Hey everyone, I shouldn't be up late but I wanted to just update where I'm at in my journey so maybe some of you can see it's ok to fail and have hiccups... and sometimes make really dumb decisions... and that it's all part of the process.
There's no way to fit everything in here but I'm going to do my best to sum it up properly.. I just want to have this documented somewhere and there's no better place than here. I'm so grateful to MJ and everyone here who's always inspired me. I'll probably add more to this thread as it comes to me because so much happened.
I've started two businesses since joining the forum in high school around 2017. The first one was an ecommerce business that didn't change my life or take off like I'd hoped it would... but I had $1,000 days and was able to buy a car and pay my bills because of it... all while staying free. The problem was the business was in the hunting niche which is extremely seasonal and my products didn't help that at all. To make a long story short, I sold it for $5000 to someone who loved hunting and moved on when I realized no one would buy it for more since my books were non-existent.
My next business was furniture refurbishing and delivering furniture.
It's always been a great hustle. We reupholster, clean, and repair furniture in a smaller warehouse and then deliver to people that want to save $$$$ on new furniture. I've always loved doing it and still do... but it's not what I would consider a Fastlane business and it's not going to scale or be sold as a business to someone. It's a nice way to make $50,000+ a year and keep your time freed up.
That's the long short of my journey up to what has happened in the last couple years... now for what happened in the last year.
As I was gearing up to get married towards the end of 2021, my work vehicle's engine gave out... which is what I used for towing furniture.
I was already wanting to start a new business venture and had been looking for new ideas, so when the car died I viewed it as an opportunity to reinvent myself and start something new. I wrote out all my ideas and based some of them off of what I currently had to work with (things like my warehouse, knowledge of furniture, etc.). I was pretty strapped for cash at that moment in time so I was stressed out and not thinking clearly.
For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to try my hand at building furniture from scratch instead of refurbishing used. My thought process was if I had been able to successfully refurbish them... why couldn't I make some affordable furniture from scratch and try to build a brand out of it? Maybe I could sell the furniture to the same customers that were buying couches... without having to replace an engine in that car.
I taught myself with YouTube how to make furniture.. I hadn't done much woodworking in the past so most of this was new to me. After some horrific first iterations and a lot of trial and error, I figured out a system to build dining sets from scratch.
After I got the system in place I posted my work online and quickly had some people buy a couple dining sets from me.. yippee! The more that sold, the more I thought I was onto something and kept going and building.
Everything was priced so low that I wasn't making much of a profit after my labor was accounted for... but I considered it part of the cost of getting it going. For a couple months I spent 14+ hour days learning, building, and selling my furniture. I didn't have the funds for an engine replacement but I was able to get people to come pick everything up so it kept me afloat.
I eventually convinced a friend of mine to work for me full time... and this is where it all started going downhill.
I was overworking myself.
I was so stressed about payroll and trying to keep bills paid while running this new business that I couldn't sleep.
I stopped doing what had worked for years to do this.
I hated my life.
You're probably asking...
Why would you do this to yourself?
Why didn't you get a new car engine?
Why didn't you get a job to keep you afloat?
I look back and see that I wasn't thinking clearly and that my ego was in the way.
Starting a business based on my wants and needs was NOT the formula to success. I've read MJ's books... I know CENTS and that I violated Need... but my desire to stay self employed and make use of my warehouse space trumped what I knew was true... and I paid for it.
It was all so stupid and could have been easily avoided, but my ego got in the way and I wasn't willing to go get a job to get back on my feet.
In the end, after almost a year I had to let my friend go as an employee and shut down the business. We sold $60,000 in revenue of handmade furniture from wood you can get at Lowes... at a loss of $20,000.
We ended up dwindling our savings down to almost nothing... and I was in a depressed state.
It had been five years since I had to work for somebody.. but I decided to put my ego aside and get a job.
I made some calls and my old boss immediately asked for me to come back and I accepted.
The first morning I showed up to work I felt so humiliated and sad... I had $10,000+ in loans from the business because of how stubborn I was and had to work at a job I used to have. I thought I'd be successful and own a house by that point.
I was constantly breathing heavy and was consumed by how much I set myself back... but I always showed up to work and was diligent. I committed to getting us back to a good financial state with little to no debt and a good amount in savings.
That was last Fall.... it's been close to 200 days.
We have paid off most of our debt, have a great cushion in our savings account, and have a car that has allowed us to continue our refurbishing business. The business is back to doing well.
I hated every single day working in that warehouse... but today is my last day (I'm writing this at 12:35 A.M.) and I words can not explain how I feel. It's a totally fresh start with a clear head.
Lessons I learned the hard way
I made a lot of stupid judgement calls last year.. but I've learned from and have paid for them.
It's been the hardest year and winter of my life. Thank God It's over and I can move forward. I'm already working on a new ecommerce business that I have high hopes for.
To whoever reads this, it's ok to screw up or go get a temporary job if you need to. Many times you see the success stories online and not the failures.
(Here's some photos)
There's no way to fit everything in here but I'm going to do my best to sum it up properly.. I just want to have this documented somewhere and there's no better place than here. I'm so grateful to MJ and everyone here who's always inspired me. I'll probably add more to this thread as it comes to me because so much happened.
