Any small business owners here?
Tell us about your experiences. What field are you in? How much are you making? What is the most difficult thing about owning a small business? What is your advice to others whj want to own their own business etc.
99% of /biz/ are wage slaves, NEETs, and trust fund kiddies.
>>1015156
Damn ;_;
I was in absorbed into a partnership to own 50% of a retail electronics and gaming store but since have left and started my own electronics/computer repair store. My best advise is stay AWAY from franchising unless you have a lot of cash to throw into it and want to be your own boss and still have to play by someone else rules.
I make shit tier wages right now because we are in our first year. Before I was making roughly 60k only working about 10 hours a week.
>>1015151
I opened a resume writing business on the side, made $400 in 2-3 months, got set up as a Sole Proprietorship, and made a website.
Then the website got 0 traffic and I said fuck it, my day job makes plenty, and moved on.
>>1015151
E-waste processing, the last step.
Basically, Scrap facility sells stuff by the pound to person X, person X sorts out the stuff worth money, sells to me, who then processes all the stuff, takes it apart or repairs it, and then sells it to the end consumer.
Sometimes I get in direct from the facility but it's hard to do and you need a boatload of capital and time to handle you know, $100,000 in shit all at once.
Uh, the most difficult part is the stress I'd say.
My advice to anyone thinking about it is DONT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB UNTIL YOU KNOW YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY DOING YOUR BUSINESS!
And if you're afraid of 70-90 hour work weeks and living on cans of beans because you have all your revenue constantly re-invested into the business, don't do it.
If you don't have a job now and are a NEET, you won't make it, so don't waste your neetbux or time.
There are lots of smart people, but hard workers are rare. So being smart won't get you anywhere because everyone and their cousin is smart. You have to be smart and hard working
Other than that, just remember to live as frugally as you can so you can pour your capital back into the business for faster growth
If you have a girlfriend leave her. You don't need the time or expense.
I invented a medical device and now run a business selling it.
It took 8 entrepreneurial attempts, half my own inventions, before I got something that sold enough to quit my day job. Even then I only cut back my regular work hours one day a week every year, as my business increased and just in case it failed.
Had to borrow a bunch of money from friends and family. They haven't always been very happy with the results... I'm not sure if the business will ever be valuable enough to sell. Still, I do ok and am my own boss.
>>1015253
Similar. I tutor a bit on the side. Customers are few and far between, not to mention kinda flaky. Sometimes I can get a desperate MBA student and charge 40/hr, or some rich frat bro who really needs to pass a class.
>>1015151
>>1015161
Don't come here if you plan on discussing anything serious. Just give some tips and move on.
Also don't go to Reddit, it's a mob mentality of KnowItAlls.
Fellow small /biz/ness man here, closing up shop soon to follow entrepreneur goal.
A month from now & I should be on Phase 1
[fake spoiler] Yes it's an app [/spoiler]
It's been Hell. Some highlights from the past few years:
>Dealing with sketchy customers
>Dealing with sketchy suppliers
>Dealing with petty bank loan officers that are mostly there to screw me out of money
>Dealing with shithead employees
>Like a dumbass I fucked my secretary when she came onto me and now I'm worried that she'll blackmail or sue me, but like a dumbass I'm still fucking her
>Big corporations trying to push me out of my own market
>I don't qualify for certain tax credits and subsidies because my business isn't a multi-million dollar business, so I actually have to use the market to turn a profit
>Companies trying to stop me from exporting their product even though they're not fucking exporting it themselves so there is no opportunity cost to them
>Customs are a bitch
>I've slowly come to hate the Chinese even though they're my biggest customers
Yep.
It's been terrible. 24 years old yuropoor here, own a small store.
I live in a third world country where average monthly salary is around $300.
Average gross income is around $2000 monthly.
Average monthly costs are about 400$ for the employee (salary plus taxes), 150$ (taxes plus pension plan for myself), and around 150$ for bills.
