Need independence!

[Taner]

Hey guys, I'm new here and in need of a bit of advice.

I'm 20 years old and I've had countless opportunities to get a head start and put my foot in the door of the business world but one way or another things always go wrong.

First my father came to me and asked me to help him run a cafe, so I quit my
Job and jumped at it. Things didn't go so well, working with family barely does and I basically got shafted. I then started a mobile car detailing company seeing as I had no money and had the equipment and chemicals in the garage anyway. It went ok but I soon realized there is HEAPS of competition and clients seemed very loyal so that didn't go too far either..

Basically, ive wasted the money I could have used on something more promising and now I'm in a rut. I can't stand the thought waking up every morning to make someone else money, I WANT to do something on my own but I dont know where to begin. How did all you guys get started on your entrepreneur careers?

Thanks in advance for any advice thrown my way.

[worktraveldream]

Firstly, forget about making money... Anyone who tries to make money, ultimately fails. Look at what you're passionate about - see if someone else would be interested in it.

For me, I don't really "invent" things, so I started working online and eventually after 9 months, I earn enough to travel the world and live a life few others do.

However, I was able to do this because I slugged out a few hard years in an office and worked my arse off to gain a lot of experience.

[Taner]

I can't seem to think of any way to share my passion though, they are so general. For example I love video games, I love music, clothes, drawing, movies and girls. These are my passions and I can't think of any way to turn any into a successful business.

Also it's hard to not think about money when the lack of it is constantly bringing me down.
I know once I get going my motivation will make me unstoppable, it's just getting started that's got me worried, I have no idea what to do or how to do it.

[jrockfl]

I agree with worktraveldream, anyone who tries to make make ultimately fails. Do what you are passionate about.
For me, I have always been interested in computers, when I was 19 I started making web sites. Not for money, but because it was fun and I really enjoyed it.

A few years later I got a job as web designer. I have had many web development jobs and really started loving e-commerce web sites.

I created an e-commerce web site for myself selling products. My company is a little over 2 years old and doing great. Find something you are passionate about doing and the rest will fall into place.

[daveb1]

I would not completely disregard the notion of working for someone else until you figure out what you want to do on your own. You should be looking at getting job while you are in the interim of searching for your entrepreneurial talents and passion. Having a job will bring in the money that is stressing you out and you never know someone you meet or something you learn might be an inspiration for you going out on your own. What areas of work are you most skilled at? What type of industries could you see yourself working in for the time being? What is your educational level?

[SC93]

I really don't understand why people always say forget about money. Money is the ONLY reason I started doing what I do. Well, first I started a lawn business... for money... and decided it didn't make enough. Being a guy, I found a female that wanted to start a residential cleaning business and have been doing it since the 90's. I have never loved a minute of it. Well, let me take that back... back when I had a lot of employees I LOVED when they brought in the checks. Because I made money back then, I don't have to work much now but I'm still cleaning houses on my own. I make $25-$40 an hour and hate every minute of it and always will. But it has afforded me to be able to be off when my grandson gets out of school and spend a lot of time with him and we still live in a penthouse apartment, have 0 debt and a 2011 van to travel in. Actually, 24 hours from now we are headed to Key West thanks to a business I have hated but even so, I knew it was a money maker and stayed with it. I remember when my family and friends thought it was a joke when I said I started a house cleaning company. Now my sister has one too... and hates every minute of it.

Now I'll tell you why I stayed with house cleaning. REPEAT CUSTOMERS. I've had several other side businesses so let's take carpet cleaning for example. You advertise your butt off... clean the carpet and if you get them as a repeat customer you are very lucky and even if you do.......... it is months or years down the road. House cleaning customers are every week or every 2 weeks... over and over and over and over again. Yeah... yeah... lots of competition... blah/blah/blah... I was out to make money not worry about competition. To this day I have NO IDEA what other cleaning companies charged or how they clean... I was busy running MY company not worrying about what others are doing. When I had carpet cleaning as an add on I did hear from my chemical dealer the going rate was .27 sf... I charged .50 sf because that is what I needed to make after paying the tech to do it.

[SC93]

It takes money to make money is also a myth. When I started the cleaning business I had $2.30... but that was in the 90's and people will say you couldn't do that today. Well, an ex employee text me around the first part of December (this month just a few days ago, December 2011)... she wanted to start a house cleaning business and has $0. Luckily she has the experience she got when she worked for me because I had never cleaned a house in my life when I started mine. Anyway, we talked about how to do things... very little really... she told me she was ready to start and I told her how. Within a week she had her first house to clean for $200 and spent $0. She took that money and spent $85 on every thing she will need to clean with. Now she is set for any job she can ever get. So she started with $0... got a job that paid $200 (used that person's cleaning supplies)... spent $85 on her own supplies and ended the day with $115 profit. Mind you she isn't legal but why should she get legal? They will just blow her money as careless as they do everyone else's so why bother? If I had to to do over again I would never have registered with the state once I moved. But that's a whole other thread.

I do agree... never stop dreaming... ya never know when that 1 dream will send you over the top!

[Taner]

My education level isn't very high, I had to keep moving when I was younger and grew tired of starting new schools so I got my first job and even though I was earning $300 a week I LOVED the fact that I had money, I don't really have any qualifications so working for someone else seems like a waste of time seeing as it isn't going to provide the future I want. The areas I'm most skilled at would be dealing with people, I've been a sales rep before, I just enjoy talking to people for money. But my problem is I can't think of any way to turn my passions into profit. Comic book stores don't make much from what I know and here in australia there are way too many video game retailers.

