Breaking a certain level of sales

[Ruman]

All,
Over the last 5-6 years, I have consistantly been able to achieve ~80k-100k in gross, with $40-60k in net profits. I did real estate investments for a couple years, ran a t-shirt shop for a year, cleaned out bank foreclosures. All of them have been mediocre in profits, but nothing has really gotten me to be able to break that ceiling. Sure the money is ok enough to live on, but not what I'm looking for.

I can't decide if it's that either my ideas aren't sustainable enough to get to that point, I don't have the funds to do it, or passion to stick with one idea. Anyone have any similar experiences?

[AndyMc]

I think part of the problem is your doing too many things at one time. If you spread your self too thin, doing too many things at once (which I have done)... you won't be able to achieve the maximum potential of any one venture. Maybe you could look at your ventures and see which one you enjoy the most and has the most potential and focus all your energy on that one..

[Ruman]

Yeah, I think that could be the case. I see the bright and shinys and go for them. The bank foreclosure cleanouts can be very lucrative, as the jobs are higher dollar($800-$10k), fairly low time investment(more management of people, as I have a crew). The downside to that biz is that typically one or two customers is 80% of your business.

The t-shirt biz is low dollar amounts($8-$15/shirt), but it's more stable since it's a high customer base, and many customers make up your base, which is less risky. The downside is there is a large time-investment(and/or dollar) up front to be able to build that customer base.

Real estate investments can be lucrative, just purchased a home to fix up 1.5 weeks ago, and hope to turn it around in about 3 months for a $10k profit, but it's very capital intensive. Lots of dollars out of pocket. If you could have 3 going at once, maybe, but if you don't have the funds for that, then not quite as lucrative.

So currently I am doing items #1 and #3, as well as working full-time as an IT manager/project manager/process improvement person. Very flexible job schedule, which allows me to do other things. This is my first W-2 job(I'm 25). I netted about 125% of my gross salary on my "side" business last year, and should do close to the same this year. But job provides affordable health insurance, which is critical.

Decisions decisions.

[questeds]

I was listening to an excellent lecture today from the creator of AOL. His advice was the 3 P's - Passion, People and Persistance - by the sounds of it, you might be lacking the passion in the endeavours you are doing. Take a step back, don't think so much about what makes money, think about what you enjoy, or what could make a difference. Once you have the passion, people will come to you and persistance will be easy!

[Lili Cruchelow]

I agree, it sounds like you need to focus. Find your passion and create a niche out of it. Don't worry about getting stagnant. As long as you are passionate you will find ways to build your business.