How and when did you start your own business?

A2A -1 Where did you get the idea for your business, and what is it?I'm a CPA and that was my education and Training.2 What experience did you have in the field?10 years working for others3 How did you get the courage to "take the plunge"?lack of stability within the public accounting industry4 Did you start from scratch, or buy an existing business?started from scratch5 How much money did you need to start? zero - 6 Do you have any partners, help, etc, or was it all you?None7 What problems did you initially encounter, and how did you overcome them?marketing and getting the word out.8 At what point did you consider the business a success or failure?I guess after I and my wife and newborn survived the first 1-3 years I knew I'd make it.9 What have you taken away from your experiencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effectThe importance of the "you don't know what you don't know"  issue.  This is especially important with the internet.  Many will search until they find the answer that they WANT and not understand other issues that may effect the main issue.

Here my story, hopefully it will be a good example:25 years ago I was in college studying Civil Engineering.I was a terrible student. Honestly, terrible.My father is a passionate Architect and builder. I was studying to become like my dad with hopes that in the future I would take over the family business.Huge mistake!I was receiving by hereditary rights a position that I had no interest for. Imagine a pre-arranged marriage. You don't love it, but it has been assigned to you. You must do it. No questions asked.Mistake! Huge mistake!I did my best to like the construction business, but it just didn't happen. I was rebellious and as a result my mind was asking for “freedom”…How bad do you want this?Passion is what makes such a huge task possible. Whenever there's passion involved you will become unstoppable and will eventually find a way to get things done. Even those that seem impossible.My motivation to start my first business was freedom. Freedom to follow my dreams. My father was never rude or even imposed anything to me, not even expecting me to like the construction business, but for some reason I felt I needed to do it, I had this deep sense of responsibility that my family expected me to take over and become the next builder…This became a huge struggle in my mind. I wanted to drop out of College but I couldn't let my father down. So I decided that if I stated my own business I could have the freedom I wanted while not disappointing my dad.It became a personal challenge.I was not focused on College. I was passionate about owning my own business. I first started a parking lot business. I rented a vacant piece of land located just outside my college. I didn't need much money. I stroke a deal with the owner of the land, I convinced my father to co-sign the lease and my experiment lasted about 1 year…. The land owner took over my business, he would not renew my lease. First failure, lessons learned and I made a little money.Next, I was involved on the first entrepreneurship classes at my College. This was a fairly new program back in the days. I'm sure this was the only class I ever enjoyed in my College years. My business plan was a photocopy center. With the money I had made I purchased 3 Xerox copy machines and rented a small bedroom on a well located home just outside my College… back in those days there was huge demand for photocopies. This business made me some money yet I was still struggling hugely with my Civil engineering classes.I was always in search of another business opportunity. I was passionate about it. I would go to the magazine shop and purchase the Entrepreneur Magazine every single month. I read business books every time I could.I found cheap a franchise I could afford with my best friend and best business partner I could ever ask. A simple business, but it meant so much to both of us. We were passionate about it, got all our savings together, asked for a family loan and started our first official business. We were still studying College and starting our business. We got the master franchise for the area. Here I'm sitting with the black suit back in 1994. I was 22 years old. I'm promoting our business in a franchise expo.Eventually the nightmare ended. I graduated and promised I would never study again in my life. Again… I was wrong! Today I'm a hungry learner, I love to learn just about everything, but mostly about entrepreneurship.After 10 years that our franchise contract ended, we changed our business name and changed the business model and strategy.Today, about 23 years later, we're still running 7 small shops around the city with 3 different brand names; a strategy to prevent looking as a monopoly in the area, yet we dominate and control the area in clothing alterations and shoe repairs. We employ over 40 people. We have an amazing team to manage the everyday business operations.We both now have our full time jobs focused on other businesses. One of my current jobs was taking over the family business even though we don't do construction anymore, but my entrepreurial adventure has been priceless for me.Entrepreneurship is a journey. It may be a tough journey. It may be a lonely journey. Yet, if your WHY is strong enough, you will find a way through. I don't know what your business is about, but with the limited information you have proved, I would say:Take it one day at a time. Be conservative. Start small. Be patient. Follow the Lean Startup theory. Stay focused.