You have fixed expenses every couple of days, leaving you to skim off small change to cover your own expenses like food and bills. Luckily I own the building so I don't have to worry about covering rent, otherwise it would be hands down impossible.
cons
>shitty people because retail
>constant worry about not paying for shipments/supplies on time
>constant stress due to retarded employee
>I have to do my own accounting in order to save money
>literally can't take any time off or vacations because if I have the store closed for even 5 days a month I will not be able to meet the deadlines financially, this new year will be the first time in over a year and a half that I will have 3 consecutive days off
>general lack of satisfaction because you don't have a "real job", sometimes it feels like it's all make believe pretend play illusion to not be a neet because I don't have any kind of education (high school dropout)
>probably what I will do till the end of my days because literally no alternative
pros:
>flexible hours, can rotate shifts, work below average amount of hours per week
>no performance stress, nobody is watching over your shoulder, no performance reviews, no geting fired, which is honestly something I value the most, I don't dread going to work
>people see you as an independent, capable person
>work alone in my shift, once I do all the paper work and bookkeeping/bank shit, I usually have two hours or so to shitpost and fuck around online
Christ it sounds even more pathetic when I write it down.
I'm partnered up with a website that works with small businesses.If any of you guys are making under a few mil a year I'd advise you to email me at [email protected]
I can cut your costs on office supplies are really anything.Just email me and I'll save you a shit ton of money for free.
I run my own dank meme store snd bizzness is boomin
>>1016599
what is your store about? Pretty much living like you (third world country, high school dropout) but with one online store. Problem is i don't make anything beyond 300$ a month (less that the minium wage of my country)
What is your experience with all this store thing about? what would you like to improve of it even if you cant at this point? I like the idea of open a physical store but i don't really have any idea where to start or what to do.
I sell investment research services
8 permanent employees
Our 2nd year now operating (took me 1 year to set up)
3m revenues
1.2m in staff expenses + commissions
200k overheads
~ 1.35m net pa after tax
Growing customers at ~ 20% QoQ
Haven't taken a day off or gone on holiday in 3 years
Lost my girlfriend who was the love of my life (couldn't afford to give her my time and I didn't have any free cash flows)
I'm 28 and my hair is starting to go white/grey
I live on 30k pa personal expenses
I live in an office space next to my office
I don't own a car
I sleep only 4 hours a day mon - sat (sometimes 4 hours every 2 days) and on Sunday I sleep 12 - 16 hours.
I masturbate everyday atleast 3/4 times a day
I watch some really "bad" fetish porn (rape, bondage, incest role play) etc
The last time I had sex was 1.5 years ago
I have no problem picking up girls but don't have time or patience for dating and hate wasting money on hookers
One of my customers implied of I slept with her that I'd get hooked up with revenue dollars, realised to me winning the game is not as important as how you play it, she was 12 years older than me.
Best part of my job is seeing my employees do well professionally and personally, I pride myself in providing an excellent working environment (especially equal treatment and fairness to women), gender neutral working environment.
I've hired 2 friends I've known since university, unfortunately I had to fire one of them... I had to think of the wider team and how one negative person can tarnish others morale.
I try to smoke weed as much as I can to deal with the bullshit side to business, I hate having to sell, but it's one of those things you need to learn/do!
>>1016722
Basically I sell PVC/plastic products. From small things you would encounter in your average 1$ store, to garden products like flower pots of all types and sizes, garden tables/chairs, toys, plastic food containers for pizza joints, some glassware like jars and flower vases, stuff like that. Obviously geared towards housewives and women.
The reason why I chose that is because that kind of product doesn't have an expiration date, doesn't require any special licences and you can start up with fairly small investment.
Well, there is not a whole lot I can improve. I am usually fully stocked, or at least have 85% of demanded products available. People simply don't have enough money to shop for generally optional stuff like flowers shit and similar. Especially during winter, december/jan are the shittiest period, sometimes I will sit for an hour straight without anyone coming in. Plus it gets dark around 4pm during winter so people are less prone to walking around town.
