Author Topic: How do you start a business?  (Read 8249 times)

MB_722

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #50 on: January 12, 2008, 08:28:01 PM »
having a mil in the bank means you will get 100k a year in interest, give or take.

Most of us could live well off 100k per year.



how couldn't you?

that would be nice  ;D just off of interest

bigdumbbell

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #51 on: January 12, 2008, 08:29:10 PM »
This is the exception, not the rule.  Having money is a huge advantage.
yeah i have the cheapest rolex, the cheapest mercedes and the cheapest bmw    lol

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #52 on: January 12, 2008, 08:31:01 PM »
how couldn't you?

that would be nice  ;D just off of interest

i agree.  some people would split the million into chunks, put 250k in the market and 250k in 3 different businesses and see what comes up.

Me.... I'd invest 100k in ten different currencies and just spend the day in the pool watching tv.  I dont want to work til i'm 70, thorwing millions on the pile.

bigdumbbell

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #53 on: January 12, 2008, 08:34:16 PM »
i agree.  some people would split the million into chunks, put 250k in the market and 250k in 3 different businesses and see what comes up.

Me.... I'd invest 100k in ten different currencies and just spend the day in the pool watching tv.  I dont want to work til i'm 70, thorwing millions on the pile.
why are you going to start working at 70?

just_a_pilgrim

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #54 on: January 12, 2008, 08:35:08 PM »
Firstly i think your business idea is a fantastic one because you have a market there with one player, that isn't servicing the market properly. In that way you don't even have to charge a lower price than them, just give better service which does not sound hard.

While i think a business plan is a great idea, things change in business all the time. As long as you understand your market and what is involved, don't stress about writing a plan. Some things you do may work, some may not. Writing down your costs and projected earnings is a good idea to make sure you are on the right way to making actual profit, rather than just losing money.

I started working for myself importing a product from China-already existing market but the price + lower overheads than the larger companies i am competiting against gave me an edge. Also the product is of a higher quality than my main competitors.

I had some retailers i thought i would get my product into that i haven't, and some i didn't think that i have. I have had different ideas come up along the way on how to do things. I didn't write everything down in a plan, but i know what my goal is and everything i do is working towards it. Last week i had one great day and that showed me that all my ideas were correct and to keep doing what i am doing.

I think if you have the idea and are determind to succeed no matter what you can definately make it. Think of it this way, the hardest things i've ever done in my life are those heavy sets of squats and deads. If i can do what it takes to do them, everything else is piss easy  ;)

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #55 on: January 12, 2008, 08:36:37 PM »
how couldn't you?

that would be nice  ;D just off of interest

Exactly.

It isn't necessarily that hard to earn a million dollars either - we all will within our lifetimes.  The question is, will we save it and invest it properly?  My sister's in laws earned a million dollars in their lifetimes in their careers as teachers and now live off investments.  It's quite possible.
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bigdumbbell

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #56 on: January 12, 2008, 08:39:26 PM »
ewww  no chinese stuff...people hate that   india yes poland yes    china no

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #57 on: January 12, 2008, 08:42:32 PM »
You should put your services to work man.  The most intimidating thing I think is jumping into this unfamiliar fire of loans, Plans, rules, etc..
Your experience is a valuable asset.  You are the kind of person most would need to lay out everything in direct terms.  Have you charged for doing business plans in the past? 

Yes I have.  I wrote a plan for a guy starting a roofing business.  I told him i would do it for 3% of his approved loan.  he got $400,000.  I just recently finished the one for the gym I am opening here.  I have done others for gyms and even some baby toy store.

Mindspin is right when you don't need a dime to start a business.  As much money as I have made since 1986, I have spent and lost many times more.  The problem is the reason I lost the bulk of my money is because I trusted others with it and the future of it.  That was my mistake.  I have paid for it dearly.  What I have on my side though is my past experience, past accomplishments, and my past history.  As much as some people rag on me talking about my past, this is several of the reasons why.  I survive today and am building a hell of a future because of my past.  If you haven't noticed I don't look the part of someone who should own a gym or know about training or whatever else in this industry.  But luckily, many many many people do know that I do know this industry and what to do in it.  That is why I can do what I do today.  Compared to what I used to have I have nothing.  I survive and survive very well, but compared to my past I am nothing financially.  But, with that said my Business Plan and my hard work over the past several months has put over $2.5 million secured for this gym in Vegas and I can get more when I need it.  A strong Business Plan and having a team like I put together is what is going to make my business successful.    Also, me being on top of everything and not trusting others is what will keep it going forward.


