entering my fourth year in a very competitive market. Writing a plan helped me realize a few things and crushed some assumptions, and helped to keep me focused when things got a bit rough.