[bigro]

You really have to have a very big upfront investment just to meet regulations and insurance for a food business. Fun Fact in the State of Connecticut Which I no longer live in, There is a different Permit needed in some towns to sell open faced Sandwiches and Closed faced Sandwiches, I really could not see the reason. I used to frequent a BBQ shop that eventually was no longer able to use their outdoor smoker because of regulations, someone thought the public was at risk if food was cooked outside i guess. He had to invest in large expensive indoor smokers and ventilation just to stay in business.  Food is something you get into if you have a passion for it. I love food, I really love to eat it. The Business Side Nope. I have much respect for people who do it and do it well. I do not really complain about the pricing of most places. They are not trying to bend you over, they are trying to keep the lights on.
 
  Make no Mistake it has been about 5 years Since that adventure. I did not really think I would get back into a business but I always look at businesses, large and small. I get to know their operations as much as an outsider can, I look at their storefronts, marketing and websites, products, processes.  Maybe the College teachers who tried to recruit the Information Technology student into their business school were onto something.
 
I know successful businesses opened by people who do not have the pedigree. There is no glass ceiling to entry . I know many small business owners that started late and have built strong and successful businesses. I work in electronics (mostly low voltage lighting) part time with a business now that was started with the final few thousand dollars from the owners 401k money because the corporate jobs sucked and that is where he found the glass ceiling. He was around 30 and had not been around business people his whole life.The Company which is less than 5 years old and has 5 employees Cleared a Million dollars in Sales Last year. We are moving to A larger facility in a month even after doubling the size of the space we were in last year. We also upgraded CNC's and Expanded operations because we could not keep up with demand. Most of this is done with cash on hand.  I believe you need a Drive as opposed to the pedigree. That is the common thing i see in all small business owners they have drive and do not wait for people to make things happen for them and are not afraid to get their hands dirty and work all night.

 

[tonykaz]

The UK and Cottage Industry,
 
If there is anyplace on this Planet to do a Start-up it's England!
The UK govt. loves the little guy, they encourage with multiple advantages.  
The locals support their own, 
The UK Engineering pool is outstanding, Scotland in particular. 
Every little town in England has a Hifi specialist shop offering Rega and Linn too.
Even the Banks in England support the little guy.
 
I just had a look at the recent pictures of REGA, the place still looks like a startup, a couple of Bridgeport Milling Machines, a few employees, after 40+ years.  Certainly doesn't look like Sennheiser's Home Office or WD-40s Home Office or Titebond's Home Office.  
 
Alex Cavalli is one of "our" start-ups, good reputation, an admiring owner group but no product!, he's "Sold Out".  What's up with that?  
 
Schiit & Co. are two bright lads with scads of experience, they've outgrown 3 locations in 5 years but they're swarmed by fierce competition.
 
Guys that "can" don't need encouragement,
I discourage guys that need encouragement!    
 
Tony on the Campaign trail with a guy that Can! 

 

[feelingears]

I appreciate these war stories. I've been a Corporate, and I've been a sole proprietor. (Now back to Corporate so I can afford life and Schiit...)  I've worked for public companies and tech start-ups. But never dealt with anything close to some of these stories. Still, I can commiserate with business owners--it does eat your life in ways most people who've never worked for themselves can't (but in many ways should) imagine.
 
Thanks for sharing, all.

 

[jacal01]

Quote:

  Well, in actuality, Schiit didn’t consume that much cash at all. As I noted in an early chapter, Schiit started, all-in, at about $10,000. The first run paid for the second runs, which paid for the next, and so-on. And it has continued to this day, entirely self-funded, with zero bank loans, zero investment, and zero crowdfunding.
 
 
Reinvest the money to make more. More of the first product, or additional products.

 
About leveraging your profits back into your business...  I had a friend that was in the import/export business, leveraging global pricing differentials for a profit margin, sometimes substantial, sometimes wafiér thin.  Medicine and prescription products was particularly lucrative, if gray area legal, since the US consumer generally pays more for his meds than the rest of the world.
 
Point is, he cycled several times between millionaire and dead broke, since he would use the profits each time to springboard himself into yet a larger deal with more potential profit in the offing, until sooner or later some huge deal would implode, leaving him with little or nothing to start the next round of trading.  He and his wife developed a feast or famine lifestyle, buying expensive cars and objects d'art and the like, only to dump everything when his last big deal investment went belly up, leaving their lifestyle in tatters.  Evidently the risks involved were commensurate with the size of the deal.  But he and his wife lived in the now, extravagantly consuming when they had the money, and retrenching when they suffered the prospects of losing everything.
 
Takes a certain mentality for that kind of high-wire living, without any modicum of baseline security.  I don't think I could live with that level of stress, but he lived the good life when he had it, and lasted a goodly amount of years doing it.

 

[sludgeogre]

I had a friend that was in the import/export business, leveraging global pricing differentials for a profit margin, sometimes substantial, sometimes wafiér thin.

 
Was your friend, by chance, Art Vandelay?

(I'm so sorry, I had to.)

 

[jimmers]

Mr. Tonykaz
 
I think your metric for a successful business is quite different from mine.
 
Quote:

 
I just had a look at the recent pictures of REGA, the place still looks like a startup, a couple of Bridgeport Milling Machines, a few employees, after 40+ years.  Certainly doesn't look like Sennheiser's Home Office or WD-40s Home Office or Titebond's Home Office.  

