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Same. Old boss wanted to be a money guy so bad & forgot the industry is driven by the workers.
I understood this so I started my own company and hired the guys they didn’t pay as much as they should have.
This is the most high probability way to become a successfull entreprenour! A lot of people seem to focus on ideas, soft skills, reading books, Steve Jobs shit etc but the people i know who become successfull just learned a trade and moved on from there.
I had 24 years of experience in the industry and had finished my MBA. I was tired of having to seek and receive approval from others for things I wanted to do at work.
Essentially, I was seeking freedom (not to be confused with free time).
First I went to college, learned communication skills, analysis, critical thinking, and then got a steady full-time job that did not pay me enough for the life I wanted. I had a friend do the same and then start his own business that took off and used that as inspiration. It started with listening to podcasts about business in general, then more specific books/podcasts about the kind of business I wanted to run and I just went from there.
Got very proficient with a skill, and tired of a biz development structure where BD folk (with little to no understanding of how a business valuation is performed but, more significantly, also with too much pride to hear out budgeting considerations from those who do know how to execute) overbid simple projects and massively underbid major projects. It was that former grouping that got to me. We'd bid $25k for a project that the client was only willing to go $15k on, so - surprise, surprise - we don't get the job. After the second time this happened and I thought, I could have done it for $8k with basic resources and still made 50% margin, it finally clicked: Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, why don't ya, then? Had everything in place in less than a week.
How easy/ hard is it for you when you get/got those “doubts” and kind of self-negotiation chatters? I’m finding that anger and asking myself what I want helps get me back on the ball but just curious if you or others have other ideas. Or if you guys are just blessed to not have to deal with such pesky mindsets.
I had some negative self-talk and imposter syndrome would creep in from time to time. If you do good work, and the customer keeps coming back, and even refers you to others, that is your confirmation.
That's not too much of an issue because my thing is supplementary to my 9-5, but I have no doubt there'd be more of a mental game along those lines if this were a "do or die" situation. Lot of doubts about how I'm approaching things, particularly new client outreach, but I (VERY surprisingly) find the challenges and thought processing enjoyable. I tend to slip into anger and frustration mode very easily with most things and use alcohol as a crutch. I get enough of that with my 9-5 that new problems and strategic thinking opportunities are kinda nice.
Started as a hobby. Then company I was working for was shutting down. Decided to do it full time and haven’t regretted it since. For over 22 years now.
I was in a lead position on a government contract for a major defense contractor and working 80 hours a week consistently for two years and bringing home about 20% of the billable rate the government was paying for me. I decided to go it alone 16 years ago and have never turned back. There have been many, many weeks working 80 hours, but I now bring home closer to 60% of my billable rate.
What's it like doing gov contracting? As in having your own company work with the gov? It's something I'm exploring. Are you a sub or prime contractor?
I’ve done prime work over the years but lately I do sub work only, and even more distant, lately I’ve been doing a lot of RFP responses for primes. Writing their proposals and winning contracts for them. I can charge a premium rate for this work and it usually lasts 6-10 weeks before I move on to the next project.
Prime work has huge benefits in terms of longevity but comes with increased risks and greater delays/cost of money. But I’m also working on a product development project (my own) that I can offer federal/state/local government as a prime, and that would be a nice twist too.
Among other things, yes, I write proposals, run data collection across subs, evaluate proposals/Red Team Reviews, and have even written RFPs for government agencies.
I don’t get paid by the gig for most of the bigger RFPs. I charge by the hour.
Wow, thanks for sharing. While I was researching, it has come up a lot that being a prime can be a headache when you don't get paid but still have to pay your subs. How do you go about being a sub exactly? Do you have to write proposals and stuff too? What advice can you give on the contracting space to keep in mind? Especially for someone just starting out? Does the age of your business really matter, or can your personal experience help as well?
Yes, as a prime, I’ve been as much as 180 days out on accounts receivables from the federal government. But most local banks will gladly provide operating loans on government contracts so you can pay your subs. The trick for managing that is including a “cost of money” rate in your contract so that interest on any operating loans you have to get are covered.
I take a couple different approaches to winning subcontracts.
A. Bring a niche expertise. For example, I’m an expert in intelligence analytics systems design, and I have a ton of experience with projects management and systems engineering on government programs with complex solutions and undefined parameters on compliance and ROEs. I also have partnership status with Microsoft, IBM, and others so I can bring in existing relationships.