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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #58 on: January 12, 2008, 08:49:43 PM »
Yes I have.  I wrote a plan for a guy starting a roofing business.  I told him i would do it for 3% of his approved loan.  he got $400,000.  I just recently finished the one for the gym I am opening here.  I have done others for gyms and even some baby toy store.

Mindspin is right when you don't need a dime to start a business.  As much money as I have made since 1986, I have spent and lost many times more.  The problem is the reason I lost the bulk of my money is because I trusted others with it and the future of it.  That was my mistake.  I have paid for it dearly.  What I have on my side though is my past experience, past accomplishments, and my past history.  As much as some people rag on me talking about my past, this is several of the reasons why.  I survive today and am building a hell of a future because of my past.  If you haven't noticed I don't look the part of someone who should own a gym or know about training or whatever else in this industry.  But luckily, many many many people do know that I do know this industry and what to do in it.  That is why I can do what I do today.  Compared to what I used to have I have nothing.  I survive and survive very well, but compared to my past I am nothing financially.  But, with that said my Business Plan and my hard work over the past several months has put over $2.5 million secured for this gym in Vegas and I can get more when I need it.  A strong Business Plan and having a team like I put together is what is going to make my business successful.    Also, me being on top of everything and not trusting others is what will keep it going forward.


trust a few...keep it controlled onlyme because being nice they'll try to fuck you over again and again

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #59 on: January 12, 2008, 09:02:49 PM »
trust a few...keep it controlled onlyme because being nice they'll try to fuck you over again and again

I do trust a few with me now.  Before the people were after my money and the money the company made.  It is amazing how people change when a lot of money starts to be generated.  I am very lucky this time that I caught what was happening at the beginning.  Or I would have found myself in the same problem I had on my last two large ventures.  This time around I am sticking with my guns and it is working out great.  I am getting too old to let people play with me and reap the riches of my hard work.  I am lucky cause I have found great and very loyal people to be with me this time and so far everyone is watching my back. 

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #60 on: January 12, 2008, 11:24:46 PM »
I hate to say it, but that sounds like a drug dealing front if I'd ever heard of one.

All signs are there: Absentee owner; manager lets freinds hang out and hires them to hangaround and talk on phones, not change bulbes, etc.

Buylbs never cleaned/ beds not 'serviced?"

Call health department...they will shut them down THAT DAY

Correct: if a tip-top salon opens today...the old one will be gone.

Mike

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #61 on: January 12, 2008, 11:30:55 PM »
There's this tanning salon that I go to because it's the only one in the area (next closes is about 15 miles away). This is in Kaneohe, Hawaii which is an area that rains pretty much everyday at some level. This is the worse place I've ever seen. Expensive, they close at random times for breaks, lunch, errands.... The owner lives on the mainland and doesn't give a rip. The "manager" is her niece that only hires her dippy teenage girl friends that spend more time on the phone or talking to their desperate boyfriends that have nothing better to do but hang out in a salon taking up the few seats available. The bulbs suck and are poorly maintained. Try to find a bed that doesn't have a least one bulb out. Due to their frequent "computer problems" they've been closed for over a week. No one is happy with this place but  only go there because it's the only salon in the area.

here's where I wanna clear it up for ya...

Because there is a ready made customer base (it's in an outdoor shopping center with lease space available with a 24hr fit right next door to the salon) I know that if another placed opened up and just actually stayed open during the posted hours they would shut this place down. Even their hours stink 10am-9pm wkdys and 11am-5pm wkends. And I'm sure I can do better than their $80/month unlimited on their crappy 20 min bed.

If YOU are the only one there for those hours...you will certifiably go nuts.

There hours don't seem THAT bd...can you improve on them...yes. Will it be worth it...marginally, at best.
Hell, I'd be willing to sit there from 7am-11am and run the place myself. There's a lot of down time that I can use to read getbig (LOL). Also, I can hire my nephew that lives down the street to work a few hours while I go to 24hr to train 3-4 times a week.

You will have bought yourself a "dollars for hours job" that only allows you to make money when YOU ARE THERE. If you use your 'downtime' (there should be none of that in a real buisiness) reading getbig and others, you inmcrease your odds of failing.

