I bit the bullet again

[Derbygal]

and became a business owner for the 4th time.









Will I ever learn??? :thud:

[CFBall]

coool.....investments can be great.

you'll benefit more when its Your Passion and joy though.

best wishes!!

[Playa]

Congrats.

[WilliamJ]

and became a business owner for the 4th time.









Will I ever learn???
treat this company like a business and not a job and that will help propell you to the next level with it.

read the emyth. (http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280/sr=8-1/qid=1158492840/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5525817-8136764?ie=UTF8&s=books]the emyth.)

[VA49er]

Owning one's own business is a lot harder than most people think. Sure, it's nice to be your own boss, etc but when you start working 90 hour weeks, take no vacation for three years, and realized everything revolves around you, it can get stressful. Other than that, best of luck!! :)

[Derbygal]

Owning one's own business is a lot harder than most people think. Sure, it's nice to be your own boss, etc but when you start working 90 hour weeks, take no vacation for three years, and realized everything revolves around you, it can get stressful. Other than that, best of luck!!

Thanks for the advice everyone, feel free to throw out all advice/tips/hints/tricks/whatever my way, I'm a newbie in this venue. WilliamJ - I'm ordering that book, maybe it'll help if things get out of hand like VA describes above, but I seriously don't anticipate an hour devoted per day at most (when it gets going - if that for the most part) to this business as being that serious, and this wasn't a major investment so if it falls flat it's not going to hurt.

I really wasn't looking to do anything again, this one just kind of fell into my lap...crunched the numbers over and over and over until my eyes hurt and still couldn't see a down side to this, so I went ahead and invested. The initial leap wasn't bad, the equivalent of a poker night for some of you guys, so I really don't stand to lose much even if I sit on it forever and don't take it any further. My house is zoned for a home business and I have all the necessary federal, state, tax, etc. crap already from previous ventures which I've kept current for unknown reasons, so those aren't factored in.

I won't be sitting on this one though, because unlike my previous businesses this one requires that I handle inventory, LOTS of inventory. Those that have been to my house know that I can't sit on all that, I haven't the space for it, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what to do with the pallets when they get here next week. I guess that's what's mostly on my mind...having all that fucking inventory to deal with. Even when I sold Mary Kay (which I don't count as being a business owner), I didn't keep that much inventory and besides, that shit is so small you can store it in a cabinet and be done with it. Then there's the issue of me being a smoker (spare me the lectures please) and I need to keep that smell from permeating my inventory, so it can't be stored inside my house (or at least the main living areas). Garage is really out because of the potential exposure to extreme temperatures, humidity, critters and whatnot. The idea of a rental unit SUCKS, between the cost of the unit itself, my gas, my time, etc., I dropped that as an option right off the bat.

Before someone says it, yes, there was the potential for drop-shipping. Screw that. I've never trusted anyone else with my money before and I'm not about to do that now. I prefer personal service in my own dealings and I prefer to give my customers the same quality service. Besides all that, why would I pay for someone else to do it when I could have it all shipped here for free and do it myself? My own supplies for shipping to customers are free, and the profit margin on a rock bottom discount sale of even one item is so great that I'm contemplating giving all customers free shipping. We're not talking big ticket items either!

I'm trying a whole different venue this time...my businesses in the past were sucessful enough that I either sold them or closed them on my own because they were getting too big and I didn't want to expand or mess with them anymore. Maybe I have ADD when it comes to my bussinesses, I get bored quickly, but those businesses were so different from this one though! Maybe that's partially why I took this leap - I haven't been burned badly enough in the past to know any better, which is why I wonder if I'll ever learn. :(

[WilliamJ]

i am no expert by any stretch, nut make sure you have a realistic business model to go by. nudget for marketing.

[slydevl]

and became a business owner for the 4th time.









Will I ever learn??? :thud:

Are prostitutes really business owners?

[Honeygirl]

Congratulations on your new venture Derby!

Regarding the pellets - would it be worth investing in revamping the garage area to store them? I don't know the ins and outs, but would it be worth looking into? I dunno - thought it was worth chucking that in :).

Good luck chica!

[VA49er]

DON"T max out any credit cards while getting the business up and going. I can't tell you the number of people that came to me to refinance credit card debt two years into their little venture. Told them no every time.

[meatpile]

DON"T max out any credit cards while getting the business up and going. I can't tell you the number of people that came to me to refinance credit card debt two years into their little venture. Told them no every time.

Credit Cards are awesome for a small business - you just have to pay them off. If you can't pay the card (s) off quick - keep transferring balances.

Shit, I started a company on a credit card. It beat the shit out of a bank, and it was paid off in 2 months.

[Derbygal]

Sly - I don't know...ask one!

VA49er & Meatpile - Thanks, but I don't use credit cards. I can sse the value of using them for some business purposes and whatnot, but I prefer not to use them for my purchases (unless it's an emergency or a necessity and then I pay them right back off).

Honey - Thanks :) I seriously considered the garage, attic, and every other place I could possibly think of. In the end I bought 10 3-drawer units and a label maker - thought that would be plenty - and planned to place them in the garage for a start.

Go Figure...I've been sick (saw a MD on Monday) - my manager threw a fit on Tuesday because I came in and kicked me out of the office and telling me she didn't want to see me Wednesday either. Here's where all that plays into the business. I got a call Monday that the carpet I ordered was in (a week early) and the installers were ready to schedule installation. Originally I told them to wait until next week, but since I was being confined at home, I called and they said they could come out Wednesday.

So yesterday the installers show up bright and early (I had the whole house re-carpeted), and not two hours later here comes a UPS truck with a delivery for me...OMG...the STOCK!!! Apparently I bought more than I thought I did (some things are still on back order) and I thought the items would be smaller (for some reason I trusted the catalog measurements). Nope. Bigger. Much BIGGER. So I spent the day yesterday in my garage, amidst all of my furniture (removed for the carpet installation), checking in and organizing my inventory. Everything is packaged for resale, so some things are still in plastic bags, some are in their own display canisters, while others came with hang loops for hanging displays. The drawers work great, except even though some things don't need to be in drawers now (freeing up drawer space), I didn't buy enough. I seriously bought out one area Target store's supply of these drawers, guess I'll hit up another one and buy out theirs too. :(

Round-a-bout and we're back to the storage issue again. Since I've just had the carpet replaced in every originally carpeted room in my house, I've decided not to smoke inside so the carpet doesn't get the smoke smell, and I'm smoking in the garage. Great! Issue solved! Store it all inside now! Ummmm...where the hell do you store massive amounts of drawer units when you have a house already so full of furniture that there isn't a single wall of space available? :thud:

Note: I'm still at home sick, sounding worse but feeling much better. I called in to work today and was threatened again not to come in. They want me out until next Monday (we'll see). In any event, I'm here playing musical drawer units trying to house this crap. For now it's taking up space in my bedroom, but it can't stay there for long as I'm still moving odds and ends back into my house from yesterday and the space's previous occupant will return. This SUCKS.

[plutosgirl]

Derby, good for you for having the guts to start something up!