It would be interesting to hear how you guys started your business

[MonBK]

As the title says above.

Here's my story:

At the age of 15 I went around my neighborhood asking if I could pick up the fallen fruit on the ground.

I then went to the market and sold them as slightly damaged for a penny each.

The following year I did the same thing but now I raised the price to 2 pennies.

As you've probably already have guessed I did the exact same thing the third year with the exception that I now raised the price to 5 pennies.

At the end of the fruit season my father passed away and I inherited 12 million dollars and started my second business.

I'm telling you this story just to show that hard work and determination pays off.

Now let me hear how you got started.

[OmegaJJH]

I turned up for an interview and begged

[Abdullah71601]

I won $400 million on Powerball and squandered it all on English lace doily's from the 19th century.

My employer felt sorry for me and hired me for an obscene salary to find faults in his business.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

I won $400 million on Powerball and squandered it all on English lace doily's from the 19th century.

My employer felt sorry for me and hired me for an obscene salary to find faults in his business.

What did you find?

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by MonBK

What did you find?

He pays too much.

[multimedia]

Stollar!

[Jocke]

Originally Posted by MonBK

As the title says above.

Here's my story:

At the age of 15 I went around my neighborhood asking if I could pick up the fallen fruit on the ground.

I then went to the market and sold them as slightly damaged for a penny each.

The following year I did the same thing but now I raised the price to 2 pennies.

As you've probably already have guessed I did the exact same thing the third year with the exception that I now raised the price to 5 pennies.

At the end of the fruit season my father passed away and I inherited 12 million dollars and started my second business.

I'm telling you this story just to show that hard work and determination pays off.

Now let me hear how you got started.

What was your second business?

[Jocke]

I just buy my auto shop in 1989 and then I have work hard to pay off everything and today I have a great situation.
No loans or credits so today it pays back to me and the day I retire so will can I keep the 70% for myself of what I get.

So I don't complain.

[TK-710]

Originally Posted by Jocke

I just buy my auto shop in 1989 and then I have work hard to pay off everything and today I have a great situation.
No loans or credits so today it pays back to me and the day I retire so will can I keep the 70% for myself of what I get.

So I don't complain.

Congratulations. Great story. Very admirable. I'm always impressed with the personality type that's willing to take a chance like small business owners do. Love hearing their success stories.

There's a local guy, an immigrant from Turkey, who got a flier in the mail advertising that and old dairy plant was going to be sold. I believe it belonged to Kraft. He bought it in 2005 with a SBA loan and hired 5 of the old workers to keep it going. He started making Greek yogurt. In 2007 he was selling his product to one store in LI. Today you can buy it in just about any grocery store under the label Chobani.

You guys/gals with the entrepreneurial spirit and guts to follow your dreams are an impressive bunch.

[Roll the Lex]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

I won $400 million on Powerball and squandered it all on English lace doily's from the 19th century.

My employer felt sorry for me and hired me for an obscene salary to find faults in his business.

That's amazing, I love to hear success stories like that.

After working my day job for several years I decided to quit and start my own business. After a few false starts, I started and got a prop trading company off the ground a few years ago. I invest in the Powerball and/or Megamillions- I buy a ticket when the JP tips 3(that's industry lingo for when the jackpot is $100 million or more).

We've been operating in the red for several years now but only by a few hundred. Surprisingly, the venture capitalists I've pitched my business to would rather invest in a "company" like Uber- $1billion in losses vs. my few hundred?

Anybody know of any investors willing to invest $0.50 to turn it into $200 million? Just might take a few tries is all.

[brandrea]

Mine was happenstance, timing and a bit of being in the right place at the right time.

One of my largest customers the Toronto Sun newspaper, decided to divest non publishing related assets back in 2000. I bought one of their divisions for pennies on the dollar, as it really wasn't worth a whole lot to anyone who didn't know and understand the business.