I am single so I get by, sometimes less sometimes more well. If I had kids or a wife to take care off I honestly wouldn't know what to do. When it comes to underdeveloped countries, I think the best way to go at actually making some proper money and being truly sufficient is to branch into multiple small businesses. Run a small store, run a newspaper stand/kiosk of some sorts, open up a small fast food joint, that kind of stuff. Multiple low-level investments and well chosen locations that don't have too much competition. Appoint managerial positions and have minimal amount of employees. It's a lot more work because you will have to deal with two or three times as many suppliers, and each venture will net in less, but combined you will be way better off.
In the ideal situation you could just commit to balancing all acts from home, only visiting workplaces when necessary.
That's something I am leaning towards but living in a european country with 2nd smallest monthly salary really doesn't help.
>>1016599
But anon,
>2000 income
>400 goes back into business
>300 to live yourself
Are you spending all of the remaining 1300 into new wares?
>>1016723
You simply don't have enough employees. You need to hire another manager.
>>1016775
Hmm I think you misunderstood me. Total amount of cash that comes into the shop from sales averages around 2000. I have about 700 bucks of fixed expenses as I said (price of employee salary, taxes for her and me, bills at workplace). That leaves 1300 bucks for me to divide between investing into new wares and actually giving myself salary. I usually spend as little as possible because I need every available dime to go back into new products, for comparison sake in total of december I had about 250$ to spend, sometimes around 300$. Which leaves exactly 50% of total income for me to put back into new wares, which is around 1000$.
Take into account that I have about 40% markup in price from what I pay for wares. So on the average if I pay a new shipment 1000$, I can usually flip it for 1400$. Which is just not enough. I also rent a room on the side and have some other sources of income which is enough to back my main business up when shit really hits the fan but yeah, you can see what I mean.
Also you need to take into account that you don't get all the financial means to use as you see fit in a single day in the month, for an instance I need to give my employee her salary within the first five days in the month, but will you actually turn enough profit for that within those five days? That's an oversimplified notion but I hope you get what i mean. If I had those 2k at the end of the month on my bank account and I had to divide everything in advance, that would be probably a bit easier. But sadly that's not how it is when you are supposed to make ends meet.
>>1016797
Oh. Now I get it better.
Sounds like a pretty damn stressful situation, yes. Hope it gets better, you sound like a honest, hardworking guy.
>>1016723
>I'm 28 and my hair is starting to go white/grey
It's not a bad look though.
>>1016723
>Haven't taken a day off or gone on holiday in 3 years
Yep, haven't ever left the business for more than a long weekend. Apparently serfs had some things easier than freemen even back in the middle ages.
>>1016740
thank you based anon
>>1015151
>tfw want to start a business but don't have the start up capital or means of paying back a loan in the interim before the store opens
>>1015151
>Web design and marketing firm
>making less than 20 k a year (basically a side gig but some years i bring in more than that)
>Hardest thing about owning a small business is, in my opinion, making the transition from being a consumer to a service provider.
>My advice would be that you really need to love what you do
To run your business, you need to not only crave the money but the experience of generating that money, sure there are those who don't exactly enjoy what they do and still make a living out of it but I don't think I would be doing this now even with as little as it makes me if I didn't like the experience of designing.
>>1015151
Field: toys sales to fund toy manufacture
Making: not enough to quit my programming job; about $7K sales per year
Difficult:
Everything. Margins have gotten thin, customers have gotten cheap, nobody delivers on time, and everybody wants a piece of you (rent in all of its myriad forms). What's weird is what has been easy; what people interested in business seem to cry the loudest about. Keeping up with government and keeping track of numbers (through my own custom software).
Advice:
For what it's worth (possibly nothing), I would not suggest starting a business to fund another project. Just work your regular job and save the money or fill out loan applications until a bank takes pity on you. Otherwise you may find yourself under alot of debt/inventory that you have to shake off before you can even think of trying something else.
