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TODAY
Battletoad


Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
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Anybody a business owner?
#8147643 - 03/14/08 09:33 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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This thread is just a roll call really. I'm curious to see if there are any like minders on here. I've got some cash saved up, having been broke and just graduated from school last May, and itching to put my first real chunk of change to work with an idea or two that I have.
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ca'rouse (k-rouz) intr.v. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.
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TripityDooDaDay
Prick


Registered: 09/14/06
Posts: 2,046
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8147919 - 03/14/08 11:09 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Nope. People call me a business owner but it sure feels more like government owns me.
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wiggles
Miffed a Milf



Registered: 11/09/05
Posts: 2,615
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
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Soon... right now I'm basically just doing side/hobby work until i can get a really strong customer base together (that is the best part about having a trade skill.. i work my 9-5 job and then can do work on the side too). Plus I do some programming work. I need to get rid of my student loan debt before I try actually setting up a brick and morter shoppe - but I figure having a shop is pointless if I don't already have a customer base to pull people in with.
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  You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug, especially when its waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye. Hunter S. Thompson
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automan
blasted chipmunk


Registered: 09/18/03
Posts: 8,272
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8148665 - 03/15/08 08:26 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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i am now self employed.
downside: it's tough, you work way long hours, the government tries to take all your money
upside: it's challenging, you get to work long hours for yourself rather than someone else, you get to figure out creative ways to keep the government from taking all your money

moral of the story... it's all about perspective
-------------------- No, no, you're not thinking, you're just being logical. ~ Niels Bohr
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wiggles
Miffed a Milf



Registered: 11/09/05
Posts: 2,615
Last seen: 10 years, 5 months
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: automan]
#8148722 - 03/15/08 08:52 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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If you own a business, isn't it better to incorporate as fast as possible? I remember hearing something about corporations being able to do some funky things about the order in which they have tioo pay liabilities and then taxes? Anyone familiar? I read about it in Rich Dad, Poor Dad (yes, I know 99.9% of the book is bullshit, it just inspired me to be more creative with my financial thinking)
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  You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug, especially when its waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye. Hunter S. Thompson
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automan
blasted chipmunk


Registered: 09/18/03
Posts: 8,272
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: wiggles]
#8149805 - 03/15/08 02:40 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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My business owns less than $1000 in assets. Everything is about the amount of skill I have in terms of what I do.
I live in a state with no income tax, so i may go the LLC route before this fiscal year is over.
-------------------- No, no, you're not thinking, you're just being logical. ~ Niels Bohr
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geokills
∙∙∙∙☼ º¿° ☼∙∙∙∙


Registered: 05/08/01
Posts: 23,417
Loc: city of angels
Last seen: 3 minutes, 50 seconds
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8150065 - 03/15/08 03:57 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I've run a couple of businesses throughout my lifetime. The most recent one is an online retail outfit that was conceived in 2004 and made its first sales in 2005. I sell a durable consumer discretionary product, namely raw subwoofer drivers for the do-it-yourself home and car audio hobby market. What started with a $10,000 investment has returned over twenty five times that amount in three years - with a cumulative 35% net profit margin.
Unfortunately, the people whom I contract to produce my branded products have had to contend with huge overhead costs (particularly labor) and as a result, filed for bankruptsy at the end of 2007. Thankfully I have a standing inventory of a couple hundred products that can last me up to six months, which should give them time to emerge from bankruptsy and begin producing speakers again in the near future... nevertheless, the clock is ticking and my products are beginning to sell out, which will cost me some of the momentum I've built up in public interest and sales over the years.
You never know what kind of challenges will pop up, but it's well worth it to work for yourself.
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-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
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TODAY
Battletoad


Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: geokills]
#8153085 - 03/16/08 12:04 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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That's cool Geokills. Good for you.
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ca'rouse (k-rouz) intr.v. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.
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kadakuda
The Great"Green".......East


Registered: 05/21/04
Posts: 7,048
Loc: Asia
Last seen: 6 years, 1 month
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8156259 - 03/17/08 06:26 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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me too. i own a school, wait no...its for the children not about the money me and my wife own it together.
i have also owned a few businesses in the past, biology supplies and captive bred animals etc...all biology related.
i like working for myself, but i still take side jobs working at other places cause the money for yourself is not always stable...and the hours are for sure way LONGER....why is it worth it to me? potential to grow where in another job there is little potential.
if your motivated and not lazy, sky is the limit
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist



Registered: 04/29/06
Posts: 13,259
Loc: 與您的女朋
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8165008 - 03/19/08 12:11 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Don't go into business with your friends...Just don't...
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Fair is Fair
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kadakuda
The Great"Green".......East


Registered: 05/21/04
Posts: 7,048
Loc: Asia
Last seen: 6 years, 1 month
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: Brainiac]
#8165615 - 03/19/08 07:37 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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damn good advice! i would extend that to family too.
-------------------- The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8166872 - 03/19/08 02:17 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Definitely heed the advice to not go into business with friends or family. It rarely turns out pretty for the relationships.
Hubby and I started a successful one years back and sold it for a nice profit. I'm so proud of it. They changed some of the tours though and my store around a bit. I like ours better.
www.captainnautica.com
It was the most stressful pressurized time of our lives working 120 hr work weeks getting it off the ground the first few years. I learned a lot of what to do and not do again.
I'm slowing moving towards starting up my own home staging business now.
Ask us questions Today. There are definitely do's and don't and lots to weigh out and consider.
Definitely, get a comprehensive business plan put together first. In the course of your research, you may catch some things you'd want to catch sooner then later.
What were you thinking of starting up?
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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5150
phantom

Registered: 09/01/06
Posts: 5,437
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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did u have any bad experiences down in the VI? like the kid that got stab and murdered a couple of months ago- i think he was from back east and his mom was buying a house down there , do u still live down there?
-------------------- "the way of the warrior is the resolute acceptance of death" Miyamoto Musashi
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: 5150]
#8169886 - 03/19/08 11:25 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I left in '03. First moved there in '93. I have nothing to personally complain about, yet, I have too many stories to tell about others. Redhook and downtown are not places to be stupid after 10 P.M. that's for sure! It's like the wild west in St. Thomas. We can talk the V.I. more in P.M.s if you want. I don't want to take TODAY's post off topic.
Back to bzznzz!
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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TODAY
Battletoad


Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
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Thanks for the great responses so far. I'm not looking for advice, per say, as I think I have a pretty good idea about what I want to do and how I am going to do it. For some background info, I earned a degree in biz management almost a year ago and have been working full time for six months.
I took a job to get familiar with a business firsthand (schoolbook theory can only go so far), and to save up some cash, and now have experience in a few important important areas of business from purchasing to accounting to inventory control and customer and vendor relations. It really has been a good learning experience.
Now I'm ready to put my money to work. I have plans to start a consumer product company, specifically, selling strategically branded personal care and cleaning products. I'm designing packaging and have sourced the raw materials for my first product, which I will begin to 'manufacture' (by manufacture I mean make a few units that I will be able to start pitching to customers).
Thanks for the advice about not going into biz w/ friends or family. I really want to, but don't want money issues to sour relationships, so better to stay away from doing that.
If this idea doesn't produce results I have at least a couple more that seem worth a shot as well. I absolutely hate going to work at my current job, but I have a feeling that I'll not have a problem with work at all if I'm in biz for myself. I'm just not one of those folks that is happy punching a clock for years while building a career. 
*my MO is: 1. Build a successful company. 2. Sell to the highest bidder. 3. Chill out for a while. 4. Maybe start the whole process again.
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ca'rouse (k-rouz) intr.v. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: Anybody a business owner? [Re: TODAY]
#8174481 - 03/21/08 12:10 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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! Love the ambition and entrepreneurial spirit you have there! Hopefully you'll be an inspiration to others here too. Keep sharing with us how it's going!
If I may, I'd like to throw a few considerations out that may help and because we are on the subject of business start ups, others may be curious about what more is involved.
Have you produced marketing materials to leave with potential customers? DVD videos about the product are hot now. They may need to get marketing support materials for their customers from you called POP "Point of Purchase" displays and product brochures also. You charge for them too once they become a vendor.
Do have order forms ready to go? Do you have a policy and procedure plan, "vendor agreement contract" for ordering, returns, payment options, ( they're going to want credit) exclusivity rights or not, pricing and customer service, ect., to leave with potential customers to review?
Do you have manufacturers lined up, know what their policies are, lead times, payment requirements and what sort of volume they can handle?
Have an attorney review all of your contracts to make sure things are worded in your favor if a dispute with a vendor arises at it will sooner or later.
I'm sure you know you need to get your business license and register with the IRS for a tax ID number. You'll also want liability insurance to keep your ass covered if you haven't taken care of that yet.
Have you researched comparable products and are you prepared to answer questions about what makes yours different and better? Customers are going to ask you these questions.
Don't sell yourself short when you get to the day you want to sell it. Set it up where you can stay on as a consultant for the first year with a salary, and get royalties if you can.
Don't be afraid to ask for advice, suggestions etc. There are so many things to have to pull together and no matter how well you think you have it together, there are so many things that still come up you didn't think about because you had no way of knowing too, unless someone who cares who wants to be of help, informed you ahead of time about where the land mines and treasures are.
Like now with the home staging business I am working on. I've learned the importance of research until you are blue in the face from the last experience. I have been spending countless hours a day for a few months now, looking up message boards and blogs for stagers trying to pick up anything and everything I didn't think of that would be involved. I did pick up a few things I am grateful to know now that I wouldn't have thought of to incorporate into my plan before I launch it.
You don't want to be caught with your pants down.
Look up some sample business plans for your industry. They will help you to catch things you might have missed planning for also. There are general outlines to follow.
Working for someone in the same industry helps, yet, a lot goes on behind the scenes during the start up and later on at the upper administration levels, employees never see. It's usually the BS that makes you want to blow yours, or somebody else's brains out type stuff too.
It's a whole other game when the buck stops with you.
Preparation is a major key to success. The market moves fast out there and it's cut throat. Customers can be demanding because of the competition they have to choose from.
Employees that look great on resumes can be incompetent shit heads on the job.
You have to be fast to the punch and consistent with your delivery, product/service with back up plans for everything.
One final word I want to get out on the subject. If new start ups fail, it's usually for this reason alone- They didn't have enough start up and working captitol. What ever you think you are going to need to get started and stay afloat in the beginning, double that number. Whatever you think your initial sales are going to be in the first year, even if you think your projections were conservative, cut it in half.
Oddly business's can fail not because they don't have enough demand for their product service, but because they don't have the working capital to meet that demand, and then grow stale and become yesterdays news if they can't deliver. Ya have to be able to strike while the iron is hot.
That almost happened to us and we had to take on working partners to raise more capital. It saved and doubled the business overnight, yet later became one the main reasons we wanted out. They turned into shit heads after they became vested working partners and dumped the double work load created unto us. Had we had the working capital we knew we should've, we could've hired the extra help needed for less and fired them more easily if they sucked, and it would have been so much easier and less stressful.
Another common error is being stubborn with your ideals. Listen to what your customers are asking for and be willing to flex and bend on your original product/service if you have to, to meet a higher market demand to stay in the game.
If you make it, you will have faced the best and worst of yourself in the process.
To quotes we lived by that got us through the tough times.
Failure is not not an option.
Where there is a will there is a way.
I wish you the best.
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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TODAY
Battletoad


Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
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Thanks for the advice. There's some good stuff in there for sure.
I don't have contracts, order forms, invoices, etc. Not currently. These can be easilly made with M. Word or Excel (and I can 'borrow' a template from my current work) will be worked out before I begin selling.
When I do begin selling I will have thoroughly worked out my pitch, which outlines the benefits of my product in direct and concise language.
On the subject of working capital, I'm planning on testing the market by selling to smaller internet companies before I approach the brick and mortar supermarkets. This will allow me to manufacture the goods in-house (its really a very simple product with very simple packaging) and not get super invested in production. It will allow me to start slow, learn a few things, and then give me room to ramp up if necessary.
Also, I'm planning on whipping up a few batches of my product without getting the proper licenses. "Fake it till you make it." is going to be a major theme early on in this venture.
Thanks for the good words Jiggy. I hope your biz goes well too.
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ca'rouse (k-rouz) intr.v. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.
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