Really wanting to dump the 9-5 and start my own thing - who's done it?

I did it. Started working on it part time while I was still employed until profits reached 1/2 my take home salary. Once I hit that threshold, I quit my job and went full-time with it. It was a lot of hours for the first two years, but I loved doing it. After 5 full time years at it, my profits are roughly 2.7x what my previous salary as an EE was and I'm at it about 30 hours/week. I specifically chose an avenue where the business could be mostly self-sustainable. I don't think I would have done it if I had to work 60 hours/week at it - even if I enjoyed it.

Some really good input here. Thanks, I'm getting inspired to take the leap. Wonder if people have only negative experiences going the franchise route?

thats awesome, congrats.

what programming language did you learn and what teaching source did you use?

Why is everyone in this thread so vague about their independent business endeavors? Are you scared a letsrunner is going to steal your business ideas?

vivalarepublica wrote:

Why is everyone in this thread so vague about their independent business endeavors? Are you scared a letsrunner is going to steal your business ideas?

^^^My thoughts exactly^^^

I quit a pretty good job back in 2000 to start my own business. I ended up working for myself for about six years before going back to work for someone else. Although I loved the freedom and flexibility it gave me (I also coached HS track and XC at the time), it did not work out well financially. I could write a book on what went wrong, but here are a few things to consider before you make that jump.

1. Pay off all of your debts. Having the pressure of debt will affect your decisions regarding your business, usually in a way that will negatively impact it long term.

2. Get your overhead down as low as possible. Most businesses fail not because they don't make money, but because they don't make enough money to support the owner(s) lifestyle.

3. Have at least one year's worth of expenses in the bank to live off of during that first year. If you make money sooner, it is a bonus. If you have to worry about paying your personal bills, it will hurt your business. If you have a spouse who works and you can live off of their income, that will definitely help.

4. While you do have more flexibility, you will also probably be putting in many more hours than the typical 9-5. If you are still training and competing yourself, either your business or your running will suffer. I was still training when I started my business. At first, it was great, because I had the flexibility to do my training when I wanted. However, as time went on and I got busier, I pretty much had to end my competitive running career (I wasn't an Olympian, but I really enjoyed running and competing still). While in season for coaching, I was working 80 hours a week and rarely had a day off.

5. If you can start your business and start making money from it part time while working your 9-5 job, that will make the transition much easier. I have a friend that started a business while working a regular job. He would work 100+ hours a week during that time. After about 8-9 months, he quit his job and was still working 80+ hours a week. He also had two years worth of savings in the bank and was able to pay cash for everything his company needed to start (about $100K worth of equipment). After fifteen years, he now has a multi-million dollar company, works 40-50 hours a week, and is a debt-free multi-millionaire.

I really enjoyed most of the six years I worked for myself. I had some really good coaching success and proved to myself I had the guts to take a chance (something you really cannot put a price on). However, at the end of that six years, I had accumulated another $100k in debt (I had some student loan debt before) from the business. Had I followed the principles I outlined above (very similar to what my friend did), then I would have had a much better chance at success. If I had waited a couple more years to pay off my student loans and save up some money, I probably would have been much more successful at my own business. Good luck as you follow your dreams.

vivalarepublica wrote:

Why is everyone in this thread so vague about their independent business endeavors? Are you scared a letsrunner is going to steal your business ideas?

No. But I'm careful what personal information I put on the internet. Have you seen some of the threads on this board? There are some real wackos here. I don't need to hassle of dealing with that.

Flagpole,I hope all is well. I'm iterested in starting my own consulting firm some day and do have the business/financial background to do so.A couple questions that I would very much appreciate answered but I understand if you are too busy:What sort of consulting is it that you do? Traditional conception of consulting or something more specialized?How large is the geography/city you live in and how does that contribute to the availability of work and the ability to charge solid fees for that work? And, if you could - what sort of fees are one man shops able to charge in a small-mid size city if they are good and what could they clear annually?How did you go about sourcing clients?Anything else you can elaborate on would be much appreciated; I have nothing to give in return except thanks but it would be very useful to me and you've piqued my interest.Thanks,Wannabe consultant

If there is zero start up cost, what would stop someone else from doing the same thing if you find success?

Beamo wrote:

vivalarepublica wrote:

Why is everyone in this thread so vague about their independent business endeavors? Are you scared a letsrunner is going to steal your business ideas?

No. But I'm careful what personal information I put on the internet. Have you seen some of the threads on this board? There are some real wackos here. I don't need to hassle of dealing with that.

I'm just referring to the basics. Like what industry and type of business. I doubt that one of the letsrun nutcase will be able to run off with your personal information from that.

Just a point of clarification...the way Flagpole has described his job in the past he is more of a contract employee or "trainer" than a consultant in the typical business definition. I'll let Flagpole elaborate.

I've been working for myself for the last six years. I spent four years spending regular hours (10-20 a week) working on the project before I went full time. This is along with a full time gig at the time. (desk job)

The number one thing you need is a skill. If you don't have a specific skill or something you're motivated to do, then you don't have much to go on.

