The Trinituner Entrepreneurship/Self Employed/ Side Hustle Thread

[Mr Gear]

Being in business for yourself is not for everyone.

I can relate a horror story of my own failure a little later but you may have to stock up on napkins.

[NLVA200]

^^ The last time i took vacation was October 2005 and that was only because we didn't have much customers back then. Since then, the only time my family and i can take time off is a Sunday and Public Holidays. Hopefully, and i've been saying this some time now, when i can delegate some work to someone TRUSTWROTHY i'll maybe be able to take 3 or 4 days off.

It's a lot of hard work running your own business and as you mentioned, it's not really a fixed income since what you do or don't do will impact directly on the profits you make. And then your mind works over time and worries all hours of the night and day, if all the employees will come out tomorrow, hopefully one won't write off the van and if all goes well, i might be able to take half an hr off tomorrow to get a haircut!

being self employed is great though, i wouldn't wanna do anything otherwise. However, you gotta be a risk taker to spend your money and invest, then work hard to realise the profits.

one other thing, we used to have our business at home, like many others do, for about 6 years. it has it advantages of no rent and just walking downstairs to start work but then people may start to show up at your all all sorts of hours with a sad story, asking for you to help them. You sometimes end up having to hide in your own house. One of the best things we did when we could finally afford it was to move the business out of home and rent close by at an affordable price. now we can actually lock a door at the end of the day and head home. no one to pass by last minute at your house on a sunday morning when you and the family going now going to church.

[bigchief3679]

self employed and liking this thread........

[AllTrac]

Guys I reading all what you are saying and I have some questions for you all....
Do you guys ever have any off time?.....I work 7-4 (IMO a stressful position) and when i leave here, work is sometimes the last thing on my mind cause I know I will deal with it tomorrow...How does a person whose survival or family's survival depend on a profitable business ever take a break.
I know that it will take a lot of sacrifice and hard work to make a business run properly and be profitable (depending on the type of business)...but how do you as a business person find the balance between work, family, hobbies and life in general?
How do you deal with the fact that your success relies on the market demand/ sales.
Let’s say you don’t have much capital (say less than $100K...or nothing to use as collateral), how do you get off the ground?
I try standing in the shoes of a self employed person and I panic when I can’t see were my next paycheck is coming from.....I cannot be comfortable if I can't make a spread sheet or budget for the rest of the year and don’t know what my "fixed" income will be.
I know a few ppl who are self employed and they never rest and they always concerned about what happening next. Take for example, my neighbor has his own security business....and I saw him grow up and mature quite a lot since he started....started with 1 dog and a old van...now he has 3 vehicles, 16 dogs and 20 workers....but he has very little time to himself. During the day is meeting clients and potential clients and in the evening is seeing about the dogs and getting them ready to go to work. In the night after he drops them off he deals with the worker issues that come up and also rents cars to do spot checks on his workers...it's hard for him to rest.
I have another friend who is a mechanic...and he NEVER has time for anything cause he always fixing a car because everyone car is critical....plus he always have ppl breeding down his neck to fix something.
I have a good friend who open a small grocery the other day and he found that they best way to make a good profit is to be open for a majority of the day and late at night. He operates his place from 7am to 11pm.
I not saying anything wrong with what they doing, I admire their commitment to it... but they are all young "single" guys who don’t have a family (i.e wife and kids) so they doing what they do now...but when they do have kids as I know some of you here may have...what happens then? How can they now spilt themselves between the business and family.

How did you take that risk and started .....I would love to take a risk and start my own business...I have quite a few in mind that I think would be profitable...but I cannot see myself taking that risk...both financially or mentally.

Forgive my rant, but I would love to hear how you took those steps and what you went through to get where you are.
I reading that a lot of you are happy being your own boss…I respect that…but I am sure it did not happen over night….anyone care to relate dark side stories (stories of “failure”) that maybe me or anyone can learn from ??
Lets say I have an idea for a business that I think can be profitable and a small capital …what do I do next??

same concerns i had, which is why i havent quit my day job, im actually paying someone to do my running arround etc, but soon i would have to leave tho, as it might get demanding.

[Quicksilver]

Guys I reading all what you are saying and I have some questions for you all....
Do you guys ever have any off time?.....I work 7-4 (IMO a stressful position) and when i leave here, work is sometimes the last thing on my mind cause I know I will deal with it tomorrow...How does a person whose survival or family's survival depend on a profitable business ever take a break.