Ive been trying to think of something for such a long time and I feel like no ideas are coming to me, but I do know for sure that I want to work for myself, I know that's the only way I'll live the life that I want to live and be financially independent. So many people make money online and I really can't understand how, how do the little sites compete with the bigger ones, it seems like an impossible market to penetrate when you have so many sites doing the same thing.

By the way thank you all for the input.

[worktraveldream]

SC93 - Firstly, good on you for becoming monetarily successful. You had a goal to make serious money at any cost, and you achieved it.

However, working every day and hating it is just bad... I work 4hrs a day and travel the world with no debt and a growing savings account and I love every minute of it. I love it because I enjoy doing what I do.

I bought a one way ticket to the Republic of Georgia, and for times there, had no money and was doing data entry jobs for $4-5hr to keep going. I still enjoyed it - now I do websites, consult businesses on change management (never studied for this by the way) and do some programming here and there. This year alone I've been paid to think up slogans for coffee chains, ghost written an A-Z childrens book and writting countless articles.

Taner, back to you... See how general some of the work I've done this year is? I enjoy it because it's varied - you do not have to stick to one thing. I get bored easy, so I apply for stuff in areas I've never even thought about - preparing to do a "voice over" contract, haha that will be fun.

[jrockfl]

SC93,

It does take some type of capital to start a business. You said your ex employee texted you. She has to have a phone right? You need to purchase a cell phone, have a phone plan, etc. If she drove to the first job, she needed a car and gas. All of these are condidered expenses.

I know this is off subject, but you stated she is not legal. So does that mean you paid her "under the table" and you hired illegal immigrants? If that is the case, then you should be shut down, fined and sent to jail. Of course she should be legal, pay her share of taxes like rest of us. But from your comment about doing it again and not registering with the state, we have totally different mindsets.

Taner, working for someone else is not a waste of time. You don't have to invent the wheel, just perfect it for you.

"So many people make money online and I really can't understand how, how do the little sites compete with the bigger ones"
I make money online with my e-commerce store. I started off with 1 product and now I have over 50. The money I make is invested back into the company to purchase more products.
Sure, there are bigger stores that sell what I sell, but I sell it at a lower price and try to provide the best customer service possible.

[SC93]

She has had the phone for 14 years. She already had gas in the car she already owns... none of it an out of pocket expense. What you did was fast talk and I don't fall for fast talk... do you live in W D C?

She is not legal because she will not pay taxes and isn't registered with the state she lives in. If I had to do it over again I wouldn't pay a dime in taxes and I would have had every credit card on earth and ran it sky high and told them to kiss my (*). All the gov does is blow the money we pay them so if I did it over again... they wouldn't get a dime to blow of mine! And for hiring illegals... am I the last one to talk to about that! Fast Food lost me when I drove to the KFC drive thru and I had no clue what she said. While most are good cleaners, my customers have always preferred someone that speaks English... which is good because I would never hire anyone that didn't. By the way... my best friend is from India (legally) so I am not racist.


Very few people are debt free and stay that way... I've never even applied for a credit card. I actually don't know how to use one. Cash has always been king at my house... even before Dave Ramsey. I love my life and I'm not sure many people live in such a happy state of mind as I do... I do it without drugs. I don't wish to travel the world but we do leave at noon for Key West. If someone like yourself likes to travel you have the perfect life. My girlfriend loves to travel and leaves for Germany in a few weeks. I like driving and seeing the sights along the way. I don't wish to buy in to any type of business but if you sell a product let me know what it is... if we like it we will buy it.

[bizz]

Taner i understand you very well. it's just a matter of time. you'll figure out what to do. go your own way and you really don't need a lot of money to start up a business. working for someone else is definitely not the best way to become financially succesful. those who set up businesses and work for themselves take their destiny into their own hands and turn out really well.

[Samen]

Hi, I'm not native speaker of English language so I hope that what I want to write will be understandable enough. I'm 26 years old and I'm working since I was 16. I started to work when I was 16 because I grown up in poor family and I had different situations in my financial affairs while I was accumulating my experience in order to work with good results. I'd say that I didn't like my work while I was working first two year as I was in need to do that. In spite of that I became quite successful in a few years after start and I know some people which don't like what they do very much but they make good money from it and satisfied with rest part of life. So I wouldn't say that love to type of business activity is crucial. I know that it's important to have a concrete goal in your mind and step by step tasks which lead you to this goal. Might be this is very obvious, but this is business and in business field we have concrete figures when we're talking about independence. So you need to make money and I know that it is very important to have concrete goal which you are able to describe in amount of money and you need to figure out concrete steps for achieving your goals. So while we are talking about love to what we do and other things we still need to operate with concrete figures and have concrete plan. Just wanted to write for you what I think about it, hope it is helpful.

Cheers

[Taner]

Thank you all for the feed back and I appreciate all the advice you guys have given me, I feel like I'm at a roadblock mentally and there's no way through it, I'm going to focus on this now and hopefully come up with something cheap to start up. Just have to figure out what it is that I want to do.. I've been thinking, more than money and more than my passions, the one and only thing I want out of my life besides lots and lots and lots of money is just being my own boss, being in charge of my own life, the idea of that just excites me! I just have to think of a way to make it happen, I hope an idea comes to me as it has come to all of you, I just hope it comes to me while I'm still young!

Also if anyone else feels like sharing how they got into the business world it would be awesome!
Thank you all again!

[jrockfl]

I'm sure everyone wants lots of money and to be their own boss, you are not the only one. It comes down to taking your idea and making it happen. It may also take many ideas until you get one that works. As far as getting into the business world, just do it.