>>1015151
Is being a freelancer part of that group?
If yes: IT-security consulting, nothing to do with ethical hacking or setting up firewalls.
Usually around 250/hour. Sounds like much but unfortunately I am living in the 3rd most expensive city on this planet.
And I dont work full time as its a rather niche area.
Most diffucult thing: Acutally getting to be known. Took me a while to figure out how and when my potential clients look for someone like me, even more time until I had my elevator pitch, or rather my sales pitch, ready and polished, esp. for nontechnical people.
Advice: First get customers (more than a few) then officially start your business.
Also once you have a few clients, chances are that you will soon have more than you can ever handle. (Avalance effect, turns out people talk about you when you do a good job). Its getting to this magical threshold that can be wickedly difficult.
I own an apparel retail store, the economy is bad and most of the locals likes to go shopping on neighbouring countries. I could save a lot of money if I just take more time doing some reasearch
>>1015151
I own a small home service business. It is my first year. I'll be looking to crack $50k this year.
Most difficult thing? Number one issue is the same with any business, big or small: SALES.
It doesn't matter if you are selling lumps of gold for a dollar, if you can't get sales, you don't have shit.
My biggest tip would be to start small with a low investment business. Learn your pain there, before you invest $20k or more into something stupid. There's a dozen awesome businesses that you can start for under $1,000.
My current business took me about $2,000 to buy the materials and get going. In my first month I made $4,000.
One final tip. It's fucking all about sales. I just can't stress this enough. I hope that you get the chance to do direct sales, or b2b for a company for a year. Build up your strength and your guts there, before you test your metal on your own business.
If you can make someone else money, you can make yourself money.
GODSPEED BIZ
>>1015242
> stay away from franchising
solid advice here. Franchising is such a massive waste. Learning how a franchise works literally takes you about of month of JUST WORKING FOR THAT FUCKING FRANCHISE AND TAKING NOTES ABOUT HOW THEY DO EVERYTHING. Then just do your own thing, and don't give some shill a huge cut.
>>1016599
Brick and mortar is a fucking pain.
I love businesses that don't require a physical location.
>>1016723
HOLY FUCK.
Why don't you just sell the business and leave it all behind....
We work to live anon, not the other way around. At least that's how I see it....
>>1017812
Anon some people live to work.
Those are usually the ones that do the best and find the most success.
Virtually every leader in his field is a 'live to work'
>>1017913
Wagekuks don't understand logic mang
>>1017826
> Success
fame and fortune sure, but 90% of those people have terrible and nonexistant family lives.
for me: relationships > money
>>1017804
What is small home service? That doesn't really say anything to me. I am looking to start a business, but have no idea on what I want to do. I love doing hands on work, but I am not trained to do heavy duty shit like electrician or construction.
Master Plumber and gas fitter. Been in the field for 30+ years. Recently passed my exam. Ever since been in business for myself. So far I'm averaging ~30k per month. Haven't been in a full business for a year yet, but already am eyeing a contract for Marriott.
Best advice that I can give for people in this type of field, build a reputation for yourself as a worker, that way when you open your own business, people come to you because they already know you do shit right.
Hardest part: Waiting for that damn phone to ring sometimes.
>>1017812
I live to work now, gotta make the $$$ to get the trophy/upper class lady and send the kids to private school in 5-7 years so.... meh, I fucked around for ages too so I guess it'll even out. I get enough satisfaction that by the time I'll have kids and settle down I'll have enough financial freedom to give them more time and a good education.
Sole proprietorship here. In telecommunications. Make about 50K USD annually but that's barely cutting it. Taxes are a mother. Going to try another startup in a completely unrelated field on the side in 2016
>>1018013
>I'm averaging ~30k per month.
This plus all the college debt is why I tell 99% kids to forget college and apprentice in a trade.
>>1017939
I like to remain anonymous.
but the business is small. And I perform a service in someones home.