I guess taking a break will all depend on the nature of your business, but trust me, doing something you enjoy and something you want to do makes it so much easier.... and this applies to both being employed and self-employed.

my business is pretty much always on my mind.... it can be stressful at times when things are not going as planned, but I enjoy putting in that much time, knowing that I'm the one who will benefit from the extra effort.

Believe it or not, when Im not labouring physically, I actually enjoy some 'quiet alone time' to plot my next move and review the outcome of past strategies....... which btw is what I was doing a couple minutes ago, before I decided to check these forums

[Kinday]

Vacation??? What's that like

How is it possible? lol...I found a major flaw in myself that I share with many small business owners. I just can't seem to let go of the reigns. I want to make sure everything is happening on point to "my" liking and even when you delegate you still try to do the duty. *sigh* Trust me...not good. It leaves hardly any room for business growth and development too

[eurogirl]

i'm a semi control freak

so anything I do it has to be my way or if your way better then your way

So I dunno if i'm a control freak or a perfectionist .. but then i'm not neat or ritualistic so I'm not i'm def not a perfectionist.

[Redman]

Quick Silver

There will always be a trade off,
the security of a paycheck and the ability to switch off - but the need to answer to somebody at sometime

Self employment-like everything else is not for everybody.
At the end of the day people that are self employed took the leap because they liked what the would be doing in their own biz. So while its 24/7 its also 100% gratifying and the ability to dictate your own moves is something that is addictive and empowering and seductive and like a bad woman. lol

Dude your questions are the most important to ask and should be answered before employing yourself.

Its also important to know that the skill set that got you off the ground and into the game, are not necessarily the skill set you need to take it to the next level.
Case in point- Im about to take another step with my gig-Im hiring a professional to manage the project and develop the idea in conjunction with myself and another person in the business-Weve had 1 meeting and I had some of my concepts confirmed some rejected and some NEW ones. The goal now is MUCH bigger ,more attractive and lucrative.
This guy will be expensive but in the long run worth it.

Silver every thing you said is valid.

For me it was easy to take the plunge- and I believed in what I was doing.
If you read my first thread- that literally was my mindset for the 6 months the deal took to close.
And it still is-cept Im alittle more diplomatic in how I might express my self.

After that it was luck,blood sweat and tears AND ensuring that I have quality people surrounding me.
Get a experienced lawyer,accountant and banker.
And treat them like they are part of the business.
They will protect and assist you when needed.

[Redman]

Guys I reading all what you are saying and I have some questions for you all....
Do you guys ever have any off time?.....I work 7-4 (IMO a stressful position) and when i leave here, work is sometimes the last thing on my mind cause I know I will deal with it tomorrow...How does a person whose survival or family's survival depend on a profitable business ever take a break.
Learn to fast or else you will crash and burn.
If you cant manage yourself then how do you manage others?

I know that it will take a lot of sacrifice and hard work to make a business run properly and be profitable (depending on the type of business)...but how do you as a business person find the balance between work, family, hobbies and life in general?
I spent a lot of effort at the outset to arrange everything so that if I die she has control;and is some what involved in the biz.She also understands that I am doing this for us and OUR families and therefore supports(most of the time) the moves I have to make.That being said-if I had to give 1 reason for becoming self employed was to be able to spend time with my family on my terms.So I also have the ability to dictate when I spend my time with meh boy.

How do you deal with the fact that your success relies on the market demand/ sales.
THe dmd for your company's output similarly dictates whether you have a job.
Let’s say you don’t have much capital (say less than $100K...or nothing to use as collateral), how do you get off the ground?
Carefully

I try standing in the shoes of a self employed person and I panic when I can’t see were my next paycheck is coming from.....I cannot be comfortable if I can't make a spread sheet or budget for the rest of the year and don’t know what my "fixed" income will be.

Henry Ford didnt know how to do the accounts-but he had accountants on staff-Hire QUALITY, And learn fast.

I know a few ppl who are self employed and they never rest and they always concerned about what happening next. Take for example, my neighbor has his own security business....and I saw him grow up and mature quite a lot since he started....started with 1 dog and a old van...now he has 3 vehicles, 16 dogs and 20 workers....but he has very little time to himself. During the day is meeting clients and potential clients and in the evening is seeing about the dogs and getting them ready to go to work. In the night after he drops them off he deals with the worker issues that come up and also rents cars to do spot checks on his workers...it's hard for him to rest.
Ask him if he could work for another security firm.He will say NO

I have another friend who is a mechanic...and he NEVER has time for anything cause he always fixing a car because everyone car is critical....plus he always have ppl breeding down his neck to fix something.
I have a good friend who open a small grocery the other day and he found that they best way to make a good profit is to be open for a majority of the day and late at night. He operates his place from 7am to 11pm.
I not saying anything wrong with what they doing, I admire their commitment to it... but they are all young "single" guys who don’t have a family (i.e wife and kids) so they doing what they do now...but when they do have kids as I know some of you here may have...what happens then? How can they now spilt themselves between the business and family.
Yep-but I dictate the split.Nobody telling me that I have to be working late, or on Saturday -cept meh wife.