16 years later it's running strong and provided a steady follow of dividend income, and their is no debt on the balance sheet.

[multimedia]

Originally Posted by JES77

Congratulations. Great story. Very admirable. I'm always impressed with the personality type that's willing to take a chance like small business owners do. Love hearing their success stories.

I couldn't agree more! Always been impressed with this attitude towards life. My parents started their own business from scratch. They were never "super successful", but successful enough and they put roof over our heads (I have two older siblings) and food on the table. My dad run that company until the age of 60 when he decided enough was enough and called it quits. My mum started working as an optician assistant when she was 55 (she could easily have stopped working there and then, but she wanted to try something different the last years of her "work life") and retired at the age of 66. They now both live a very comfortable life, and still always put their children, and grand children, first. Their generosity, is for me, beyond words. All this is possible because they dared to dream and started that company at the age of 23 (dad) and 25 (mum), and worked those long long hours for years. Both my parents came from poor families, so they really had to start from scratch.

As a side note: I remember my dad having a discussion with a friend of his when I was around the age of 15. My dad's friend was wondering if it was difficult for my dad to deal with contract negotiations/salaries etc. I can't remember exactly what my dad said, but one thing that really stuck was that the most important thing for him was to treat his employees with respect. He even admitted that perhaps he was paying them a little bit to much (he had something like +30 employees), but this also meant, together with always trying to be as fair as possible, that they would work those extra long days, even weekends, when asked to do so. Some of them stayed with my parents company their whole life until they retired. That is something that goes a long way in my book, and I'm always very proud to tell that little story. :)

I don't run my own business, so I couldn't personally contribute much to this thread when it comes to my own work life. That's why I chose to share the above instead.

Cheers,
Joe

[azguy]

i bought mine and then slowly acquired others

[superdog]

I've two quick stories:

1. I worked at an accounting company in IT. I had no intention in joining the family business. Hated it, in fact. But my old man fell on hard times, the business slowed significantly and then he had a heart attack.

While in the hospital he asked my brother and I for help. My brother said no, I said yes.

There were 4 employees at the time. I was there alone and knew nothing about running a business.

A few months later, my father was back at work. We worked together for a few years (became great friends) and got everything stable. He retired about 7 years ago. Since then, we have more than quadrupled in size.

2. During that time I took a loan out on my one bedroom condo to buy a defunct boutique fitness center. Over 6 years of nights, weekends and holidays, I (along with an incredible team) built it up to 3 different stores. All very busy stores.

A competitor, much larger than me, decided he wanted to buy it. I told him I could not sell. It was my entire social life (I even met my then fiancé there) and the worth to me, was more than it was worth as a business.

He asked me to tell him what would be worth it for me to sell. I did. He said OK.

I paid cash for my wedding, honeymoon and a new townhouse for my soon to be bride. I put the rest into conservative investment accounts for retirement.

[ecdc]

I started my own law office 12 years ago, after working for an elite boutique and then a huge law firm. There's not much to it -- offer service and quality at least as good as the big guys, for less money. I decided not to have any associates, so if a client calls, they get me. Period. Get it done on time, on budget, and right the first time. Rinse and repeat. 12 years later, it's a business model that works well for me.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

He pays too much.

I assume you haven't told him?

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by MonBK

I assume you haven't told him?

It's in a 394 page audit report. I'm sure he's read it, I only got a 89% pay raise this year.

[rootbeer7]

I'm just about to......I'll let you know next year, in the meantime anyone in the beauty business????

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by rootbeer7

I'm just about to......I'll let you know next year, in the meantime anyone in the beauty business????

I saw you mentioned it before, hope it works out well.

[daveathall]

I didn't have the nerve to start my own business, I became a soldier and for 40 years did as I was told by those of higher rank, I retired at 58 mortgage free and with two good pensions.

Those that have the courage to start their own business have my admiration.

[830.1]

I don't have my own business, but I got into my line of work because I was like hmmm, bad guys. Yep, I should chase then.


