It's a lot harder than having a job...
I suppose starting a business is always a major source of stress, even if you do have a lot of capital to fan the flames. If you have no money to start with, starting a business is incredibly tough. You have to do everything yourself which means you have to have a broad set of skills. The good news is that if you can do this, you will know every aspect of your business, and that can only help.
I'm not a successful businessman by any means, at least not yet, but I have learned a few things in the past year or so of making a run at it. The most important thing I've learned is that this is the most stress you will ever encounter. There have been moments when I was sure my heart was about to explode. If my diet were a bit less sensible or my exercise routine less regular, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now. The pressure can seriously kick your ass. Right at this moment I'm sweating several checks, and I have bills coming due. It sucks, but what can I do?
Keep moving forward. If those checks don't come, I have to go after others that will. That's another source of stress: No matter how hard you push, there are periodic droughts in the sales funnel. These slumps can become self-perpetuating. First your confidence suffers, and that's a death knell for anyone trying to convince any other person of anything. You can't sell that way. Then you get so discouraged that you stop trying.
Between the sales droughts and the collections woes, it can really make you pine for those old steady paychecks.
Then again, I know that nobody can take this away from me, and I know that I can grow it. I know that I don't have to answer to anybody but the tax man. I know that when I succeed, the success will be all mine and will be made all the sweeter by the struggle.
So it's not all bad. It is harder than having a job, though, so just get ready for that.
I said I was worth over a billion dollars, not that I had a billion dollars.
You're worth over a billion dollars too.
ajshirle is an old theme in my life: The bully.
"I'm sure you're successful at something by now..."
Whatever. Old hat by now... They only do it because they're insecure and jealous. They also tend to be weak.
Hands down! Good point! What would we all do without you Chuck? This website was created by you and has helped so many people you should be very proud. I think you are worth more than a billion!!
Hi Chuck!
U funny (lol). No, I was very serious about hearing about your success as you are obviously doing well with this site. I am new to it obivously so I have no idea what you are about.
With the economy the way it is at present, I am trying to figure out income sources outside of the 9 to 5 job that there is not too many of.
I like to hear about what other successful people are doing to accomplish this income generation.
Okay? Now am I out of your doghous? Hope so - did not mean to step on your toes.
Tks, A
I'm very sensitive to bullying and underhanded insults. The way you put it was sort of off-putting ("Surely you've had success at something by now.")
Since you asked, yes, I have had some success, and I'm happy to tell you about it in broad terms.
This site doesn't make me much money, but it pays a couple of (small) bills. I would (and have) recommended against blogging as a source of income. Do it because you have something to say, not because you think you'll get paid. For the two+ years I've put into this site, I get very little in return monetarily, not that I'm not grateful for the little checks from Google.
Most of my income comes from the real world. I help businesses. Turns out, I'm pretty good at getting the word out, generating buzz, getting to the top for valuable search terms, and I'm even starting to get pretty good at building custom-designed websites and web applications.
My strategy has been very simple -- prove my worth and graduate up to bigger and bigger projects. Usually I pitch a small project, execute it, wait for the results, and approach the client a couple of months later -- after their business is demononstrably up -- and propose a bigger, more expensive project. So far I'm batting about .900 on the upsells, but what's really cool is that people are starting to call me. That's probably the best advice I can give you: Develop a good reputation. Build a better mousetrap and the world really does beat a path to your door. Word gets out.
In the beginning, I even did stuff for free. Back then I was batting 1.000 on the upsells. But I'm glad I no longer have to work for free.
It has been a struggle. I'm still not breaking even and expect to have my first profitable quarter either this quarter or next. I made a whole shit-ton of mistakes but learned from them. Basically it's a process of kaizen -- continuous improvement -- wherein you develop and tweak a system. That's what a business is -- a system. You coordinate a bunch of activities directed at offering products/services to some market and if you do it efficiently, you turn a profit.
My favorite part about being in business for myself is that it's all on me. I can take pride in my successes and must take ownership of my fai-- er-- learning experiences.
If you're looking to start a business, start with the attitude that you want to help people. Have fun with it and allow yourself room to make mistakes. Your mistakes are just as valuable as your successes if you recognize them and use what you learn from them to perfect your system.
Don't expect it to be easy. It's one of the hardest things you'll ever do. Don't expect it to happen overnight. Prepare for years of trial and error.
BUT if you're committed to working for yourself, if you believe in yourself and take small steps each day toward your goals, you will absolutely achieve them.
Good luck.
Hi Chuck!
Thanks for taking the time to share and your experience does serve as a guideline for me.
Another question if you do not mind, what advice can you give in regards to the Google AdSense? I know there is a system that works and one that does not. And I guess it all boils down to traffic to your site.
Thanks again!
Any updates? It is now 2010 and I am sure you have probably been successful at something by now. Would love to hear. Thanks!
My Website: A Job For You