Who owns their own business?

[initall]

I was wondering if anyone here has started their own company. And what the business is.

The reason i am asking is i am thinking of starting my own and have questions.

Thanks.

[Quad18star]

Be prepared for long hours and hard work . We used to have a family owned business ... and it was tough work .

Originally posted by Quad18star
Be prepared for long hours and hard work . We used to have a family owned business ... and it was tough work .

that is a UNDERSTATEMENT! I run a marine repair shop, and have for the past few years.. you do NOT know what hardwork is until you own a company.. To give you an idea.. this is a typical day.

Get up at 5.30, to the shop at 7, work my knuckles raw until about 1 or 2, grab a bite to eat (quite rare that i get to do that) back to the shop, work till about 7pm (everyone else has left at 4), close up shop, come home, grab a bite to eat, shower, watch about an hour of tv, sleep.. do it all over the next day.. 6 days a week, for the past 3 years. About the only break i get is during the winter when alot of boating aint goin on, and a day here or a day there during the work week once every few months..

Most people think when you start a business, that you can work it for a month or so, then higher somone else to help, and eventually youll beable to get to where itll run itself.. WRONG! it takes YEAAAAAARS of working to do that.. im to the point now where i can trust the guys to work without me being there, but i would RATHER be there to make sure things are being done correctly.

If your a person that has started a project and ended it prematurely, or somone who has a low attention span, running a business is NOT for you! A business requires 110% of your focus all the time..

Jesse

[Quad18star]

Dirt Merchant... you nailed that one pretty good .

My parents owned a family restaurant . My mom would get up at 4am to be at the restaurant by 4:30 ... then my dad would go help from 5am until 7am ... then he'd go to work until 3 in the afternoon ... then go help out at the restaurant until 6PM . Come home make dinner ... then go back to clean until 11pm . My mom did this 7 days a week . She held it down for 3 years and finally sold the restaurant because she burnt herself out .

It's also hard to try and get good help . You have to hire a good bunch of employees .... the ones we had stole from us , therefore my mom was stuck being there all the time . She had 1 week vacation during that whole 3 years .

They say it takes 5 years before a business falls into place perfectly and that you start making money at it .

shew.. isnt that the truth..

im fairly lucky in the aspect of employees.. as they are past co workers from other marina's or close friends.. so it makes things nice..

now heres the kicker.. i do have 1 close friend that is partnership with me.. but dont get it mixed up.. there is a EXTREME difference between BUSINESS and PERSONAL relations, and fortuantly, we can both make that distinguishment.. which is a major part in highering somone you know from outside of the business..

About getting burned out.. i was burned out after the first year, asking myself if its really worth it.. but now im starting to make a few bux, and i can pay all my bills so im not really hurting.. and glad i made the desicion.. DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT THE TV TELLS YOU! about "oh be your own boss" "set your own hours" pfft.. i fell into that little scheme and quickly realized that you have to set your hours to what THE PEOPLE WANT! and your not your own boss.. the CUSTOMERS are your boss.. you do what THEY tell you to do..

I had no clue on how to run a business, but i thought i had decent business sense, which was true.. owning a buisness will not only help you deal with people in a public sense, but will give you disapline and confidence... unfortuantly it wont help with your spelling LOL

Jesse

[citizennobody]

I used to wake up at noon....go eat then run some errands maybe buy some clothes or a new watch....around 4 I would go see the kids for a couple of hours and then go meet up with the crew....

Dinner was always at a fine restaurant then we would head over to a nice strip club where we would drink and talk about business all night....

About 3 times a month I had to go out of town, all over this beautiful country, so I could go get my money and grease some contacts....Vacations were expensive and frequent and life was great....

Can you guess my job....???





























In the end I was facing 2-20 out on $250000 bond, but paid a small fortune for the best attorney money could buy and got 6 years deferred adjudication with a $1500 fine, I was off probation in 2 years....crime does not pay ;)

Originally posted by citizennobody
I used to wake up at noon....go eat then run some errands maybe buy some clothes or a new watch....around 4 I would go see the kids for a couple of hours and then go meet up with the crew....

Dinner was always at a fine restaurant then we would head over to a nice strip club where we would drink and talk about business all night....