 
As a "startup" I'd be pretty pleased to own a 30,000 sq ft purpose designed facility and to employ 90 skilled individuals in a profitable business that exports all around the world.
 
I guess the "couple of Bridgeport Milling Machines" are helping out the relatively recent addition of £200,000 of CNC production equipment and the other specialised tools. 

 

[bigro]

Yeah, Not moving to England or any other country. I Just would like the taxes and regulations to be reasonable. I did not find that to be that case In Connecticut or Most other New England States for that matter. The Nice thing about the U.S is if you don't like where you are you just need to cross the state line or in my case a few state Lines. The laws Vary by state, county and even town. I guess In the back of my mind when i was moving i had the thought of another business in mind. I not only looked at cost of living, housing , lowest income taxes,  sate growth etc. I also looked into the regulations and requirements for businesses.
 
In the Next few months I plan to talk to an accountant to make sure I understand the taxes for this state. That is another thing the will come back to haunt you. You can close a Business and claim a loss however the Town we had the business registered in did not care. You had to pay them taxes even if you claimed a loss. So we not only had state taxes but town taxes. This bill  did not show up for months so just as you think you  are over with the nightmare the tax man cometh.

 

[taxiq]

@bigro "The Nice thing about the U.S is if you don't like where you are you just need to cross the state line or in my case a few state Lines. The laws Vary by state, county and even town. "
 
Absolutely right.  Only wish the founding fathers had included  it  in the Constitution's Bill of Rights. The right to move, voting with your feet.  The most basic of rights.   Could have had a profound affect. 
 
taxiq
"who early in the Thrid Millennium was .  .  . 

 

[OddE]

  It also bears mentioning: take a close look at the documents you're signing when you get a new job! Not all companies are as enlightened as Schiit, or as supportive of their employees. You could find that everything you're working on is technically their property, both in and out of work.

 
-A former employer had a rather draconian IP clause - basically, it stated that if you ever had an idea, in any field, whether it was related to their field of business or not, while you were employed by them or for an undefined (!) period of time after leaving them, the idea belonged to them. Period. No ifs, no buts.
 
I signed mine 'Juul E. Nissen', the Norwegian equivalent of 'San'ta Claus'. Nobody bothered to verify my signature.

 

[FrivolsListener]

   
-A former employer had a rather draconian IP clause - basically, it stated that if you ever had an idea, in any field, whether it was related to their field of business or not, while you were employed by them or for an undefined (!) period of time after leaving them, the idea belonged to them. Period. No ifs, no buts.
 
I signed mine 'Juul E. Nissen', the Norwegian equivalent of 'San'ta Claus'. Nobody bothered to verify my signature.

 
That was the type that caused me to want to get an attorney involved.  At least at the time, it was completely unenforcable. 

 

[Zojokkeli]

   
-A former employer had a rather draconian IP clause - basically, it stated that if you ever had an idea, in any field, whether it was related to their field of business or not, while you were employed by them or for an undefined (!) period of time after leaving them, the idea belonged to them. Period. No ifs, no buts.
 
I signed mine 'Juul E. Nissen', the Norwegian equivalent of 'San'ta Claus'. Nobody bothered to verify my signature.

 
I'm surprised this happens in the Nordics too.

 

[OddE]

  I'm surprised this happens in the Nordics too.

 
-The more egregious terms probably would have no standing if ever taken to court - what with them being illegal and all. Still, signing on to terms like that can't possibly do anything to help your case should it ever get that far - so better not to sign at all!
 
My guess would be that they were included just in case - if nothing else, one could try to obtain a settlement with a later employer should I ever get involved in anything commercially viable, hoping that said employer wouldn't want to fight the case in court. Besides, they were a subsidiary of a US company. I guess our legal department basically just translated whatever was being used in the US at the time.

 

[jacal01]

  Was your friend, by chance, Art Vandelay?

(I'm so sorry, I had to.)

 
Closer to this guy:
 

 

[Padgett]

  It took Centric over a decade to figure out how to get off of this wave. 

 
This is currently a huge issue for me. I'm interested in how you got off the wave if you'd care to elaborate?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

   
This is currently a huge issue for me. I'm interested in how you got off the wave if you'd care to elaborate?

For Centric (a marketing agency--service business with large customers), it came down to two things. One is primary, the other is a result of it.
 
The primary: disconnect your sales from account service, creative, or any other kind of operational duties, and make sure they run 40 hours per week. I repeat, sales must be completely isolated, and they must run nonstop. Sales does not need to know how overloaded you are (because then they will sit back and wait). They should not be allowed to participate in client service, either (because they frequently develop a "my client" attitude that may be combative to the agency and not conducive to success.) And they should be running constantly, with no pause. Worst year ever? Need more sales. Best year ever? Need more sales. Period. Incentivize them for new sales brought in only, not on ongoing sales to existing accounts.
 
The corollary: get picky about who you do business with. A 40-hour-per-week sales organization that is incentivized only to bring new business in will quickly overload your ability to service the business (either that, or they are not good at sales--in that case, replace them). At that point, you can get picky. Do you want to do the grueling spec work for the guys who are looking at 7 other agencies? When you have potential sales lined up behind them, no. But if you have no sales pipeline, you gotta do what you gotta do...but then you're stuck with the spec commitment, which means you aren't looking for new business. And that's how you get into a wave.