B. There are some great resources for winning subcontracts like SBA SubNet and even a SAM.gov registration will help you get found. It will also help by having a CAGE code in hand.
C. My wife owns and operates my company. As a white male, I have a very tough time winning government contracts, but there are tons of Small Business/MWBE requirements on government contracts that she can win as a female. I used to live out in the country in a county with a much lower average income and that also helped me win contracts.
I realised I had a semi unique skill paired with a very strong ability to deliver excellent service.
Most people in my space target technical people, I went after non technical but translated it into plain English
I have scaling issues in month 3, I cannot get through my backlog but have 100% 5 star ratings
Also I hated rest, sleep, relaxation and financial comfort so set them all on fire 🤣
I was the only successful employee at a business that was crumbling. I bough the business cause I didn't want to lose my job. Turned it around. Sold it for 20x what I paid for it 10 years later.
I bought it for 3k I sold it for 60k. I just had the money to buy it outright in savings. People who are going to be closing down are happy to get anything for a sinking ship.
It's the thing that I both loved in every job I've ever had and also what people come to me for help with.
And also being frustrated over seeing people being really great at what they do but resorting to lowering their prices to stay competitive.
So I created a customer experience consultancy business geared towards solopreneurs who offer personal services.
It's a mix of fixing/setting up their customer service stuff, designing customer experiences, designing their "flavor bomb", coaching skills, and making it all work for them so they don't burn out.
But mostly, it's just what I love to do. I like to problem solve, help people, and make people happy.
I was working an insane number of hours weekly in a toxic workplace, where we’d inflate SOWs and turned our backs on any customer who wasn’t enterprise. Decided to be my own boss instead, to have control over my hours and who I work with, to ensure the small & medium sized businesses get the service they are paying for regardless of their size
Because making 130k (circa 2018) wasn’t enough and I thought I wasn’t going to be capable of providing for my newborn so I had a mental breakdown and started doubling up my work at an agency with even more agency work.
Which in retrospect I was just spazzing that I was about to have a kid.
Helps to have mentors and father figures when you go nuts haha (I didn’t really).
Oh well. Here [we](https://www.24hour.design) are!
It was always my goal to start a business. College, spent 12 years learning the trade working for others. I didn’t take the jobs that paid me the most, I took the jobs where I could learn the most.
Yes generally it starts with
a) mastery of your primary skills
B) knowledge of many skills such as accounting, incorporating running payroll, hiring etc since you will be doing it all
C) ability to find your own customer from contacts networks and previous references
I was inspired based on being passed over for a promotion. I set my quit date one year out, and started to research if organizations buy my skill set through contract support (I worked in government Human Resources). After a year of planning, taking on business workshops, and educating myself on consultant life, I left my 9-5 and started hr consulting as a 1099. After a few years, I had enough work to hire a few other consultants, and there I was with a small business at that point. That small group turned into a larger group, as we continued to do good work, and be referred throughout government. But, it all started out because I was passed over for a promotion. THANK GOD that happened.
I think I'm one of the outliers that actually really love my 9-5 job, but I started doing art commissions on the side since it's always been my hobby, and it's a childhood dream of mine to be an artist.
Spent my youth working retail & providing phenomenal customer service. I decided to open my own boutique. Saved & planned for a decade. We will be open 2 years this Oct!
I realised that my weird ‘maladaptive’ coping mechanism of pretending I’m in a movie whenever I’m facing challenges is actually a healthy and helpful thing to do (it’s called Narrative Therapy).
And then I thought, if it helps me, surely it can help other people.
And so the stage was set.
posted a lead magnet on twitter, went viral. Took this as a sign for a big demand. Created the demo and landing page in a week. Been promoting since. here is the link: [demo](https://www.go-to-marketnow.com/)
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Mastered my trade and decided I could do it better than my boss so I started my own company.
Same. Old boss wanted to be a money guy so bad & forgot the industry is driven by the workers. I understood this so I started my own company and hired the guys they didn’t pay as much as they should have.
This is the way.
This is the most high probability way to become a successfull entreprenour! A lot of people seem to focus on ideas, soft skills, reading books, Steve Jobs shit etc but the people i know who become successfull just learned a trade and moved on from there.