PS DO NOT HIRE RELATIVES. They will dissapoint you.

Mike


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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #62 on: January 12, 2008, 11:44:53 PM »
Great Owner, BAD staff story

A dunkin' Donuts that I had frequently visited: i walked in one morning, and got caught in the middle of as donut fight amongst the 'staff' of youngstersd employed ther.

A munchkin hit me in the head.

I gave them a stare ala Saddam Hussein, glared at the...no apology made, ordered my stuff and left .

Chuckling and giggling was heard by me, unbeknownst to the kids ruining the place.

Also unbeknownst to the was that the owner of the string of DD's, and this was
also my patient.

I called him, and he said all his workers denied everything I said.

Was I wrecked?

Umm, no.

My patient simply reveiewd his surveillance tapes, and there was the "everybody was kung-fu fighting with munchkins clip!

Classic. Told him to please burn it!

Oh, by the way, the next day my patient fired EVERYONE fro that day's shift, innocent or guilty.

Now THAT's the way to do something!

And it ain't easy to staf these places, so props to him. He could have gotten sued very easily.

Mike


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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #63 on: January 12, 2008, 11:57:53 PM »
1: You get some resources, educate yourself about the different aspects of business, and talk to some people that have already succeeded to get good tips and feedback.
2: You make a commitment to learn the skills needed to succeed in business, and then you go out and do it.
3: Get a good team of advisors/helpers to help you out.
damn man why dont you always post intelligent stuff like this

Moosejay

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #64 on: January 13, 2008, 12:01:18 AM »
Some of my rules:

1. If possible...DO NOT have partners...whether business fails or thrives, the partnership almost always becomes a calamity and dies

2. Use your own money at first, if possible. It may be toughert if you start on your own. But the bank will own nothing, reinvest pofits only into the buisness and expand (remember, you must exceed the other salon's business and such)..but do it slowly.

3. Focus on things I GUARANTEE they are not doing: offering fresh fruit or bottled water, free, each session (costs nothing to do this); greeting each person cheerfully at beginning and end of each visit (instead of the snot-bag little hissies who are more inerested in talking the phone (this is where I sometimes used my cell-phone jammer until I got fed up enough and bought my own tanning bed for my house) .

4. Doing the above things (including a monthly newsletter sent to all past and current clients about fun, useful, helpful things for thei skin and health). Believe me, not ONE of your competitors does this...and you will be building RELATIONSHIPS with your clients.

Your compoetition is not/ will not do these things.

So, you will not be the BEST.

You will be the ONLY...and for being that...you will be tyhe ONLY one in yopur local industry to see.

How do ya like dem apples?

Mike

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #65 on: January 13, 2008, 12:02:42 AM »
Some of my rules:

1. If possible...DO NOT have partners...whether business fails or thrives, the partnership almost always becomes a calamity and dies

2. Use your own money at first, if possible. It may be toughert if you start on your own. But the bank will own nothing, reinvest pofits only into the buisness and expand (remember, you must exceed the other salon's business and such)..but do it slowly.

3. Focus on things I GUARANTEE they are not doing: offering fresh fruit or bottled water, free, each session (costs nothing to do this); greeting each person cheerfully at beginning and end of each visit (instead of the snot-bag little hissies who are more inerested in talking the phone (this is where I sometimes used my cell-phone jammer until I got fed up enough and bought my own tanning bed for my house) .

4. Doing the above things (including a monthly newsletter sent to all past and current clients about fun, useful, helpful things for thei skin and health). Believe me, not ONE of your competitors does this...and you will be building RELATIONSHIPS with your clients.

Your compoetition is not/ will not do these things.

So, you will not be the BEST.

You will be the ONLY...and for being that...you will be tyhe ONLY one in yopur local industry to see.

How do ya like dem apples?

Mike

I read a while back about you saying you had terminal cancer or some shit.  You serious about that?

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #66 on: January 13, 2008, 12:09:21 AM »
  Said another way, if I had a million dollars cash, I would be able to live off that for the rest of my life. 
Yeah but your frugal, thats ok, but most people love to enjoy lifes luxurie and not watch over every penny, and at the same time most people live beyond there means

Moosejay

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #67 on: January 13, 2008, 12:10:11 AM »
It is not terminal, but not one that just shuffles away on its own, either.

And yes, unlike many of the jokesters here, I am serious about 'shit like that'.

