So I started my own business ...
- Thread starter James Snover
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I have two friends who did exactly that, and both of them are back to working for someone else. One of them put everything in his own name since his business didn't have any credit and is still paying off a huge amount of debt. The other doesn't talk about it, but I'm guessing it's a similar situation.
I went into business for myself 12 years ago and quickly realized it wasn't for me. I do what I do well, but I'm not cut out for the "business" and sales side. I actually brought in a decent amount of money in the short time I was on my own, but the stress of trying to setup my next job while doing the current job, while trying to bill and collect for the last job was just too much for me.
I had my business for almost 7 years now. One thing I can say is be prepared to work your ass off, and business is never ending learning experience. When at work ask yourself all the time what can I be doing to move the business forward with my time.
Self employed 30+ years here. Make sure your spouse is up and in for this venture. If not, it won't be worth it. If they are, the shared success is beyond monetary!
PS.....a lot of good advice in here! Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
PS.....a lot of good advice in here! Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To add to this, dont ever get cocky or arrogant if you think you are doing well. My boss at the job I have been referring to was always touting how business savvy he was and how well he was running the place, but just about everyone knew we were in the hole. He thought just because we were bouncing back that and having good weekly statements that everything was good but it was far from that. The place was still in disarray and confusion which was mostly due to his poor leadership and management skills. I learned by watching him that you should always stay humble and never accept the current status of the business because it can always improve, but you should always be looking at the performances of your employees, and letting those who are busting their asses for you know you appreciate their hard work. Dont always have to give raises out but positive reinforcement and positive corrections are usually appreciated and go a long way, especially for morale.
The issue on hand is each of us are probably thinking of different types of businesses. Not every business is the same, nor runs the same. I've personally, recently seen a one man operation take on too much work and screw themselves over, thus I stand by my statement.
Business is business. It doesn't matter. There is absolutely no such thing as too much work.
I don't agree. I turn down work all the time. It depends on the type of business. I am a one man company that provides a service. Each contract lasts 6-10 weeks depending on the job.
There is. Not every job can you hire more help for. See the post just above this. That's what I'm talking about. You have to keep your word and if you take on too much work, then you couldn't meet your contract. It's that simple.
I don't think anybody was talking about taking on work outside the scope of your business function.
There are multiple ways to approach it. You can accept the work, then figure out how to deliver after the fact, or you can decline the work until you're "ready", and hope the demand is still present when you finally think you are. I'm not a business owner, but I think I'd prefer option A. I'd rather honestly explain to a customer why I'm going to be late, or can't deliver, than not have that customer in the first place.
Who said the work I turned down was outside my scope of business? It wasn't. My schedule was so full that I couldn't take on anymore without killing myself with extreme overtime or pissing off the customer because I was extremely late in delivering.
I have turned down $100k worth of work in the past year. Yet I have people waiting in line and others begging me to add them in my schedule. I maintain a reputation of being one of the best in my industry and have done so for the past 13 years. Again not all businesses are the same and it is a case by case basis. Using blanket statements to cover all businesses is not wise.
Blown 89 is saying that's not a 'problem', per se.
Its a side effect of being profound at what you do, and people realizing your skillset is a cut above the others.
I would agree.
If you can turn away business and still be profitable / expand, you're in a good spot.
I'm just curious.....what's stopping you from expanding?
I'm not looking to argue with you as I can certainly see scenarios where you wouldn't be interested in doing so. I'm just curious. I'm also wondering what it is you do.
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Scenario C plays out that you take on too much work, expand and diversify, and still meet your contracts. You are in control of dictating the terms of that contract so if you set the terms with unrealistic expectations it's your fault, not the work load's fault.
I had an RFQ come in last week with repeat orders every 2-4 weeks containing volumes that we normally don't do in 6 months. The contract I drafted set the timeline my company needed to accommodate the increased production costs, training, and manufacturing times. I am in control of that timeline and if it doesn't meet my customer's needs then there isn't much I can do but I'm not about to say no to someone wanting to give me money because I'm scared of growing. You cannot let outside people/customers run your business and production schedule.
You implied it was outside your scope by saying "it depends on the work". Maybe I misinterpreted, but that's how it sounded to me. My apologies if I got it wrong.
Umm....good for you? Are you suggesting someone that would choose to take on additional risk can't maintain the same quality reputation?
I wasn't using blanket statements. I outlined two approaches, which doesn't suggest there aren't more.
You strike me as very risk intolerant, despite the fact you own your own business. You also seem to approach things in a very binary fashion. There's room between taking on NO more customers, and taking on ALL the customers that approach you.
What I do is very complex but in a nutshell I design and draw plans for multi-story storage buildings all over the country. I can provide everything a developer needs such as, stamped structural permit plans, shop drawings, erection plans, bill of materials lists. I work for many facility owners directly and for a couple of general contractors. I actually dropped out of college my junior year to pursue this career. It started as a drafting job during college to have some spending money. Got the lead on the job from the good ole Alabama Dept Of Labor believe it or not. Was just tired of flipping hamburgers and thought I would put my math skills to use.
I don't expand because I don't want to manage a team of people for a 20% return. That's about how much money I would net off their production after paying their salaries & expenses. I've managed a team for years before at my last place of employment and it's a lot of babysitting and headaches and not worth that 20%. I'll put it this way. I already make over 5 times the national median household income average. I am a very driven person so in the past year I have joined a partnership and we develop storage facilities. Now I am a minority owner in every facility I do for that customer.
I do believe you misunderstood what I was saying. Go back and look at what got me into this conversation in post #48. "Business is business. It doesn't matter. There is absolutely no such thing as too much work." That is the blanket statement that got me into the discussion. Then you quoted me. Read it from there and maybe it will make more sense to you. My conversation about this starts at post #48 including what I quoted.
I totally agree there is a happy middle ground between too much and not enough work. I didn't get to where I am without taking risks and pushing myself. You are correct that my natural thought processes are binary.
I've seen that hurt a lot of peoples reputations. Clients don't care what excuse you have for being late or not being able to deliver. They perceive it as made up bs. In today's google, yelp, and facebook review world, it isn't hard for unhappy clients to hurt your business.
I saw a guy hit a homerun in the world series one time.
Guess that means I can tell people how to hit a home run
there is NEVER "too much business"
a smart business man will NEVER turn down a new client or opportunity. If that means hiring more people than so be it. As I said earlier, you only have 2 types of customers: clients you don't have, and clients you've already lost. You are an idiot if you think you are going to keep all of your customers. You MUST obtain new clients, no matter what type of business you have. Me personally, I've seen many stay, and many go. But we are ALWAYS looking for new customers. Every. Single. Day.
a smart business man will NEVER turn down a new client or opportunity. If that means hiring more people than so be it. As I said earlier, you only have 2 types of customers: clients you don't have, and clients you've already lost. You are an idiot if you think you are going to keep all of your customers. You MUST obtain new clients, no matter what type of business you have. Me personally, I've seen many stay, and many go. But we are ALWAYS looking for new customers. Every. Single. Day.
you are ASSUMING only 20% return. How do you know your business won't double, or even triple profit ? If the demand if there, you respond accordingly. Simply denying more business is ridiculous .... the same goes for a business decline, in which case you would lay off workers.
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