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Editors Note: This is the first in a series of personal accounts of small business owners and their experiences in the online world. I have found that there are Many valuable lessons that can be learned from one person's account. Let us know know what you think of the article.
After 7 years of climbing the corporate ladder, from 28k annually to 60k plus bonus, I launched abruptly into starting my own small business, thinking I could make more. I heard a lot of advice from people, and from what I know now, I should have listened to that advice. Looking back, I know all of the advice fell on deaf ears. To start with, I listened to a lot of bad advice that my then-business partner told me: "I will work so hard, you will have to force me to take days off." ...Yeah, I really wish that was what happened. Going into it, I had about $15,000 saved up. Not a lot, but enough for what I needed, if only the ‘business partner’ would have done his part.
It did feel free and exhilarating to tell my boss what I thought about the way they ran things and
what I thought needed to be changed, and to see the look on his face when I gave my two week’s notice! The only things I did do right was to set up the company’s name with the state as an LLC before leaving my then-current job, and making business cards for myself and my partner. I spent the last month at my job working on the side, getting the new small business set up. This should have been planned during a year if not more, not only over ONE month!
Here are the other things that I did not do right:
-Trusting another person entirely, regardless of knowing him very closely for 15 years.
-Not having jobs and/or customers lined up (I had a few, but not a full set). Again, this was in part because of being promised about 10k of work waiting for us, month after month.
-Buying a truck for the business, and using my credit because I knew leaving my job would affect
my credit badly. Why this was a bad thing? Because I trusted the company selling me the truck that it was in mint condition and had a 110-point inspection. Week after week, it got worse and worse, until it finally neglected to even start. It was very clear that nothing had been inspected. A dead bird was stuck in the radiator, the oil had not changed in a very long time... I could go on and on; it was completely ridiculous! Again, instead of trusting the sellers and making a few phone calls to ask about the year and mileage of the truck, I should have taken the time to have it inspected by my own mechanic before buying.
-Not having a domain name and/or website set up months prior to starting up my business, let alone doing any type of search engine optimization (SEO).
-Not planning on what I would do if something did go wrong with the other person that I was relying on so much. Would I able to replace him quickly? Could I manage all the work on my own? The answer to both of those, by the way, was NO!
After only the first two months, it was obvious this person was absolutely worthless as a business partner. It was going to tarnish our friendship, but it had to be done. We went our separate ways. I went on struggling for the next 10 months, doing jobs by myself and hiring complete strangers off of Craigslist to ‘help me.’ I learned so much and so quickly because I had no other option. Using my computer and sales skills (and people skills), I managed to get a lot of business drummed up by myself.
From then on, here are some things that I did do right:
-Dressing nicely when going to a customer’s home to do an estimate. Sometimes even with a shirt and tie. I imagine I looked a lot more professional than the other contractors they were meeting.
-Read as much as I could about the services that I would be providing. I talked to as many people as possible to not only network, but also to learn from them. I would work with them for free on jobs, just to learn. I ended up knowing more than most people doing a lot of the jobs that I was offering, like tiling, drywall, etc.
-Getting insurance and licensing, so I could get leads through lead-generation companies. Not that I am recommending them, but servicemagic sent me a lot of business.
-Posting ads online, and networking as much as possible, through blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Craigslist, Brownbook, and Linkedin. I even did out-of-the-box things, like eBay!
-Making very detailed estimates for customers that outlined all facets of a job or service to be provided. I also provided a take-off list for free along with the estimate (made with Quickbooks).
-Following up with customers on jobs after they were completed. I always answered my cell phone, and had it on me as much as possible. I also replied and checked emails almost hourly.
I screwed up a lot of things, however, and I knew I would be when going into some of these newly-acquired jobs. But I also knew I would learn a lot in the process, and I would take that with me onto the next job.
I continued running my own ads and doing my own estimates, meeting with customers on their
property or place of business. I used the money that I made from these jobs, along with the original $15,000, to buy the tools that I needed as I went along. I hired a few good people through friends of friends. None of them lasted longer than a few months, but we actually had some fun times. I got to the point of having over 300 customers, jobs worth more than $55,000, 2 licenses and 11 certifications (all self-taught), and then I became overwhelmed. On top of working for literally two months with no days off at times, my wife was now pregnant. We had been planning for this, just didn't think it would actually happen so soon, I guess?!