Thanks for asking…I am going to share my entire story because it was not a simple, straightforward road for me. (At the end of the post, I will share two books that are currently free that will give you step-by-step advice based on all of the knowledge, experience and mistakes I made along the way.)Pre-Business Unhappiness: I sat on the trolley every morning and evening commuting to and from work. To a job that required a Master’s degree. A job that took six years in school with a 4.0 GPA and six months after graduating with my M.A. to get. A job that I moved and bought a house for and was very excited to begin. A job that quickly sucked the life out of me, yet I continued to work at for over four years. So, for over four years, I sat on that trolley and looked at the fellow commuters. They all looked miserable. I would sit there every day thinking I do not want to be riding on this trolley for the remainder of my working years. Nevertheless, I sat there year after year and never made a change. Often my co-worker and I would talk about the businesses we would want to open and how fun it would be to live a life other than one where we dreaded work each day. It always seemed like a nice dream to fantasize about but one that never seemed in reach. I remember telling my supervisor in grad school I just wanted a job I looked forward to working each day and she scoffed at the seemingly naïve comment. It seemed I always had this feeling there was more out there but I did not know what it was.The Shift: It was not until I moved to a new city that a shift began. I moved for a new, happy life but soon fell back into old routines, applying for jobs I was not passionate about for salaries far beneath what I wanted. A simple discussion with my boyfriend, in which he stated there should be more pet stores in our dog-friendly area, prompted my mind shift. I love animals. I had money from selling my house and I could be the one to open this pet store!I began to explore opening a bricks and mortar pet boutique. The neighborhood I lived in was full of dogs and I was confident it would be a success. I went to the library and started to search for books about business. They all seemed so boring and dry, until I found one that drew me in. Through reading this book, I learned that people from all walks of life, with different passions, have been successful opening their own businesses. This gave me a boost of confidence.Education and Experience: I found a local non-profit called Score that offered business classes for those interested in starting their own businesses (http://www.score.org). I went through a 6 week course and was excited about continuing on this journey. To get experience in management, I became a manager at a coffee shop and also a dog walker while I continued to plan and look for store locations. I found out quickly, that I did not like managing. I was always on call. I remember taking a weekend trip and getting 5 calls on the way up from employees. This made me begin to question what it would be like if I opened up my own place. It made me a little uneasy to think about not having the freedom to enjoy a weekend away when I wanted. While this was happening, I was also not having any luck finding a location for a store in my area. In talking with my business mentor, I decided it would be a good idea to look into starting an online store while I continued to look for locations. I began to research this a bit further and realized it would be feasible. I had to, however, make an entirely new business plan. I began this process planning for a physical location but online was a new beast.Change in Plans: My online pet boutique was up and running within a few months of me making this decision. It is not initially easy to drive traffic to an online business but I began to see the potential of having a business based online. There was freedom in this. I could work from anywhere and make my own schedule. Every single day, I read tons of information, watched YouTube videos instead of TV, and listened to business podcasts in the car, instead of the radio. I also began a personal journey that involved intense work on my anxieties and mindset. I learned about manifesting and subconscious reprogramming, and applied the techniques. I became very honest with myself about what I truly wanted, and what personal traits and thoughts were holding me back from this. In the course of a year, I completely transformed.What Should I Really Be Doing?: I loved to tell my friends and family all the things I was learning and applying. I had some hiccups with my online pet boutique, due to manufacturer issues, and during this time re-evaluated what I truly wanted to do. Selling adorable animal products is fun but I wanted something more. Many online entrepreneurs have several businesses and I began to ponder what I could do next. I kept hearing about people fulfilling their “life purpose” and contemplated what that would look like for me. With my background in Psychology and Counseling, I felt compelled to help others. What a waste it would be for me to spend hours every day learning and developing all of these business and self-improvement techniques and not share them with anyone. Then I received a sign.Epiphany Moment: I was doing dishes, binge watching YouTube videos, when a video came on about writing and publishing books. I have always loved to write. As I sat down and watched the video and I was filled with excitement. I then searched for more free information online. I found Facebook groups where I learned from others doing this. I purchased several courses before beginning on this adventure. Everything about it just felt right. I can help others, use my formal background and education in Psychology, all my experience in starting and running a business, and do something I felt passionate about.My Business Today: I understand that living a fulfilling life involves overcoming internal barriers as much as it is overcoming external barriers. My goal is to teach others how to overcome both. I have now written several books and am currently developing an online course to help others figure out what thier life purpose is and how to pursue it. I also still run my online dog boutique, which is a perk of online businesses-You can be multi-passionate and have several different niches!I share this long journey of mine to let you know it is not always a simple and straight road to success, but with the right tools and mindset you can get there. I hope to provide much more information with you on your road to success.Please check out the following books while they are still free for a step-by-step guide to help the technicalities and realities of starting your own businesses: https://www.amazon.com/How-Start-Business-Entrepreneur-Simple-Success-ebook/dp/B01I25EEWO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468589271&sr=1-1&keywords=seeds+of+an+entrepreneur and https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/650390Take home lessons: Know what type of business is in line with your values (time, money, freedom, etc.). Get experience without spending money first. Do your research. Research the field (competition, earning potential, time commitment, etc.) Take courses, read books, watch youtube, check out blogs, listen to podcasts, and sign up to email lists of people in the business you want to enter. There are never failures, only lessons. The only failure is when you give up in the face of fear or challenges. Hope this helped!! Good luck and take care :)(Email list sign-up to get Free PDF: “Top 10 Mistakes of New Entrepreneurs and How to Avoid Them! Go to: http://exclusive.mymbse.com/entrepreneur-mistakes/).