Working for yourself, for the hours/freedom, but doing a job that isn't that inspiring, is not going to be that enjoyable. Freedom is nice, but having to self motivate to pay the bills, well, it sounds shitty. But that's just me.

I spent 11 years working mostly for free/cheap. Most people in a similar situation either have family money, or spent a long time developing their talent/business/skill.

So yeah. Get ready to work your ass off.

Good luck!

vivalarepublica wrote:

Beamo wrote:

I'm just referring to the basics. Like what industry and type of business. I doubt that one of the letsrun nutcase will be able to run off with your personal information from that.

I'm looking into starting a mosquito and tick spraying business. you know, just do residential yards, not commercial. and this threat of Zika could result in an uptick in demand. (see what I did there.) There are several firms willing to sell a turnkey franchise but they're really expensive, like $60K but I don't see the benefit. I know someone who has tried a sandwich shop franchise (Jared's) and he said whenever one of their shops is really successful the company will sell another franchise or put a corporate owned one virtually next door even though they were promised exclusivity for a certain area.

Spraying potentially toxic cancer causing chemicals all day? I don't like the idea as operator or as a home owner. There better be regulations on what you can spray.

I'm looking into starting a mosquito and tick spraying business.

I've run a startup. Had a good outcome at the end.

Being financially flexible is good. What's most important is loving the problem you're trying to solve. Not interested in. Not care about. Not want to run your own company. Passionately care about fixing the problem your new venture will try to solve.

Going solo is an emotional roller coaster. And lonely. And pressure filled. You need to learn to manage your emotions.

The passion will be what helps get you through and keep fighting during the lows. The highs are so so sweet.

Get good at sales because you'll need to be.

Find a peer support group of other entrepreneurs.

The risk is worth it if you really truly want to solve that problem.

Good luck.

someone in the abyss wrote:

We invested money in bad developer after bad developer until we decided to learn how to code ourselves.

Ha-ha. Yes, your sh!t don't stink.

Pay attention to the fact this poster had money to live, and burn cash to fail for a couple of years.

Not really successful, just failure proof.

Have been self employed for 18 Years. Making about triple what I would've made staying employed but also working double. So, overall I like it,...but if you want to work less,...forget it. The lights are always on,...there is no off time,..the competition is also not sleeping. You gotta be able to handle pressure...

Keep an eye on profitability. Your product or service has to produce a profit. Consider what it costs to produce, and what you need to make on each unit, be it billable hours or a widget. Or a screen printed T, in my case.

Also consider your fixed costs. What do you need each month $$ to live? How much do you need to make, what is your nut? Crunch numbers. Can your product or service deliver this wage you can live on?

This is obvious stuff, but if you don't do the numbers you could mess it up. In my biz, wholesale screen printing, there is pressure to cut prices. I don't. I always refuse to win the race to the bottom. My selling proposition is quality and service, not price. It's a niche, and it works great.

Next, it takes time to build a clientele that will support you. It took me 8 years. I worked half time until I was able to quit. Every business is different. You have to want it bad, like wanting to win a race. You'll know if you can do it. Good luck.

Nah...not a contract employee or trainer. I have done some training in this job of mine that I created, but most of my work is helping companies decide what ERP systems to purchase based on a ton of factors, directing them toward contract programming houses that they might use for custom programming, etc.I also direct projects for these companies. You have to know about manufacturing to know what a project is in this usage. So, the consulting on buying the correct software and then the rare helping of them learn to use it is a one-off service I provide, but the majority of the ongoing work I do for my regular clients is in project management. Projects like building huge video boards, new manufacturing plants, or any other large manufacturing project they have.In the early days of going solo, I was more of a jack of all trades than I am now, simply because I wanted the business. Today the projects consume so much of my time that I don't have time to do any training or job applicant interviewing or even much software testing these days (though I still do some of that).I have to know the manufacturing business, software, and financials for the countries I do business in. I likely will never look for a big client in Japan as their financial practices are a bit insane...just too much work and concentration on minutia.I try to keep myself sharp in all areas of manufacturing consulting since I never know when things might change. I could end up doing all training at some point in the next 10 years before I retire, but I doubt it. Right now everything is "in the cloud", but I suspect within 5 years there will be a new buzzword and so things will change again. Right now I get a lot of calls about advising clients on switching to the cloud...does it really save them money, do they need an IT person in their company still, is it secure, should they do single or multi-tenant, etc.So, call it contract employee if you want, but what I do falls into the category of a consultant, and that is the kind of work I do for them, and how I market myself. Could they hire a full-time project manager for their projects? Sure, but it is hard to find someone who knows the manufacturing side, the software side and the financials side, so that's where a consultant comes in. I have set up a few companies with the tools they need and got them all on board with how to run things and then they go hire people for those jobs.Anyway, if I wanted the headache, I could set up shop and start to hire others and actually run a consulting firm, but I don't want to do that. I'm at that point in my work that I could grow my business that way. If I thought my kids might want to take over that kind of firm some day, I would consider it, but they for sure do not. And again, I didn't do this to become wealthy or because I have some big work ethic. I did it so I could be more flexible with my time during the day and actually work less than I used to.10 more years and I'm done. That's just 120 months. Looking forward to the day when I don't have to hear another manufacturing term.