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[MonBK]

Originally Posted by Jocke

What was your second business?

The one after my apple adventure of course.

[rootbeer7]

Originally Posted by MonBK

I saw you mentioned it before, hope it works out well.

thanks Mon. Being a hairdresser I've had so many clients over the years want me to sell their products, test things for them etc etc. My product was one of those that you just go YES!!!

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by rootbeer7

thanks Mon. Being a hairdresser I've had so many clients over the years want me to sell their products, test things for them etc etc. My product was one of those that you just go YES!!!

Did you find a distributor in the US?

[Angrypuppy]

Fruit, business as well. I'll try to make a short story shorter. I grew up in orchard country. I had grown up and started what is still my primary job. One day my wife says "hey, do know anyone we can get cheap apples from? I want to do some canning". I reached out to a friend that owns orchards and a packing plant with cold storage.

He gave me a price and I went over the mountains (3 hours) to get the 40# of apples. The quality was great. On the way back I started doing some math in my head. When I got home I called him and asked if that was a price for friends or could I get some more. He said I could have as much as I wanted.

We started bringing it back across the mountains in my pickup truck. From the first trip we were profitable. Within a year we had a lease with Penske and were bringing 10,000# at a time across.



I'm still primarily an employee though.


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[brandrea]

Originally Posted by superdog

I've two quick stories:

1. I worked at an accounting company in IT. I had no intention in joining the family business. Hated it, in fact. But my old man fell on hard times, the business slowed significantly and then he had a heart attack.

While in the hospital he asked my brother and I for help. My brother said no, I said yes.

There were 4 employees at the time. I was there alone and knew nothing about running a business.

A few months later, my father was back at work. We worked together for a few years (became great friends) and got everything stable. He retired about 7 years ago. Since then, we have more than quadrupled in size.

2. During that time I took a loan out on my one bedroom condo to buy a defunct boutique fitness center. Over 6 years of nights, weekends and holidays, I (along with an incredible team) built it up to 3 different stores. All very busy stores.

A competitor, much larger than me, decided he wanted to buy it. I told him I could not sell. It was my entire social life (I even met my then fiancé there) and the worth to me, was more than it was worth as a business.

He asked me to tell him what would be worth it for me to sell. I did. He said OK.

I paid cash for my wedding, honeymoon and a new townhouse for my soon to be bride. I put the rest into conservative investment accounts for retirement.

Great story Seth

[amg55]

It was my grandmother who got me interested in business. It happened way back when I was a kid aged around 7 or 8. I was into comic books big time and of courses had a big collection of it. My grandmother said to me "why don't you lay them out nicely on a table outside our house and loan it out to other kids who can't afford to buy them for a small fees". And that was exactly what I did and it worked. It gave a small taste of what business is all about, to which I really loved. God bless her soul, I miss her dearly.

[artschool]

i started at a desk in my spare bedroom.

i had an office with staff.

i hit a recession.

i went back to the bedroom

i now have an office with staff again

[sinncollector]

thanks for the inspiring stories, looking forward to more! i don't have one to contribute as i've never had the entrepreneurial streak. neither does my wife, which is ironic considering she spent a lot of time (most of her childhood and then some) in their family business

[JasoninDenver]

I started my first law practice when I was offered to buy into the firm I worked for at the time for $50,000.00 with the understanding that I could increase my share of my generated receivables from 25% to 40%.

At that point I decided to take out credit lines to open up my own shop. Since day one, I have made more than I ever would made in a more traditional law firm situtation. However the biggest benefit has been having TOTAL control over my own life. I rarely work more than 32 hours a week (except when in trial, of course).

I am now phasing out of law and into a new venture where I will be coaching and consulting small business owners and professionals looking to start or improve their own businesses.

I do not think I can ever retire (due to a need to always being engaged) but am fortunate to have the opportunity to work for pleasure. This is the benefit of running a successful business.