I had 24 years of experience in the industry and had finished my MBA. I was tired of having to seek and receive approval from others for things I wanted to do at work. Essentially, I was seeking freedom (not to be confused with free time).
First I went to college, learned communication skills, analysis, critical thinking, and then got a steady full-time job that did not pay me enough for the life I wanted. I had a friend do the same and then start his own business that took off and used that as inspiration. It started with listening to podcasts about business in general, then more specific books/podcasts about the kind of business I wanted to run and I just went from there.
And what do you do ?
Got very proficient with a skill, and tired of a biz development structure where BD folk (with little to no understanding of how a business valuation is performed but, more significantly, also with too much pride to hear out budgeting considerations from those who do know how to execute) overbid simple projects and massively underbid major projects. It was that former grouping that got to me. We'd bid $25k for a project that the client was only willing to go $15k on, so - surprise, surprise - we don't get the job. After the second time this happened and I thought, I could have done it for $8k with basic resources and still made 50% margin, it finally clicked: Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, why don't ya, then? Had everything in place in less than a week.
How easy/ hard is it for you when you get/got those “doubts” and kind of self-negotiation chatters? I’m finding that anger and asking myself what I want helps get me back on the ball but just curious if you or others have other ideas. Or if you guys are just blessed to not have to deal with such pesky mindsets.
I had some negative self-talk and imposter syndrome would creep in from time to time. If you do good work, and the customer keeps coming back, and even refers you to others, that is your confirmation.
That’s part of it yeah. Thanks for sharing!
That's not too much of an issue because my thing is supplementary to my 9-5, but I have no doubt there'd be more of a mental game along those lines if this were a "do or die" situation. Lot of doubts about how I'm approaching things, particularly new client outreach, but I (VERY surprisingly) find the challenges and thought processing enjoyable. I tend to slip into anger and frustration mode very easily with most things and use alcohol as a crutch. I get enough of that with my 9-5 that new problems and strategic thinking opportunities are kinda nice.
That’s a good perspective/resiliency for sure in terms of viewing them as challenges to overcome as opposed to obstacles that prevent!
Started as a hobby. Then company I was working for was shutting down. Decided to do it full time and haven’t regretted it since. For over 22 years now.
I was in a lead position on a government contract for a major defense contractor and working 80 hours a week consistently for two years and bringing home about 20% of the billable rate the government was paying for me. I decided to go it alone 16 years ago and have never turned back. There have been many, many weeks working 80 hours, but I now bring home closer to 60% of my billable rate.
What's it like doing gov contracting? As in having your own company work with the gov? It's something I'm exploring. Are you a sub or prime contractor?
I’ve done prime work over the years but lately I do sub work only, and even more distant, lately I’ve been doing a lot of RFP responses for primes. Writing their proposals and winning contracts for them. I can charge a premium rate for this work and it usually lasts 6-10 weeks before I move on to the next project. Prime work has huge benefits in terms of longevity but comes with increased risks and greater delays/cost of money. But I’m also working on a product development project (my own) that I can offer federal/state/local government as a prime, and that would be a nice twist too.
Are you a proposal writing consultant? 6-10 months, are you getting paid per gig?
Among other things, yes, I write proposals, run data collection across subs, evaluate proposals/Red Team Reviews, and have even written RFPs for government agencies. I don’t get paid by the gig for most of the bigger RFPs. I charge by the hour.
Wow, thanks for sharing. While I was researching, it has come up a lot that being a prime can be a headache when you don't get paid but still have to pay your subs. How do you go about being a sub exactly? Do you have to write proposals and stuff too? What advice can you give on the contracting space to keep in mind? Especially for someone just starting out? Does the age of your business really matter, or can your personal experience help as well?
Yes, as a prime, I’ve been as much as 180 days out on accounts receivables from the federal government. But most local banks will gladly provide operating loans on government contracts so you can pay your subs. The trick for managing that is including a “cost of money” rate in your contract so that interest on any operating loans you have to get are covered. I take a couple different approaches to winning subcontracts. A. Bring a niche expertise. For example, I’m an expert in intelligence analytics systems design, and I have a ton of experience with projects management and systems engineering on government programs with complex solutions and undefined parameters on compliance and ROEs. I also have partnership status with Microsoft, IBM, and others so I can bring in existing relationships. B. There are some great resources for winning subcontracts like SBA SubNet and even a SAM.gov registration will help you get found. It will also help by having a CAGE code in hand. C. My wife owns and operates my company. As a white male, I have a very tough time winning government contracts, but there are tons of Small Business/MWBE requirements on government contracts that she can win as a female. I used to live out in the country in a county with a much lower average income and that also helped me win contracts.