In fact I have never started like Special announcement of ‘Starting My Own Online Ideas Marketing Business’ with any kind of Name, Logo or process. I do my online Idea Servicing work.I just catered one of my friend’s query a solution. That’s it. He evaluated my solution and paid me satisfied amount, which I did it without any expectation in return.That gave a big spark and I realized that If I can Do this and get paid, then I am sure my god wants me to Go Ahead with the same to many others in my influences.So, I started to learn inside-outside of online activities of getting and fulfilling Ideas for others who are seriously looking for.So, when we truly devoted to our work and get results, it becomes our passion and we enjoy it everyday. Of course, it also gives tremendous opportunities to LEARN, to Apply and to Earn for getting more experience.Our pure intentions open the gate ahead and lead us to growth and prosperity. Just Do It with whatever you have, However you have, Whenever you have, Whomever you have…..That’s the simple way to succeed.

How?After seeing an opportunity to provide a product/service to people I got a piece of paper and wrote down the following:MISSION. The idea; what is your product/service? What does it do or how does it help people?VISION. Where’s it going? What do you imagine your business to be like in 5 years?FINANCIALS. A rough calculation to see if I could actually make money. How much is your product to make/transport/sell? How much time does it take to provide your service? Don’t go crazy, you just have to ballpark it at this point.SALES/MARKETING. How are you going to get this thing in the hands of people? How are they going to buy it? How will they know about it? Who is going to buy it?SELL IT. Go out, find 10 of those people who you think will buy your product and either get their feedback or actually sell the product to them.EXECUTE. Do it. Just go and do it.When?When the time was right. I saw an opportunity to provide something and I took it. I had a supplier, I knew there was a market, I had a place to sell it, and I knew how to sell it. Done. I went and did it and started making money.The business ended up folding but I made some money in the meantime and learned in an incredible amount about myself, about life, about partners, about business, and technical skills.

1. Market checklist demand – do specific people demand your product/ service? resources – do you have the resources needed? competency – do you have the competency so you can execute the idea? passion – are you passioned about your product/ service? 2. The most important questionWho can and want to pay you for what you (and/ or your team) both love to do and know how to do very well?It has to be something both you and your future ideal client really beliefs in. Something you can deliver at a great level and they can and want pay you for it, constantly.3. Who's your ideal client who is he/ she, specifically (one real person). age? sex? what he/ she works on/ for? income level? where is he/ she? what state is he/ she in? what stage is he/ she at? what’s his/ her need? what he/ she really wishes for? determine a possible ideal product or service for them, which could help in what they need and want to achieve after creating a 1st draft of the product/ services, ask yourself: on a scale of 1 to 10, how much do I believe in this, on a long term? 4. How to define the product/ service & Write a hypothesis what is the name of your product? what is its main purpose? who is it for, specifically? what specific problem does it solves? how does your product/ service actually solves the problem 5. Write down your hypothesis (inspired by Prime):[Name of the product/ service] is designed to [Purpose] for [ideal clients]. It solves this issue [Problem] by [How is the problem solved by your product/ service].6. How to validate the product/ service go talk to them live, to see what are their real needs and wants and if they can and want to pay for your product or service. if the discussions are favorable to your product/ service, ask if they are ok with you audio recording the discussions starting from your recording, you create a first version of your product (a minimum valuable product), who doesn’t have to be perfect, but simply resolve your ideal client main need and want, at a quality level that would make them happy and ready to pay you again in the future sell or pre-sell to them – decide on a number of initial customers, so you can validate the product/ service 7. Next steps official launch with happy customers results and testimonials make sure to follow up to them and continue to offer perceived value to them, so they continue to know, like and trust you and buy from you whenever you have something new Full article here: http://educated-entrepreneurs.7arte.eu/how-to-find-a-business-idea-and-what-to-actually-do-with-it-in-8-steps/.If you have any questions, let me know.

http://skymarcano.com The most practical piece of advice I can give you after starting with low funding many years ago…….Get as much information about the industry as you can. Research, research and more research. Talk to as many people as you can and find resources. If you feel your idea is marketable and has a target audience waiting to buy start to make the beginning stages happen, start taking action. Tell people what you are doing but the best way to show people is by “doing”. You may have people interested in investing or perhaps a partnership will happen. You will find out pretty quickly how to move forward by talking to people in the industry. They will direct you properly because they have the experience.

There are two types of businesses. Product Services Product related business will generally require high capital. Here you judgement about what to buy , what not to buy is important. There is unlimited competition in this business due to ease of starting, as it only needs money power.Service industry is more about skill and capability of the person. here investment can be extremely low or even zero.Connections can be built only when you start the business and show time commitment.Since you have mentioned that you have come up with idea, assuming its unique and has less competition, try to take it to next level.

I remember being at a store at 13. I asked my dad if I could buy new pants. He said no. I don't have the money. I thought, I guess I have to make my own money. That weekend I started washing cars.