small biz owners

Care to share your story? tips/things you wish you'd known?

did you go all in at once? little by little?
any regrets?

also - anyone have insight on where to buy the best wholesale food containers?

small biz owners

My husband started his own business six years ago and it is the best thing we ever did. He went all in- liquidated his savings, retirement accounts, sold his boat, moved back home etc etc. This was before we got married so we didnt live with one another.

In the beginning, it was tough!!! He hated working from home, having come from the banking world and having a huge office prior. There were many times we got into arguments bc we were so broke. It took him two years to be profitable.

Best advice i could give- dont take out a loan from a bank and if you really believe in your business, then go 100% in. To me, that was the only way to light a fire under his a**.

Some things i didnt know- healthcare is expensive!!!! And once you get to a certain threshold, taxes are a huge pain but that is expected. Also, get your accounting in order asap. We use Quickbooks online. Get a great accountant- we speak to ours every other day.
Dont have personal debt as you never know what money you will need to tap into.

Also, spend money on marketing if you can... Look at sites like guru and elance. We have found our best marketing guys through these sites. Always shop around when needing these types of services.

Do we have any regrets? None at this point. I left my extremely happy career to join my husband about a year ago and its been great. You will have your bad days like anywhere else but i promise, it is worth it.

Feel free to pm me if you have specific questions.

Message edited 4/23/2015 9:52:23 PM.

small biz owners

Thanks! Yeah - no biz loans here and thankfully I have a partner. Really keeping it cheap as possible until we see what the response is.

Re: small biz owners

I have a business with a partner for about 7 years. It's super important in partnerships to have a written agreement that spells out all the little details. When two people partner that agree on everything it seems like such a strong agreement wouldn't be needed, but the agreement is in case things go sour.
I agree about being aware and planning for your tax responsibility.
Good luck!

small biz owners

My Dh started his business in 2006 while we were both in law school. His is mostly online. He does it on the side. It's big enough now where he can do it full time but I think there is a fear there of missing the weekly paycheck. We'd have to put some money in at this point because to grow it would mean a brick and mortar store.

Re: small biz owners

My degree is in marketing, feel free to reach out for any questions on bringing in customers :)

small biz owners

Definitely have a written agreement.

I opened a small business when I was out on maternity leave with my son. Best decision ever.

Keep your overhead low and invest time in your SEO. You don't need to pay someone---you can--but if you have down time you can do it yourself--for FREE!

No regrets..Make sure you have a good accountant. Feel free to FM me if you have any questions. Good luck!