36 replies to this topic

[SEO-Richard]

I've mentioned starting a small business to a couple of close friends and some relatives, and each time the reaction I've had is profound ....

..... indifference.

If they said they were doing something similar, I'd be fascinated. I'd want to know how, and why, and everything there was to know about it. What's wrong with them?

Maybe this sort of thing simply doesn't interest most people ?

[Grumpus]

Familiarity Breeds Contempt.

For nearly a decade now, it's been pretty easy to start a business out of your home and at least have a fair go at eking out a living. Most people either meet with moderate success or fail miserably. Some go on to make millions, but those people are few and far between.

Before the Al Gore invented the Internet in 1992 (I think it was) there were fewer of us out there who were making an attempt at starting our own business - computer related or otherwise. So, when someone said, "I'm starting my own business," it was notable and newsworthy.

Nowadays, every Mother who has a kid and needs to make some money but doesn't want to leave the home and neglect the care of their child(ren), everyone who gets laid off from their job after 20 years, and everyone who has an idea about a plastic thing you can stick to the end of a mop handle to make your car go faster is starting their own business. Some of these people have the dedication and willpower to succeed, some don't. But it has, nowadays, become commonplace for someone to say, "I'm starting my own business." Yes - and two other people you've run into today are doing the same thing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not devaluing the courage and commitment (though I often wonder if all the people who are having a go at this understand the courage and commitment it takes before they get into it). I'm merely saying that the perceived uniqueness of the idea of "starting your own business" just isn't there anymore.

People will still be impressed when you tell them that you "Have a successful business that you started yourself". That one is still a rare enough statement to have impact.

Don't be disheartened. If you want to do it and you're ready to make the commitment and understand that you're not going to be living in the Caribean this or even next July, then go for it!

I, too, am rarely impressed by someone who says they are starting their own business. But I am surely always impressed (whether they are successful or not) if they put the time and energy in over a period of months and years. I also enjoy helping people who have taken some initiative on their own before seeking help in the forums I frequent. For example, I don't tend to help people who come in here and say, "How do I optimize my site?" I AM going to help (to the point of going overboard, sometimes, I think) someone who says, "I've taken the time to understand this and that and this, and now need to know what my next step should be."

The same will be true with these unimpressed people who you approach next year at this time with, "Yeah, I work 90 hours a week and haven't had a weekend off since November, but it's already covering most of the bills and there's money being put away each month." Then, at that point, they will start to be impressed. And two years later when you're netting 240K a year, not only will they be impressed, but they will try to be your best friend, too.

G.

[Fritz]

Richard!!!

You are starting a business? That is so cool!

I want to her ALL about it....

Seriously, I don't understand their reaction either. And I get the same thing from most people.

So you'll just have to pull up a chair here in the Pub and tell us what you are planning to do.

[harpsound]

Six years ago there were six women around a table starting new businesses.

Five years ago, same six - one was going to make a million.

Today, there is one woman left, my wife, and I am now her business partner.

We do not save much but we almost make back depreciation and do pay all the bills. Last year (tough times) may be the best year yet. (got to finish the books)

We will continue. Life is now full of immense wealth, just not a lot of cash.

Most people are simply unaware. Paycheck mentality with no concept of what it means to EARN a dollar from your own risk. Therefore no response.

********************

Two women sitting at a restaurant table, one has had her first baby. The waitress overhearing asks "Did being a mother change your life at all?". The new mother responded with "no" and the waitress went off happily.

The other woman asked the new mother "Why did you say that?" to which came the reply "Why spoil the surprise!".

Nighty night sweet hearts
S

[Scottie]

LOL Richard, the one thing I've learned is that you can't predict other people's reactions.

Some people start their own business to make a fortune, others do it for a sense of personal achievement. Some do it to adjust their work to their lifestyle.

I do think it's become sort of passe', as Grumpus said. Lots of people start out businesses these days. It's when it really starts to support your family that people ask more questions. "You can make a living doing that..? "

[Ron Carnell]

Most of my sites center around writing. Every week at least one or two people tell me they are going to start a novel. I try to show as much support as I can, but it's really hard to get very excited. Starting a novel isn't all that tough.

Yesterday, one of those people told me she finished her novel. And I still haven't come down from the ceiling.

[SEO-Richard]

Well, I think it's fun, just having a go - successful or not. I've got a friend who always went on and on about how he wanted to do it, but never got round to it ... and another who worked his guts out, ruined his marriage, covered the bills and was never very happy ....

And yes, I've had a little go before, painting and decorating years ago - didn't last more than 6 months, because I moved to another part of the country where work was very, very scarce and a recession just starting - but I loved the buzz of it, doing a job and getting paid, going and giving quotes, the buzz of getting up in the morning and not knowing what the day would bring... I want more of that!

A little business that brings in a little money, nothing major, just something for fun that I love doing, that's what I want - and if it leads somewhere, yippee!


I agree with the passe bit, and that people aren't predictable - but I think harpsound was also spot on,

'Most people are simply unaware. Paycheck mentality with no concept of what it means to EARN a dollar from your own risk. Therefore no response'


Bring on the buzz!

[OldWelshGuy]

Richard, sod em all mate, MOST people are jealous of you having the guts to step out, when they do not. VERY few of the people who say good luck actually mean it, and at the end of the day it's your life.

