I see a lot of these threads started by young entre's and thought I would start my own on a new business I am starting this week. I think it might be a good insight to what it takes to make it. Or what it takes to fail at it.
My goal. Turn a (hopefully only) $15k investment into a $10 million dollar a year business within 24 months. (last business I started with under $10k, we did $4.5 million in sales in 36 months and sold out to a major player in that industry). To do that I am going to have to go from zero employees (as of last week) to say 100 in under 24 months.
If you guys like I can keep an account of what is actually happening week to week. the trials and tribulations, the hiring's, the firing's, the bills, the sales, etc.
I am not going to tell you what business I am starting, (name or industry) but I will say, I am not reinventing the wheel here. This is a business a ton of people are doing and make a lot of money from, A lot on this site, I just THINK I have come up with a niche, and a different way to market it. So I am going to give it a try. (no need to reinvent the wheel)
Where am I at?
Expenses
- Just rented a small office last week, 800 sq ft. $1,500 down $750 a month (signed a month to month lease, with the ability to move up to 2,000 sq feet quickly, then to 4,000 sq feet, which is about the size I need.)
- Bought 5 used computers - $900
- Bought 6 Voip phones - $1,000
- Bought 6 headsets - $750
- Cable is going to be installed tomorrow. $220 a month
- Phone lines through a voip service $250 a month
- Incorp with proper books, $1,000 (lawyer on retainer)
- Talked to the CPA about becoming my part time book keeper ($200 a month)
- General liability policy $440 for the year. (once I have a few more employees, need to add some sort of workers comp)
- Set up payroll company
- Set up bank account
Office already had some junky old furniture that will do, but I am buying new chairs, some plants and pics. $1,000 bucks
Have main website almost done, as we will be charging on monthly automatic renewals, and sometimes taking payment info by phone, still trying to get the merchant account set up.
Employees,
- Tons of infrastructure work to do, hired a college degreed in marketing guy to be my right hand man. $3,000 a month to start, Add $1,000 a month every month to 9k a month as long as sales justify. (tons of work to do)
- Hired my sales manager, starts Wed, and we will start selling Thursday. She will help write the scripts, make changes and manage the sales force. ($17 an hour plus override comm bonus from sales team)
Goals for this week,
Make 1 sale, set up a sales system, finish website writing,(or just keep updating).
Goals for next week, (once we have the script down) hire 4 more salespeople, pay $13 an hour plus commission.
I am back in the game.... Now it is time to have some fun.
Note about me: I have been a serial entrepreneur for over 20 years, started a small business when I was 20, with no money (no parents money either, they asked me for money), it worked, thank god, (I have not had a boss for 20 years) I have owned a lot of businesses, from a bunch of retail stores, to a huge wholesale operation with 60 employees, then another wholesale operation in a total different industry just to see if I could. ( Also the bad, I have spent at least 1 million over the years trying businesses I should have never gone into, I did it because I thought I was smart, I lost a lot of money, but learned a lot)
Thanks for reading..
My goal. Turn a (hopefully only) $15k investment into a $10 million dollar a year business within 24 months. (last business I started with under $10k, we did $4.5 million in sales in 36 months and sold out to a major player in that industry). To do that I am going to have to go from zero employees (as of last week) to say 100 in under 24 months.
If you guys like I can keep an account of what is actually happening week to week. the trials and tribulations, the hiring's, the firing's, the bills, the sales, etc.
I am not going to tell you what business I am starting, (name or industry) but I will say, I am not reinventing the wheel here. This is a business a ton of people are doing and make a lot of money from, A lot on this site, I just THINK I have come up with a niche, and a different way to market it. So I am going to give it a try. (no need to reinvent the wheel)
Where am I at?
Expenses
- Just rented a small office last week, 800 sq ft. $1,500 down $750 a month (signed a month to month lease, with the ability to move up to 2,000 sq feet quickly, then to 4,000 sq feet, which is about the size I need.)
- Bought 5 used computers - $900
- Bought 6 Voip phones - $1,000
- Bought 6 headsets - $750
- Cable is going to be installed tomorrow. $220 a month
- Phone lines through a voip service $250 a month
- Incorp with proper books, $1,000 (lawyer on retainer)
- Talked to the CPA about becoming my part time book keeper ($200 a month)
- General liability policy $440 for the year. (once I have a few more employees, need to add some sort of workers comp)
- Set up payroll company
- Set up bank account
Office already had some junky old furniture that will do, but I am buying new chairs, some plants and pics. $1,000 bucks
Have main website almost done, as we will be charging on monthly automatic renewals, and sometimes taking payment info by phone, still trying to get the merchant account set up.
Employees,
- Tons of infrastructure work to do, hired a college degreed in marketing guy to be my right hand man. $3,000 a month to start, Add $1,000 a month every month to 9k a month as long as sales justify. (tons of work to do)
- Hired my sales manager, starts Wed, and we will start selling Thursday. She will help write the scripts, make changes and manage the sales force. ($17 an hour plus override comm bonus from sales team)
Goals for this week,
Make 1 sale, set up a sales system, finish website writing,(or just keep updating).
Goals for next week, (once we have the script down) hire 4 more salespeople, pay $13 an hour plus commission.
I am back in the game.... Now it is time to have some fun.
Note about me: I have been a serial entrepreneur for over 20 years, started a small business when I was 20, with no money (no parents money either, they asked me for money), it worked, thank god, (I have not had a boss for 20 years) I have owned a lot of businesses, from a bunch of retail stores, to a huge wholesale operation with 60 employees, then another wholesale operation in a total different industry just to see if I could. ( Also the bad, I have spent at least 1 million over the years trying businesses I should have never gone into, I did it because I thought I was smart, I lost a lot of money, but learned a lot)
Thanks for reading..
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