I am scheduled for surgery either Monday or thursday, so I am hoping for best.

Mike

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #68 on: January 13, 2008, 12:15:09 AM »
Yeah but your frugal, thats ok, but most people love to enjoy lifes luxurie and not watch over every penny, and at the same time most people live beyond there means

Yes, that is true.  The average Canadian household spends something like 3% more than their income every year.  I am very frugal and have no problems with that.  You know that simply living in North America makes us in the top 8% of wealthiest people in the world?  I'm grateful for my health, friends, access to education, getbig.com, etc.  I tried to determine what infinite money would do to my subjective perception of happiness, and I felt it would not bring it up more than just a little.  8% sounds about right actually!  More money would improve my quality of life, but my point is that simply by virtue of being a comfortably living Canadian citizen, I already have almost everything that virtually everyone in the world strives for and rarely get.  This goes for all of us, so be grateful!  No doubt many of you are aware of the horror stories that go on in the rest of the world.
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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #69 on: January 13, 2008, 12:15:53 AM »

1) spend thousands of your own money to gain notoriety as someone who will never win an olympia, but place top 3 once or twice, then complain about politics and your race for the reasons you don't win, eventhough you have no back.

2) build a very small but fanatically loyal fan base of say 1 person to whom you can sell your soiled garments to.

3) have said person spam your name and pictures as well as his 'relationship' with you on GetBig to keep your memory alive, only because your physique couldn't.
b

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #70 on: January 13, 2008, 12:16:14 AM »
Yeah but your frugal, thats ok, but most people love to enjoy lifes luxurie and not watch over every penny, and at the same time most people live beyond there means

Maybe you could, a million bucks, clear and tax-free, IS a lot of cash, despite what you hear on CNN (communist news network).

How old are you? If you could generate a conservative 6-8% per year (historic gains of both real estate and stock market in their history , AFTER 1.5% average fund fee and 1.5% fin. planner fee)...you could generate 60-80K per year.

You'd have to look at how many years you'd live, inflation. It can be done. I suggest finding something you really love to do (you know, the things most miserable people plan on doing at 67 or so when they retire). Be a ski instructor, do voluntee work, work on a lobster boat.

You know, cool, fun things. You know, if they suck, you could quit 'em and move on.

One Million gives you that freedom.\\

Mike

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #71 on: January 13, 2008, 12:17:27 AM »
Yes, that is true.  The average Canadian household spends something like 3% more than their income every year.  I am very frugal and have no problems with that.  You know that simply living in North America makes us in the top 8% of wealthiest people in the world?  I'm grateful for my health, friends, access to education, getbig.com, etc.  I tried to determine what infinite money would do to my subjective perception of happiness, and I felt it would not bring it up more than just a little.  8% sounds about right actually!  More money would improve my quality of life, but my point is that simply by virtue of being a comfortably living Canadian citizen, I already have almost everything that virtually everyone in the world strives for and rarely get.  This goes for all of us, so be grateful!  No doubt many of you are aware of the horror stories that go on in the rest of the world.
your a smart dude, keep it up, im similiar i do splurge a bit but its my cash and not credit, so im ok

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #72 on: January 13, 2008, 12:19:31 AM »
It is not terminal, but not one that just shuffles away on its own, either.

And yes, unlike many of the jokesters here, I am serious about 'shit like that'.

I am scheduled for surgery either Monday or thursday, so I am hoping for best.

Mike

Well in that case, I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery.  In the past year my dad and grandmother had "terminal" cancer (throat for dad, colon for grandma), and both have beat it through surgery and chemo.  Cancer is ugly shit.

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #73 on: January 13, 2008, 12:22:05 AM »
Money and intelligent use of it makes more money.  Innovation makes money, but these days it usually requires money to be innovative (youtube, facebook).  In other words, if you don't have money to begin with, don't expect to progress anywhere fast.  And I don't mean having $50,000 in the bank, I mean having a million to play with.
i started a plow business for 40k total. now 7 years running.

haider

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Re: How do you start a business?
« Reply #74 on: January 13, 2008, 12:24:26 AM »
Well in that case, I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery.  In the past year my dad and grandmother had "terminal" cancer (throat for dad, colon for grandma), and both have beat it through surgery and chemo.  Cancer is ugly shit.
sucks about your dad and grandma, good to hear they recovered.



























I say you should take early precaution against throat cancer by sucking less cock  ;D
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