Taking The Plunge Into Entrepreneurship, A Response
Since there is no decent shopping to do in Canada today, I’m catching up on reading blogs instead. Today I run across a wonderful piece by Christine over at Self-Made Chick chronicling the first part of starting her own business. It’s very good, you should read it. When you’re done reading it, you should read my response.
I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t post the other side of the coin - what sometimes happens when what happened to Christine doesn’t. This was what happened to me, and it was probably just as hard, although many wouldn’t think it this way.
When I started my business, I was way too successful.
Let’s back up a little bit, shall we? When I was growing up, both of my parents were entrepreneurs. My father is started out in software, moved into custom furniture, then on to high-end mustard (!). Since school wasn’t exactly the biggest priority in our house, I spent a lot of time going to sales calls and trade shows. I watched him sell very expensive stuff to people who didn’t know they needed it. I was probably about four when this whole game started.
This went on for several years, and I’m sure you can guess where I spent my spare time. I mean really, why hire staff when you can employ your daughter for free? When I went to live with my mother, she ran a graphic design business and I watched her work every hour God sent as well.
I learned from a young age that entrepreneurship is very hard work, and that you have to struggle to make ends meet. I learned that if you’re not working all the hours in the day, you’re not doing it right. I also learned how to sell stuff. Really well.
When I started the online segment of my business, I planned for my own failure. I put every conceivable contingency plan in place. I was certain it would take at least two years of uphill battles to even make it into the black. I planned to work 16 hour days. I planned to feast on ramen noodles. I was convinced I would barely make a living wage. I knew that at the start of your business, 80 percent of your time should be spent on marketing, and market I did.
A little too much, you might say.
I was inundated. I had more work than I could handle within about six weeks. I was subcontracting to anyone who could form a sentence. I was drowning. I had more money than I’d ever imagined but no time to spend it. I put on 12 pounds because I didn’t have time to cook and spent two months eating take-out. My son was spending more and more time with his nanny, and my husband was relegated to housemaid duties.
This is not a good way to live, people.
Some people will tell you to plan for every eventuality. I wouldn’t recommend that - there are a lot of eventualities out there. I would say plan for three.
Wild success - Think about whether or not you’re comfortable hiring staff. You don’t need a date and time, but know if you’ll be prepared in the first year, two, or five. Create a strategy for choosing between potential clients when you have too many requests. Also choose the color of your Porsche.
Debilitating failure - Like Christine said, stock up on everything. Running out of toilet paper seems like no big deal now that you get paid every two weeks, but when you’re certain you’ll never eat again, it’s a nice little luxury to have. Prepay as much as you possibly can. Rent, electricity, cable, phone - whatever you can. Avoid revolving debt. If everything is prepaid and you have 3 months worth of food in the house, you can go a long time without making any money. Add one car payment and you’re screwed.
Somewhere in between - This is the boring stuff. Accounting plans, marketing schedules, what color tissue paper you’ll use to wrap your Pet Rocks. This is the stuff you’ll find online and in entrepreneurship books and it doesn’t need to be rehashed here.
If you’re still reading, I’ll take this opportunity to tell you that something highly special and exciting is happening at IttyBiz on Monday. You should come.
Or you could subscribe to the feed. Then you wouldn’t have to come. You could just sit back and wait for IttyBiz to come to you.
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Overwhelmed? Freaking out? Borderline hysterical? Click here to get your own micro-business marketing plan. It’s not scary, I promise.
I liked Christine’s post, and I like yours too. Good stuff! How wildly successful can become a problem too :)
I’m starting a business next january, through a route of part-time employment and part-time entrepreneurship. Different to both your situations where you decided to go into full self-employment immediately. I’m curious how that’s going to be different from what you are experiencing.
“You’re kidding me…” This is usually the first thing a member of my family says when hearing of yet another event in the story of my success.
“No! No, I’m not kidding! Can you believe that?” Honestly, I’m always just as stunned at the contracts I land or some of the work I do. When this all began, I had prepared for difficult times and eventual failure. In fact, I expected it.
I wasn’t expecting wild success. I’d left a comfortable, corporate job to ride horses and shovel shit for six years. If you’d told me two years ago that one day, I would buy the latest music CD I wanted without thinking about the hit my grocery budget would take, I would’ve laughed.
That I don’t have beg McDonalds for a job always amazes me. Worse, it makes me extremely suspicious of the future. When friends or family applaud my good fortune, I always say, “Don’t forget; this could all disappear tomorrow.”
And yes. I buy toilet paper in bulk. On sale.
You know - I relate. The biggest problem we had in 2006 & 2007 was that we grew too quickly, beyond our ability to lead and the capacity of our team. I wrote about it while it was happening: http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/31/growing-pains-managing-the-explosion/ and I have to admit that this was really tough. We are planning for it this year.
Wow Naomi! I didn’t know all of this about you - what an interesting childhood you seem to have had!
My biggest mistake was NOT going with my own instincts early on. The moment that I stopped listening to what a certain “other person” thought I should do and decided to forge my own path, I had more work than I could handle.
But then I realized something… having more work than you can handle is not an ideal situation either. Being in this situation, with dollars tied directly to the number of hours worked is not freedom. Thus, my quest for passive income. I truly believe that the road to unlearning everything we’ve ever learned about making money traditionally is a long and interesting road. Right now I am writing the next chapter in this installment.
Though I am successful now to some measure, I don’t feel it is true success until I can create a system that provides an unlimited number people with more value - thus generating unlimited income without spending unlimited time. This is the next part of the journey… the fun part!
Christine
@ Lodewijkvdb - I’ll definitely be interested to see how your story turns out, and I wish you the best of luck. Make sure to keep us posted!
@ James - I’m so impressed! It’s true, though. Everyone thinks I’m still poor. I buy presents for people and they look at me like I’m crazy. “Can you afford this?” they ask. Um, it’s a $25 gift certificate to a music store. Yeah, I hope so. :)
@ Shane - I am breathless with anticipation to see how it turns out. I have no doubt you’ll keep us posted.
@ Christine - “Interesting” isn’t the half of it. I’m thinking of starting a “traumatic childhood” blog. And you’re right - this is definitely the fun part.
Monday?? We have to wait till Monday???
LOL. Yes, I got lots more wisdom out of the two posts and all the comments than that. And I’ll definitely be pondering.
All while waiting anxiously for Monday.
Sheesh. That’s like 2 days away!
Great Articles. You covered all the points. When I started mine I had the same concepts in place in case of failure but still had my mindset on success. I think the new age of online marketing assist us in having more success.
Book marked this site an will be back on monday for the update.
Megan Vaillancourt
http://www.PassportMentors.com
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptAdd one car payment and you’re screwed. Somewhere in between - This is the boring stuff. Accounting plans, marketing schedules, what color tissue paper you’ll use to wrap your Pet Rocks. This is the stuff you’ll find online and in … […]
[…] responded to Christine showing her experience, totally from another perspective: “Taking The Plunge Into Entrepreneurship, A Response“. Wildly successful can be a problem […]
geez. between you and christine…it’s like the clothed version of girls gone wild. you guys have collectively experienced quite a bit. as 1) a girl and 2) a brand new entrepreneur (going on 6 days now), it’s great to hear about these totally different experiences first hand. very cool and very much appreciated.
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