so I'm coming to a point in my life and business that I can either try and do business full time or keep doing it part-time and work my main job and my business. so I just have questions because as this grows I'm going to add more services I just wanna know when you went from part-time to full time what made you go full time into it any advice and help is highly thanked
When it got to the point that one or the other has to go. A part time business is just that major customers will steer away from a part timer because when they need you services they don''t want to wait till you get off work or on the weekend. the first year was the toughest but when you get serious they will rely on you more
I agree. Try have enough cash so don’t have to pull anything out of business for first year. Especially if business is wrenching
When all my major bills were paid off.. house, cars.. When I could get on wife’s health insurance & how much it would cost.. When I was making more money AT HOME, than I was at work.. When I had 2 years worth of bill money in the bank.. U HAVETO know how much your monthly bills r.. including EVERYTHING.. electric, booze, cigarettes, car insurance, cable bill.. I saved OVER 100.00 a week in booze money by quitting.. no stress = no need to drink.. seriously.. lol
When you can afford to not draw money from your buissness for about 6 months you will end up in a cash crunch not having a 9 to 5 until your work load and buissness cash flow pick up that's going to be at least 3 or 4 months to find an equilibrium in the best case first year will he a little touch and 2 or 3 years in be prepared for the taxes you cant spend everything you make contrary to popular belief to lower tax liability No debt is pretty much a must in my opinion not including a mortgage this helps with low cash flow if you start doing commercial accounts the 45 to 60 day pay customers sneak up on you
I went full time when I was consistently making more in a weekend, than I was during the week at my job. Bought the best equipment I could afford at the time, and slowly upgraded equipment as I went along. Started with a pickup truck and a dump trailer, and a 2 ton mini, gradually progressed to where we are now, which is 3 dump trucks a couple of shovels, loader and a CTL. I only just brought my sister on full time, but I made damn sure I had a years worth of her salary in the bank, in addition to all my overhead before she made the switch. My advice is not to rush things, and don't get in over your head with respect to debt. Also don't forget that doing the actual work is probably on 20% of the job. When it's full time you've got to be the marketer, estimator, accountant, book keeper, lawyer, mechanic, janitor...Or at least have enough cash on hand to pay all those people if you can't do it yourself. In my experience, the number 1 killer of small businesses is insufficient operating capital.
And on top of ALL THAT... is how different and drastically YOUR ATTITUDE CHANGES when u have a goal in mind..!! That 40 hr work week doesn’t suc as much.!! U just work, work, work & keep your head down and smile at the a-holes around you that will b there till they close the doors or die.. all because they couldn’t get a job anywhere else.. all good advice here..but the main takeaway in my opinion is :: 1- Pay all your debts off..or have a plan TO pay them off w/o a steady 40.. 2- figure up ALL your bills and have a plan to pay them w/o a steady 40.. Or have THE MONEY IN THE BANK to pay them for 2 years.. 3- HEALTH INSURANCE.!!! U GOTTA have it.. it’s the law.. If u can get on the wife’s, find out how much extra it costs.. My only b!tch is I wish I did it in my 30’s liked I talked about way back when.. instead of waiting till I had gray hair..
I worked with a fella. He was a cement finisher. He said he had his own business. Cement work, interlocking brick, retaining walls. No machinery. Anything he needed, he rented. I remember he was well known for his work. He mostly worked out of his pickup truck. He said he never cheaped out on a job. If the customer wanted corners cut, he could get someone else to do it. After the bills were paid, he said he split the profit 3 ways. Him, his partner, and a 3rd back to the company. If he needed something personal, he never took money from the company. If the company needed a new cut off saw, the money was in the bank. He always said if you hired guys to do a job, and it went poorly, pay your men before you pay yourself. Bad back, and a bad divorce, and he was driving skidsteer for us. One thing I have noticed working for brothers that own a business. If your men respect you they will do anything for you, and while it may be tempting to fire someone for doing something wrong, accidents happen, and good men are hard to find. One brother would send a guy home for anything. The other brother brother brings them back the next day if they are a good man. One of the guys here has been here for 40 years, and has only seen 4 guys fired for good, and it was for steeling. You're probably not thinking about employees yet, but you never know.
In a perfect world you'd have tons of money in the bank, paid for equipment, etc but it's not always reality. Unless you wait years and work your *** off doing both, at some point it just makes sense to make the leap and take the chance. I can make more in 1 day working for myself then I made working for someone else in a week. When I really started I had massive payments to the tune of over $7k a month for equipment, trucks, and insurance. It's tough and cash flow was the biggest problem. Robbing peter to pay paul for the first few years. But I don't regret making the leap, because it meant getting all my stuff paid for sooner and being comfortable now. If you have the work available, and reasonable payments that you know you can manage without the steady paycheck knowing sometimes it will be 2-3 months to get paid, and possibly the rare job you wait a 1-2 years or never get paid, then I see no reason not to. More then the money is the freedom. I love being my own boss and not answering to anyone. Not that I ever worked for someone else much but I realized early I could never go my life working for someone else.
i know my debts and bills and such I'm thinking of seeing how this year goes to pay everything off and if everything goes right then take the leap. I got called to mow hot dog stands, strip clubs, cemetery, churches, a housing complex go from foot-long winners to tittys to the holly ground all in one day but some weekends I can make more than a whole months pay at my job which just makes me wanna quit but then some weeks I'm rained out so
Carolina that's the funniest damn thing I've read on HEF in a while. You might want to consider a career in stand up comedy.
if it makes you feel any better the club asked how I wanted to be paid and I told them anything but singles just because you never know who had them. It's bad thought the girls in that club pretty good get paid then go back the same day to blow my money circle of life right there
That's how things are, you gonna have to trust yourself and take the leap. Btw CM is right you might want to start stand up comedy.
I sure hope he mentioned to the church staff where he was prior
if it gets brought up it means someone at church has been to the club because that means they saw my business cards at the bar. I don't think anyone is gonna call the pastor to tell them they found my cards at the club. If they do they might have to explain why they were there before I do mine is simple and easy to explain because ya know money theirs would be a lot more complicated.
Is it wrong to attend both haha
depends on the week if there is money to go to both but if there is only enough money for one I guess I'll have to pick between tittys and beer or books and priest
When you can afford to NOT work. Its tough, but I've been there. When I was in business for myself, I made less money than the men I employed- until I got out of the field and stayed in the "office". I adjusted my prices according to the amount of work the crews got done without me in the field with them, and I started making money on each one of them. But that got old too. I was creating jobs for others to abuse. The stress of being the boss, my name and reputation being at risk for people who don't care or have anything at stake, its 25 hours a day 8 days a week. Being a solo Op and being happy is much easier, but if you win 95% of the bids you put out, you're too cheap.
I totally agree with this, and it's exactly why 4 years in I am still just myself. I am considering trying to find someone semi-retired to help me here and there if this year is busy but beyond that I really have no interest in hiring people. It sucks sometimes working a 14-16 hour day to get something done, or working the weekend because it's just you instead of being able to send an employee. But I think for the time spent overall, the best profit you can make is in a solo operation, unless you make the jump to like 50+ employees and are a well oiled machine then you could make more for easier. The only time i'd say it's different is if you're in a business where you have 1-2 employees and are spending 90%+ of the time all together on the same site then it's not nearly as bad. My brother is around 20 employees in the summer and about 10 in the winter and it's a constant nightmare, works way more hours and stress then me and I know hour for hour put into the business, I make more profit at the end of the day. Other part I like is, I can just decide i'm going to close up for a few months in the winter. Well I can, i've been saying it and it didn't happen the last two winters.