> laying tile
Just look around with the blue collar guys. See if you can get a job doing what they do. Work for them for 6 months. See how much money the company owner is making. Once you understand what you are doing, leave. Buy some product from distributors and start advertising for yourself.
>>1018013
>plumber making 30k $ a month
>>1018668
>master plumber
i.e. he has journeyman plumbers and apprentices under him who work for him.
Usually leads a whole business.
30k is realistic.
I own a digital publishing firm (ebooks), though so far i makey most of the money through consultant service. This year, the second in business, i made 30k€. Not a very profitable business but, usually, i love my job, and once you're used to muh freedom is very hard to go back to wageslaving
>>1016723
I would like to get into this type of work. I have two degree, one in Economics and the other in Finance. What can I do to my resume to look more appealing to people like you?
I run a small startup which I've been developing with another person for about a year now. Currently studying a double degree in Law as well as Maths and Computer Science. The other person is a software engineer.
We are developing software around the legal realm. The aim is to provide legal cases from across the entire planet for lawyers, legislation as well as the process for establishing that legislation such that legislators and for examining legislative systems as well as governments.
It functions as a massive database, which allows commentary in the forms of notes on the cases and legislation. We also want to create a standard format so lawyers, when examining these cases, can know what was presented in the court room as evidence and what was excluded.
This sort of information takes a huge amount of time for lawyers to assemble in research and we intend to make it easier for them.
>>1019255
We are developing software around the legal realm. The aim is to provide legal cases from across the entire planet for lawyers, legislation as well as the process for establishing that legislation such that legislators can understand the strengths and weaknesses of other legislation and for examining legislative systems as well as governments.
Fixed that.
>>1015331
Oh shit, about to get those superpac funds? What was your first programming language and what did you build your app with?
I have a few ideas on how to improve government infrastructure with applications too.
>>1015331
nvm im an idiot
Starting my own right now
>working on a logo
How do i into trademark? Should i trademark my logo? I see many businesses don't seem to trademark their logos
>>1019255
Proud of you anon. Keep up the good work
>>1020327
That's because trademarking your logo is the least of your concerns. If you're still in business in a few years, get a lawyer to do it for a couple hundred bucks.
>>1016955
Starting a marketing company here, want to focus on social media marketing and getting companies social media up to scratch. Any advice? The idea would be to do a sit down session with the client for an hour or so, talk about goals and shit and see how realistic they are, then spend the next however long managing the clients social media to achieve those goals and then report back and offer them either more upkeep on the media or a package where I discuss and explain to them how to manage their stuff.
Any advice? Any experience in social media?
>>1021515
I run a company that does that +web and app development along branding and design, seo etc.
Shit's not as easy as you might think, do you know about CTR, CPT, ROI, CPA and all that baby basic shit? If not you got a loooot of learning to do.
>>1016599
what country
pls respond
>>1016950
>need $200k to start up
>get loan for $250k
>use remaining $50k to make payments until you are making a profit or, more likely, file for bankruptcy
it's how everyone does it
>>1018769
consultant for what? How did you even get into it?
>>1015151
I own repossession companies. It's one company as far as I see we're incorporated in several states under different names for legal reasons.
Cash wise I keep just enough to survive (35-40K/yr) since I've been reinvesting it all for the last two years continuing to grow it.
It was really, really hard starting out. Hell basically. Everyone told me I would fail. Now it's taken on a life of it's own and I pay others to do the grunt work.
My only real advice is to let the business fund itself and operate without debt. Oh and a business partnership is like a marriage. Choose them very carefully.
>>1016723
The greying hair I can relate to - the rest not so much.
No holidays, you're not getting laid, you use substance that dulls your edge, you hate one of the most important and rewarding parts of owning a small business...
It sounds like you're a control freak that has trouble delegating responsibilities. If you're not making stuff up on the internet, you need to let go of the reigns a little. Seriously.
>>1015156
Glad I'm in the 1%. I own a 200 employee business doing 8 figures in sales annually
>>1016723
Know these feels man. It will improve on the personal life side. Company is having its 4th birthday soon.