After some struggles, some good times, and many, many lessons over 3 years, I took down my website and stopped all advertising. This wasn't until after our baby was born, which may have been the ultimate ending. Those last few months of me not being home for my wife, and her needing me became a serious issue. Anyway, even up to 8 months after ‘quitting,’ I still was getting leads, and had people asking for estimates after how they had heard how great I was from friends and family... I had to turn them all away, but I took everything in this chapter of my life as a great many lessons learned! Although there are many things that I could have done better, I’m proud of the work that I did!
It did feel free and exhilarating to tell my boss what I thought about the way they ran things and
what I thought needed to be changed, and to see the look on his face when I gave my two week’s notice! The only things I did do right was to set up the company’s name with the state as an LLC before leaving my then-current job, and making business cards for myself and my partner. I spent the last month at my job working on the side, getting the new small business set up. This should have been planned during a year if not more, not only over ONE month!
Here are the other things that I did not do right:
-Trusting another person entirely, regardless of knowing him very closely for 15 years.
-Not having jobs and/or customers lined up (I had a few, but not a full set). Again, this was in part because of being promised about 10k of work waiting for us, month after month.
-Buying a truck for the business, and using my credit because I knew leaving my job would affect
my credit badly. Why this was a bad thing? Because I trusted the company selling me the truck that it was in mint condition and had a 110-point inspection. Week after week, it got worse and worse, until it finally neglected to even start. It was very clear that nothing had been inspected. A dead bird was stuck in the radiator, the oil had not changed in a very long time... I could go on and on; it was completely ridiculous! Again, instead of trusting the sellers and making a few phone calls to ask about the year and mileage of the truck, I should have taken the time to have it inspected by my own mechanic before buying.
-Not having a domain name and/or website set up months prior to starting up my business, let alone doing any type of search engine optimization (SEO).
-Not planning on what I would do if something did go wrong with the other person that I was relying on so much. Would I able to replace him quickly? Could I manage all the work on my own? The answer to both of those, by the way, was NO!
After only the first two months, it was obvious this person was absolutely worthless as a business partner. It was going to tarnish our friendship, but it had to be done. We went our separate ways. I went on struggling for the next 10 months, doing jobs by myself and hiring complete strangers off of Craigslist to ‘help me.’ I learned so much and so quickly because I had no other option. Using my computer and sales skills (and people skills), I managed to get a lot of business drummed up by myself.
From then on, here are some things that I did do right:
-Dressing nicely when going to a customer’s home to do an estimate. Sometimes even with a shirt and tie. I imagine I looked a lot more professional than the other contractors they were meeting.
-Read as much as I could about the services that I would be providing. I talked to as many people as possible to not only network, but also to learn from them. I would work with them for free on jobs, just to learn. I ended up knowing more than most people doing a lot of the jobs that I was offering, like tiling, drywall, etc.
-Getting insurance and licensing, so I could get leads through lead-generation companies. Not that I am recommending them, but servicemagic sent me a lot of business.
-Posting ads online, and networking as much as possible, through blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Craigslist, Brownbook, and Linkedin. I even did out-of-the-box things, like eBay!
-Making very detailed estimates for customers that outlined all facets of a job or service to be provided. I also provided a take-off list for free along with the estimate (made with Quickbooks).
-Following up with customers on jobs after they were completed. I always answered my cell phone, and had it on me as much as possible. I also replied and checked emails almost hourly.
I screwed up a lot of things, however, and I knew I would be when going into some of these newly-acquired jobs. But I also knew I would learn a lot in the process, and I would take that with me onto the next job.
I continued running my own ads and doing my own estimates, meeting with customers on their
property or place of business. I used the money that I made from these jobs, along with the original $15,000, to buy the tools that I needed as I went along. I hired a few good people through friends of friends. None of them lasted longer than a few months, but we actually had some fun times. I got to the point of having over 300 customers, jobs worth more than $55,000, 2 licenses and 11 certifications (all self-taught), and then I became overwhelmed. On top of working for literally two months with no days off at times, my wife was now pregnant. We had been planning for this, just didn't think it would actually happen so soon, I guess?!
After some struggles, some good times, and many, many lessons over 3 years, I took down my website and stopped all advertising. This wasn't until after our baby was born, which may have been the ultimate ending. Those last few months of me not being home for my wife, and her needing me became a serious issue. Anyway, even up to 8 months after ‘quitting,’ I still was getting leads, and had people asking for estimates after how they had heard how great I was from friends and family... I had to turn them all away, but I took everything in this chapter of my life as a great many lessons learned! Although there are many things that I could have done better, I’m proud of the work that I did!
Dustin Burnetti is a Small Business Adviser for Intuit. His wife is a Russian tutor, Her site can be found at denverrussian.com
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