I will tell you a story
There was once an International cooking Contest cooks from America, France & Britain, anyhow the presenter chef went around asking what they were all going to cook.

When he got to the British Chef he noticed 2 pans, one was full of cold water and in it were a few live lobsters. On the heat was a shallow pan of boiling water.

The judge said the the Brit chef, 'your not going to cook them in that shallow pan surely? they will jump out?

The Brit chef replied, 'no chance' these are BRITISH lobsters, as soon as one of them gets a foothold, and begins to climb out, the other 3 will drag him back down into the water.

So you go off, build your business to whatever pre set level you have focused on achieving, and then smile, as the rest of the lobsters boil their butts of.

I am sick and tired of people telling me I should be making a lot more than I do, but they miss the whole point of it. I earn what i have decided I want to earn, I work to live my life, I downsized so I could get back my life (and have).

I have 3 really good projects of my own that I am working on this year, they are niche websites that the UK is SCREAMING out for. I will develop and build them this year, then sometime next year sell them off, the real fun is creating something from nothing anyhow, after that it is just more of the same.

YOU decide what you want to do, and be happy for yourself, then, when you see them leaving their house at 7am daily, arguing with their wives, screaming at their kids, you can better understand why none of them were happy for you

[SEO-Richard]

I hope it does stop the wife screaming at me ........

But you're right ... here's a little anectdote:

My ex-boss (plumber, I've had lots of different jobs in my life) who f**** up his life by working his guts out, and got divorced - well, he met his new wife a little later, and they discovered - or she made him discover, more likely - that they're actually rebels at heart.

A couple of years later, they got on their bikes, put the house up for rent, and cycled round the world - for about five years. He was 50 at the time.

Now he's off again, in a motorised caravan .... and when they get back, they're thinking of retiring to a farm, maybe in France.

This is a guy who originally did it by the book, went to nightschool to get the plumbing qualifications, worked from 6 am to 1 am, never turned down a job in case it led somewhere .... then decades later he realised the error of his ways, and said 'sod it.' So I'm going to learn from him and save time!

When he gets back from his travels he charges a top rate, only does large jobs that are worth his while, saves up a bit, then goes off again. That 'sod them' mentality at work again - and people are queing up for him, when he placed a high value on himself so did they.

But what he did tell me on his return, which I thought was absolutely fascinating, was that he lost most of his friends by setting off to go round the world. The reason? Unbelievably - jealousy. They were jealous that he and his wife had had the courage and the imagination to go.

Nowt stranger than folks!

[OldWelshGuy]

the green eye

[Scottie]

What drives me nuts are the people who respond with a sigh and say, "You're so lucky to be able to do that..."

Please. Luck has very little to do with it.

It's all about deciding where you want to be and making a plan to get there. Too many people are caught up in have-to's and want-to's that don't mean anything.

When we moved the last time, we chose a house that was a lot smaller and cheaper than we could afford, but in a neighborhood with good schools. If we had maxed out our finances with things, big house, new cars, expensive trips, I could have never quit working for someone else.

Our house payment is minimal, the cars are paid off. We can get by on very little if we choose to. THAT's what gives us freedom! It allowed me to stay home and start working on some pet projects after our last child was born and in turn, I was able to build up the business to the point my husband could leave his daily grind and work here too.

That's luck for you!

[OldWelshGuy]

I have posted this before, it was a conversation involving Winston Churchill...

Lady astor: "Mister Churchill you are a very lucky man to be where you are today" reply from churchill: "that is true madam, and the harder I worked, the luckier I got"

[BrianR]

There's an old saying: 'Many a true word spoken in jest.'

Employees now regularly refer to themselves 'in jest' as wage slaves.
And that's exactly what they are!

Which is why they deeply envy your freedom to have a work life and an income that is largely under your own control.

Sod the lot of them, Richard - just go for it!

BrianR

[dragonlady7]

>Starting a novel isn't all that tough.
I know. I started one when I was eleven.
>finished
You're right, if one of my cohorts actually finished a novel I'd fall over in disbelief. If they could prove they'd finished it.

Over this vacation I've done a lot of planning for the future with my boyfriend. I've just started my own business and he wants to quit his $60k/yr job to go back to school and live closer to his mom. So it's pretty definite that we're going to be living anywhere but large, for a long time. He's thinking of starting back to school by March, at the other end of the state, and we don't know how we're going to do it but you know what? We both had good jobs that paid well and I never felt rich. Dave earns twice as much as he spends and he's still not happy, because his mother's alone 400 miles away and he doesn't like it here.
So, forget money. Spending makes me uncomfortable, so I might as well keep my budget tight. I tell you, it makes you feel good at the end of the month to pay your bills and realize you've spent less than you'd budgeted.

I have the luxury of nobody depending on me now. I know I'll make a lot of mistakes, and I know I may very well not succeed, but I plan to have either built my practice securely or be out of the business by the time I'm old enough that uncertainty like this isn't exciting anymore.

So, I'll say good luck to you and mean it, at least.

[meta]

'Most people are simply unaware. Paycheck mentality with no concept of what it means to EARN a dollar from your own risk. Therefore no response'

Oh, heavens to Betsy, so other people just find their dollars in the cabbage patch?

Many people are very interested in independent businesses, how they are built, what makes them work, and the people who create them. Starting a successful business is something most people want to know about. But the interest comes with success.