I've started two businesses since joining the forum in high school around 2017. The first one was an ecommerce business that didn't change my life or take off like I'd hoped it would... but I had $1,000 days and was able to buy a car and pay my bills because of it... all while staying free. The problem was the business was in the hunting niche which is extremely seasonal and my products didn't help that at all. To make a long story short, I sold it for $5000 to someone who loved hunting and moved on when I realized no one would buy it for more since my books were non-existent.
My next business was furniture refurbishing and delivering furniture.
It's always been a great hustle. We reupholster, clean, and repair furniture in a smaller warehouse and then deliver to people that want to save $$$$ on new furniture. I've always loved doing it and still do... but it's not what I would consider a Fastlane business and it's not going to scale or be sold as a business to someone. It's a nice way to make $50,000+ a year and keep your time freed up.
That's the long short of my journey up to what has happened in the last couple years... now for what happened in the last year.
A New Business... Failure
As I was gearing up to get married towards the end of 2021, my work vehicle's engine gave out... which is what I used for towing furniture.
I was already wanting to start a new business venture and had been looking for new ideas, so when the car died I viewed it as an opportunity to reinvent myself and start something new. I wrote out all my ideas and based some of them off of what I currently had to work with (things like my warehouse, knowledge of furniture, etc.). I was pretty strapped for cash at that moment in time so I was stressed out and not thinking clearly.
For whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to try my hand at building furniture from scratch instead of refurbishing used. My thought process was if I had been able to successfully refurbish them... why couldn't I make some affordable furniture from scratch and try to build a brand out of it? Maybe I could sell the furniture to the same customers that were buying couches... without having to replace an engine in that car.
I taught myself with YouTube how to make furniture.. I hadn't done much woodworking in the past so most of this was new to me. After some horrific first iterations and a lot of trial and error, I figured out a system to build dining sets from scratch.
After I got the system in place I posted my work online and quickly had some people buy a couple dining sets from me.. yippee! The more that sold, the more I thought I was onto something and kept going and building.
Everything was priced so low that I wasn't making much of a profit after my labor was accounted for... but I considered it part of the cost of getting it going. For a couple months I spent 14+ hour days learning, building, and selling my furniture. I didn't have the funds for an engine replacement but I was able to get people to come pick everything up so it kept me afloat.
I eventually convinced a friend of mine to work for me full time... and this is where it all started going downhill.
I was overworking myself.
I was so stressed about payroll and trying to keep bills paid while running this new business that I couldn't sleep.
I stopped doing what had worked for years to do this.
I hated my life.
You're probably asking...
Why would you do this to yourself?
Why didn't you get a new car engine?
Why didn't you get a job to keep you afloat?
I look back and see that I wasn't thinking clearly and that my ego was in the way.
Starting a business based on my wants and needs was NOT the formula to success. I've read MJ's books... I know CENTS and that I violated Need... but my desire to stay self employed and make use of my warehouse space trumped what I knew was true... and I paid for it.
It was all so stupid and could have been easily avoided, but my ego got in the way and I wasn't willing to go get a job to get back on my feet.
In the end, after almost a year I had to let my friend go as an employee and shut down the business. We sold $60,000 in revenue of handmade furniture from wood you can get at Lowes... at a loss of $20,000.
We ended up dwindling our savings down to almost nothing... and I was in a depressed state.
It had been five years since I had to work for somebody.. but I decided to put my ego aside and get a job.
I made some calls and my old boss immediately asked for me to come back and I accepted.
The first morning I showed up to work I felt so humiliated and sad... I had $10,000+ in loans from the business because of how stubborn I was and had to work at a job I used to have. I thought I'd be successful and own a house by that point.
I was constantly breathing heavy and was consumed by how much I set myself back... but I always showed up to work and was diligent. I committed to getting us back to a good financial state with little to no debt and a good amount in savings.
That was last Fall.... it's been close to 200 days.
Where are we now?
We have paid off most of our debt, have a great cushion in our savings account, and have a car that has allowed us to continue our refurbishing business. The business is back to doing well.
I hated every single day working in that warehouse... but today is my last day (I'm writing this at 12:35 A.M.) and I words can not explain how I feel. It's a totally fresh start with a clear head.
Lessons I learned the hard way
- When you are in a stressful situation, get council from multiple qualified people.
- Bad ideas have victims.
- Do NOT take loans out for an idea that hasn't been proven.
- Never underprice your product or service.
- Learn to put your ego aside. If you need to get a job, get a job or be open to doing some side work for a few months.
- Really consider whether or not you want to run a business with employees. It can be unbelievably stressful.
- As MJ says... the market is selfish. Don't put your wants over the markets wants.
I made a lot of stupid judgement calls last year.. but I've learned from and have paid for them.
It's been the hardest year and winter of my life. Thank God It's over and I can move forward. I'm already working on a new ecommerce business that I have high hopes for.
To whoever reads this, it's ok to screw up or go get a temporary job if you need to. Many times you see the success stories online and not the failures.
(Here's some photos)
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