Gray hair, started keeping little like you. Killed a great relationship over business etc.
Now better - getting engaged soon, more mentally stable. Netting more, grossing more.
We're all B2B
>>1015336
John?
>>1017807
>Learning how a franchise works literally takes you about of month of JUST WORKING FOR THAT FUCKING FRANCHISE AND TAKING NOTES ABOUT HOW THEY DO EVERYTHING. Then just do your own thing, and don't give some shill a huge cut.
dont they make you sign a contract before that? or can people literatly pretend to want to do business learn about the company then run off
Shit and I was thinking in starting a factory of cookies or snacks
the formula is the least of my troubles, i was thinking more in the machinery acquisition and deployment
>get funding from goverment
>make a expensive looking flashy packaging
>market it as a 100% national product
>try to push it on distributors instead of small groceries stores and supermarkets
anybody heard of someone starting a production business from scratch?
>>1022796
>anybody heard of someone starting a production business from scratch?
What? No, nigger. Use a connection, your own funding, or start small as fuck.
>>1017664
>tip
Sell your custom software
>>1016723
fucking reefer addict.
I am 18 and my revenue in year 2016 will go past 600k EUR (was 200k in 2015)
I import a line of "posh" food products that follow the current organic food trend.
Some of the products I import already packaged, some I package in my country (in Europe).
I am renting space in a warehouse in a logistic park, I also handle my logistics from there.
I sell my products through a large retailer chain that you most likely know if you live in Europe.
In February 2016 I am entering another country (through this retailer chain) that has more than double the stores, than the country that I currently distribute my products in - thats why I assume my sales grow to 600k
I started doing it when I was 15 through my dads company as "his" small side business, slowly broadening my range of products. Eventually, when I was around 17, the business had larger revenue than his original business and so I made my own company right when I turned 18 and 2 months after that I signed a deal with the retailer chain.
I operate with 35% clear margins, some products are a bit above that.
I got my first starting money from sale of a flat that my parents "gave" me after they divorced. I have partial investions from my business partner from Australia (from who I also import some products).
I dropped out of Uni after 3 months, I learned most of the neccessary things from the internet and by doing it in a small scale - I had a lot of margin for error when I was only 15 and had yearly revenue of 4k EUR
I want to have 20m yearly revenue by the time I am 23
>>1023174
>I want to have 20m yearly revenue by the time I am 23
You're killing it now brother, don't see why you wouldn't shoot past that.
>>1021553
My best guess is Romania judging by the min wage and his great English skills.
>>1023174
If this is true this is pretty awesome. It's cool to hear how people surpass their parents quickly in business. Reminds me of the guy that owns the civil engineering firm that posted here a couple weeks ago.
>tfw father is wildly successful and has lots of connections in an industry that's set to die in the next 10 years.
>>1017700
How old are you? Age range if you don't want to be too specific.
I'm looking into IT consulting once I have the experience and network to back it up.
>>1023218
>Reminds me of the guy that owns the civil engineering firm that posted here a couple weeks ago.
is there an archive? or anyone save the thread?
going into civ. eng. with focus on environmental + biz minor degree here
>>1022771
Well for ex let's say you want to start a subway sandwich shop. You could go work for Jimmy Johns or Jersey Mikes for minimum wage for six months.
Then learn their: distributors, margins, SWOT, profits, advertising strategy, etc...
These few months would teach you basically everything you need to know to operate a successful sandwich shop.
And no, unless you are in management or sales, most companies are not going to require an NDA/Non-compete
>>1023174
Fucking awesome, 19 y/o here and you inspire me
>>1023174
>Some of the products I import already packaged, some I package in my country
How do you handle stuff like permits and health control?
I know I'm staying the fuck away from any food products in my country (scandinavia) since the permit and legal work and health regulation is an absolute nightmare here.
>>1023444
https://warosu.org/biz/thread/S1003210#p1003246