About 3 times a month I had to go out of town, all over this beautiful country, so I could go get my money and grease some contacts....Vacations were expensive and frequent and life was great....

Can you guess my job....???





























In the end I was facing 2-20 out on $250000 bond, but paid a small fortune for the best attorney money could buy and got 6 years deferred adjudication with a $1500 fine, I was off probation in 2 years....crime does not pay ;)

1. scamming/panhandling

2. vending machines

3. autotheft/chopshop

i bet one of them hit it right on the head lol

Jesse

[citizennobody]

Originally posted by Dirt Merchant
1. scamming/panhandling

2. vending machines

3. autotheft/chopshop

i bet one of them hit it right on the head lol

Jesse

ERRRRRRRRRR....wrong, try again...I never saw my 'victims' if thats what you want to call them....

[Mxjunkie]

Originally posted by citizennobody
ERRRRRRRRRR....wrong, try again...I never saw my 'victims' if thats what you want to call them....

fraud ?

heres a sure fire.. SOMTHING ILLEGAL!

Jesse

[250xridamatt]

My dad has been working at the same place for more than 25 years. About 15 years ago my dad became the main partner. He now runs the place, and its expanding all the time. The thing is he spends so much money on old cars and stuff. He is really busy this time of year tho, rarely get to see him.

[Rico]

I work for a living and get a paycheck but I also just went partners on a business and so far it's going good..:cool:

[Bush0102]

I started my landscaping company when i was 14...five years later i have about 100 accounts i service weekly whether it be mowing, bed maintenance, or fertlizer, etc. I also do about 3 or 4 big installation projects a year. It's been tough being away at school, i had to put my job in the hands of someone else- in this case, my brother- and hire an extra foreman. I've got a total of 7 employees now. I'm transferring to a school closer to home next year so i can start growing it again- thanks to my brother, we had no growth this year, in fact our profits were down 7% from last year. Sometimes i find it hard to manage- but i love being my own boss. This coming season i only plan to work on a crew two to three days a week so i can spend the rest visiting customers, doing estimates, and selling more work.


what were your questions?

[citizennobody]

Originally posted by Mxjunkie69
fraud ?


Go watch the movie Traffic and maybe that will give you a clue.....

They got me with possession, a 2nd degree felony (only a couple of hundred pounds), and had to drop the conspiracy, racketeering, and money laundering charges. You need a informant for those kinds of offenses and I don't know anyone alive that was willing to testify....

[Thump_It]

"Drug Lord" in a sense? Yeah that stuff doesn't seem to pay off in the end. How'd you get busted?

[citizennobody]

Originally posted by Thump_It
"Drug Lord" in a sense? Yeah that stuff doesn't seem to pay off in the end. How'd you get busted?

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time....story of my life....and no I wasn't a "LORD"....they only exist in movies....but there are alot of people out there moving a couple thousand pounds a month and do it for a very long time....

[Thump_It]

Yeah I know there aren't "lords," that's why it's in parenthesis. Yeah basically I meant you were moving loads of narcotics across borders or throught the country anyways. Are you clean now or what?

[RideRed250ex]

Originally posted by Thump_It
Are you clean now or what?


I could only see him answering that if the answer is yes... Maybe everyone already knows this but Rico what business do you own?
Has anyone ever heard of "The Company" It was like a muti-million dollar drug ring back in the 80's. A relative of mine was high up in that organization, he did serve his time tho...

well, i know a lot of people where i live that has clubs and licor stores that ust use them to hide their money, obviously they sell drugs but i mean lots of them :S that what's makin Baja looks bad..... but i mean i am in mexico so as those club/licor owners, they just give the cops or someone who gets to know some money....that sucks.

anyways, my family runs their own restaurant(we are not drug dealers :P) that restaurant had been running since... i think its 1972, its alot of time... my dad usually gets up like at 9 or 10 and waits for the manager from his restaurant to take him the sales from last day, he just goes to the restaurants when theres people.....
! i get to see him all day, thats what i like.

[WhiteZee]

Originally posted by RideRed250ex
Maybe everyone already knows this but Rico what business do you own?