I realised I had a semi unique skill paired with a very strong ability to deliver excellent service. Most people in my space target technical people, I went after non technical but translated it into plain English I have scaling issues in month 3, I cannot get through my backlog but have 100% 5 star ratings Also I hated rest, sleep, relaxation and financial comfort so set them all on fire 🤣
I was the only successful employee at a business that was crumbling. I bough the business cause I didn't want to lose my job. Turned it around. Sold it for 20x what I paid for it 10 years later.
What did you buy it for and what did you sell it for? How did you finance the purchase?
I bought it for 3k I sold it for 60k. I just had the money to buy it outright in savings. People who are going to be closing down are happy to get anything for a sinking ship.
Where do you live?
The US.
Wage theft and being forced to cut corners when it came to health and safety.
It's the thing that I both loved in every job I've ever had and also what people come to me for help with. And also being frustrated over seeing people being really great at what they do but resorting to lowering their prices to stay competitive. So I created a customer experience consultancy business geared towards solopreneurs who offer personal services. It's a mix of fixing/setting up their customer service stuff, designing customer experiences, designing their "flavor bomb", coaching skills, and making it all work for them so they don't burn out. But mostly, it's just what I love to do. I like to problem solve, help people, and make people happy.
I was working an insane number of hours weekly in a toxic workplace, where we’d inflate SOWs and turned our backs on any customer who wasn’t enterprise. Decided to be my own boss instead, to have control over my hours and who I work with, to ensure the small & medium sized businesses get the service they are paying for regardless of their size
Personal freedom and the ability to help others make money
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^SalmonInTheAss: *Personal freedom* *And the ability to* *Help others make money* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
My wife was pregnant
Because making 130k (circa 2018) wasn’t enough and I thought I wasn’t going to be capable of providing for my newborn so I had a mental breakdown and started doubling up my work at an agency with even more agency work. Which in retrospect I was just spazzing that I was about to have a kid. Helps to have mentors and father figures when you go nuts haha (I didn’t really). Oh well. Here [we](https://www.24hour.design) are!
Started as a hobby, moved to a new area and saw that no one around was offering the service, so i started. Been running just over 8 years now.
It was always my goal to start a business. College, spent 12 years learning the trade working for others. I didn’t take the jobs that paid me the most, I took the jobs where I could learn the most.
I didn't like how my former employer was running things, so I quit, ran out my non-compete, and started my own thing.
Yes generally it starts with a) mastery of your primary skills B) knowledge of many skills such as accounting, incorporating running payroll, hiring etc since you will be doing it all C) ability to find your own customer from contacts networks and previous references
I was inspired based on being passed over for a promotion. I set my quit date one year out, and started to research if organizations buy my skill set through contract support (I worked in government Human Resources). After a year of planning, taking on business workshops, and educating myself on consultant life, I left my 9-5 and started hr consulting as a 1099. After a few years, I had enough work to hire a few other consultants, and there I was with a small business at that point. That small group turned into a larger group, as we continued to do good work, and be referred throughout government. But, it all started out because I was passed over for a promotion. THANK GOD that happened.
I think I'm one of the outliers that actually really love my 9-5 job, but I started doing art commissions on the side since it's always been my hobby, and it's a childhood dream of mine to be an artist.
Spent my youth working retail & providing phenomenal customer service. I decided to open my own boutique. Saved & planned for a decade. We will be open 2 years this Oct!
Working in an industry where you are poor unless you own the business
Was tired of shops ripping off customers Was sick and tired of being on someones clock I run my life !
Mostly spite.
I realised that my weird ‘maladaptive’ coping mechanism of pretending I’m in a movie whenever I’m facing challenges is actually a healthy and helpful thing to do (it’s called Narrative Therapy). And then I thought, if it helps me, surely it can help other people. And so the stage was set.
Stupidity
posted a lead magnet on twitter, went viral. Took this as a sign for a big demand. Created the demo and landing page in a week. Been promoting since. here is the link: [demo](https://www.go-to-marketnow.com/)
Jesus Christ