How did you take that risk and started .....I would love to take a risk and start my own business...I have quite a few in mind that I think would be profitable...but I cannot see myself taking that risk...both financially or mentally.
If you cant see yourself doing it- DONT.

Forgive my rant, but I would love to hear how you took those steps and what you went through to get where you are.
I reading that a lot of you are happy being your own boss…I respect that…but I am sure it did not happen over night….anyone care to relate dark side stories (stories of “failure”) that maybe me or anyone can learn from ??
Lets say I have an idea for a business that I think can be profitable and a small capital …what do I do next??

If you have an idea-develop a business plan- talk to others that have experience and that you trust and develop the idea .

Later

[Quicksilver]

Quick Silver

There will always be a trade off,
the security of a paycheck and the ability to switch off - but the need to answer to somebody at sometime

Self employment-like everything else is not for everybody......................................

If you read my first thread- that literally was my mindset for the 6 months the deal took to close.
And it still is-cept Im alittle more diplomatic in how I might express my self.

ok before I type anything else, the person you are replying to is Quiksilver not not me >>> Quicksilver ... its two different ppl nah


wrt to your first post on this topic, I agree with everything you said..... you pretty much summed up alot of my views in that post....

The part about being exhausted I can definitely relate to... what i do involves alot of manual labour, there are times that Im so tired physically that I can lie down and sleep anywhere, but like I said before... knowing that everything I do is for MY benefit gives me the willpower to keep going.

as you said being self employed is not for everyone..
as far back as I could remember, I knew what I wanted.... I remember in early school days being asked what I want to be when I grow up and I would reply 'a businessman', I had no idea what type of business, but things are a bit clearer now... and my present business is a stepping stone.

I started from as far back as primary school, buying stuff really cheap from Canada and selling to shops in my area, then went on to be the moneylender in secondary school

I really got started when I was about 19 and studying ACCA (BTW... the plan at that time was to become an accountant and get employed in a business Im interested to gain inside knowledge of their operation )... anyway, my friends were all getting part time jobs and I took a bite at a business opportunity (one of the best things I ever did)...

The amount of ppl that tried to dissuade me from going that route
the way I saw it they were all trapped in an 'employee mindset'....... you know, "boy get a government job nah" "think about job security, benefits and retirement" .... I guess as far as they saw it they had my best interest at heart, but some of us have to be different.

Ill admit though that its possible I may have been in a better financial position presently, had I become someones employee... this is because I had some downfalls along the way, but the gratification, knowledge and experience I gained is all worth it..... I still have a very long way to go before I reach where I plan to be, but I know that Ill get there eventually, and Im enjoying it every step of the way....

[Mr Gear]

A word on failure and set backs.

It is the risk we all face as entrepreneurs, the risk of failure.

Essential reading for the modern day entrepreneur is the book, “Think Like A Champion,” written by Donald Trump. I read that book 4 times cover to cover in the first week I got it.

I will generously quote from that book to share some of what I liked.

Learn from Setbacks and Mistakes:

Passion is a necessary ingredient for success. When one door closes, another door opens. You have to maintain your focus at all times – and your momentum. We all experience difficulties, but they can be blips if you remain positive and move on.

Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus, who was condemned to ceaselessly rolling a stone uphill –but that’s just the way it is sometimes.

Problems, setbacks, mistakes and loses are all a part of life. Its something we have to accept. We shouldn’t be shocked if and when they happen. Don’t let things knock you off your feet. Keep your equilibrium by knowing what you are dealing with. Just be tough, be strong, be willing to learn – and you will learn. So don’t be afraid of mistakes and setbacks.


All taken from Think Like A Champion by Donald Trump.

[AllTrac]

"All taken from Think Like A Champion by Donald Trump"

where can i buy this book?

[crazybalhead]

In a book store.

[NLVA200]

In a book store.

[RapToR]

"All taken from Think Like A Champion by Donald Trump"

where can i buy this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Champi ... 426&sr=8-1

[Redman]

You can get Art of the Deal as well-by Trump too.

Later

[Mr Gear]

You would be better off buying Think Like A Champion than the Art of The Deal. Donald Trump also recommends buying The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I have read The Art of War several times... I understood it more and more each time I read it but the secret is that what you will learn is not actually in the book itself. The book sharpens your mind and makes you more receptive for strategic learning and thinking without you even knowing it. It is sort of like fertilizer for all of the other material you will be exposed to afterwards. In other words, after reading The Art of War your thought processes allow you to grasp and interpret information you receive in a more analytic way while at the same time allowing you to respond with greater finesse.

[SNIPER 3000]

......................

[Mr Gear]

For all those sitting on the side lines wanting to get into business for yourself but afraid of failure read on...

Failure in business is a prerequisite to great success. Every successful businessperson has failed. The earlier you fail the better. Even Donald Trump failed, he wrote about it in Think Like A Champion. Its what you do with failure that makes the difference.

I have seen enough situations to let you know that even with Millions of Dollars and Private Jets and Super Yatchs, people have set backs, some major, some small. It comes down to how you respond that makes all the difference in the world and the best response involves not giving up on yourself. The business idea may have passed its time and you may not be able to revamp it but success does not depend on the business as much as it depends on you. You have to dust yourself off and get back into making deals and getting stuff done.

Now get out there and make some deals happen.

[Cooper]

I'm really liking this thread. After working for almost 15 years in I.T. (9 years in my current position,) I've recently been thinking of moving on to another job, but I don't want to work FOR anyone anymore.

I have some ideas that can start off as a supplemental income. If it works out and starts to grow, I'll hand in my resignation.

(really getting fed up of all the crap in the corporate world)

[Mr Gear]

Thanks Cooper. Best of luck. Don't forget that Prayer is also a powerful motivator and secret weapon.

[Redman]

Fear is something overcome by knowledge and information.
If you are on the fence and have concerns then investigate and address these concerns.
Failure is telling you something-either you were(are) unprepared,exercising poor management or just plainly WRONG.May be your plan is not viable.
Misplaced belief and PRIDE will cloud your judgment.
Early recognition of your mistakes is critical in being successful-which can be defined as staying in business long enough to establish a market,or for the market to swing your way.

Before you take any leap-get in touch with QUALIFIED people-I would say an accountant is probably the best person to align yourself with.
A seasoned accountant will ask questions,dig and frustrate you with REALISTIC issues that need to be addressed. Its best to get this step out of the way in the earlies.
Talk FACE TO FACE with people that have experience-and that you can trust.

As business people we have to listen to what the market AND our business is saying. No amount of self belief is going to make the market like winter coats in Tdad.


While reading is great for general information this is the real world and its YOUR CAPITAL at risk -so do the work in front-else you will be worked over from behind.

Later

[NLVA200]

You would be better off buying Think Like A Champion than the Art of The Deal. Donald Trump also recommends buying The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I have read The Art of War several times... I understood it more and more each time I read it but the secret is that what you will learn is not actually in the book itself. The book sharpens your mind and makes you more receptive for strategic learning and thinking without you even knowing it. It is sort of like fertilizer for all of the other material you will be exposed to afterwards. In other words, after reading The Art of War your thought processes allow you to grasp and interpret information you receive in a more analytic way while at the same time allowing you to respond with greater finesse.

Have you ever read "The 48 laws of Power" by Robert Greene? It has helped me considerably in both business and personal life.

Excellent read for a businessman IMHO
http://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-Robert-Greene/dp/0140280197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278417726&sr=8-1

[Mr Gear]

Nah I haven't read that book. Tell me a little what you liked about it, I might consider it.

[JWT]

that is why i did what i did i kept my teaching job and became a sleeping partner in a forign used parts business. I have the flexability to go when i want just t check the books see what stock is there but i do not dictate the business unless i see things going bad.

Key thing i have learn't never mix frens with business business is business!

[Mr Gear]

JWT I understand what your angle is. You are a business investor, you are not self employed.

[Chimera]

Have you ever read "The 48 laws of Power" by Robert Greene? It has helped me considerably in both business and personal life.

Excellent read for a businessman IMHO
http://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-Robert-Greene/dp/0140280197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278417726&sr=8-1

Lol that book on the shelf right behind my computer staring at me for the last 3-4 years, I need to have a look at it again

[tr1ad]

JWT
is a silent partner, not sleeping partner

[JWT]

JWT
is a silent partner, not sleeping partner

i consider it sleeping cause i always sleeping

[RapToR]

that is why i did what i did i kept my teaching job and became a sleeping partner in a forign used parts business. I have the flexability to go when i want just t check the books see what stock is there but i do not dictate the business unless i see things going bad.

Key thing i have learn't never mix frens with business business is business!

i thought you opened a stationery store ?