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re: Starting a business advice.
Posted on 11/8/25 at 7:29 am to BLM
Posted on 11/8/25 at 7:29 am to BLM
Similar.
Did this 2 years ago.
Initial investment was the evaluation of my company 12 years ago. I was the smallest in the group, but had no partners. 12 years later, 5 of us own 90% of a national company. When we flipped it to an ESOP, my biggest problem was telling my wife I was retiring at 57.
Work hard and reinvest.
Evaluate the field and understand the trends so you can make good financial decisions
Don’t be afraid to make decisions that involve risk.
Good luck!
quote:
Just sold it into an ESOP last yr. Huge return on that original investment
Did this 2 years ago.
Initial investment was the evaluation of my company 12 years ago. I was the smallest in the group, but had no partners. 12 years later, 5 of us own 90% of a national company. When we flipped it to an ESOP, my biggest problem was telling my wife I was retiring at 57.
Work hard and reinvest.
Evaluate the field and understand the trends so you can make good financial decisions
Don’t be afraid to make decisions that involve risk.
Good luck!
1
Posted on 11/8/25 at 11:05 am to HailToTheChiz
I am at the cusp of doing this right now, slated to open my business next month. My business involved real estate acquisition, new facility construction, furniture, fixture and equipment purchases.
I have about $250k saved for personal and business expenses and project/hope that will last for 6 months for each. This is lighter than I would like, but due to unexpected upfront costs I had to use some funds earlier than expected.
As soon as I am in the black, I will focus on reinvestment to grow further (mainly hiring associates to work for me) and debt repayment/management.
Follow up with me in 3-6 months and I will let you know if I am bankrupt or not…
I have about $250k saved for personal and business expenses and project/hope that will last for 6 months for each. This is lighter than I would like, but due to unexpected upfront costs I had to use some funds earlier than expected.
As soon as I am in the black, I will focus on reinvestment to grow further (mainly hiring associates to work for me) and debt repayment/management.
Follow up with me in 3-6 months and I will let you know if I am bankrupt or not…
Posted on 11/8/25 at 11:17 am to TigerToGeaux
it is all about sales brother. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise
Posted on 11/15/25 at 5:46 pm to MikeD
We’re in blue collar trades industries…construction based businesses. The secret sauce is a lot of things. You have to obsess about everything. Starts with sales, then you have to run the work as good or better than the competition. You have to understand billing and chasing money with anyone who gets a day behind. Don’t be too proud to beg but always be providing the highest level service you can. You have to be a good operator and or be able to do it successfully long enough until you can find people to hire and delegate those tasks to. We created a lot of relationships across the industry with owners, GC’s, developers, brokers, property managers and design firms in our first career. When we started we were simply calling on relationships where we already had a lot of relational capital. That can be an absolute game changer.
You need to be brutally honest about who you are and where your strengths lie. Don’t try to be someone you’re not…you’ll run out of steam quickly as it sucks your life force. We’re entrepreneurial, love selling and love creating. We don’t like doing all the work but could do it for long enough until we were able to hire studs to run it.
In general, operators don’t have great long term vision bc they’re always focusing on the problems right in front of them. Vision people don’t do all that well at operating. That’s who we are so we rushed to bring in great people. I’m to the point now where I don’t have as much interest in the businesses as when we started. I’m ready to get back into startup mode or venture slowly into acquisitions.
Be obsessive about EVERYTHING. Do not ever take anyone’s word for anything more than face value. Trust but verify everything. Most people on this planet are just looking to get by without putting out 1/2 of what you will. Be a force of nature.
Solving problems is what will get you going the fastest. The amount of success you’ll have and the money you make will have a direct correlation with how important the problems are that you solve…and how big or small those problems are.
Hurry up every chance you get…SENSE OF URGENCY!
Most people are risk adverse. If you wait until your lifestyle gets past a certain point most guy’s wives aren’t willing to take the lifestyle hit. Have an unbelievable wife. I do and my partner and I don’t start our biz until he divorced his first wife. Short sighted and unsupportive females will absolutely throw a wet blanket in the fire.
I’m forgetting some stuff but hopefully you get the drift.
You need to be brutally honest about who you are and where your strengths lie. Don’t try to be someone you’re not…you’ll run out of steam quickly as it sucks your life force. We’re entrepreneurial, love selling and love creating. We don’t like doing all the work but could do it for long enough until we were able to hire studs to run it.
In general, operators don’t have great long term vision bc they’re always focusing on the problems right in front of them. Vision people don’t do all that well at operating. That’s who we are so we rushed to bring in great people. I’m to the point now where I don’t have as much interest in the businesses as when we started. I’m ready to get back into startup mode or venture slowly into acquisitions.
Be obsessive about EVERYTHING. Do not ever take anyone’s word for anything more than face value. Trust but verify everything. Most people on this planet are just looking to get by without putting out 1/2 of what you will. Be a force of nature.
Solving problems is what will get you going the fastest. The amount of success you’ll have and the money you make will have a direct correlation with how important the problems are that you solve…and how big or small those problems are.
Hurry up every chance you get…SENSE OF URGENCY!
Most people are risk adverse. If you wait until your lifestyle gets past a certain point most guy’s wives aren’t willing to take the lifestyle hit. Have an unbelievable wife. I do and my partner and I don’t start our biz until he divorced his first wife. Short sighted and unsupportive females will absolutely throw a wet blanket in the fire.
I’m forgetting some stuff but hopefully you get the drift.
Posted on 11/15/25 at 5:50 pm to TigerToGeaux
This post reminds me of another biz we started 3 yrs ago. We partnered with a guy and went way too far with initial startup expenses and yr 1 operating costs. We trusted our partner could operate and we funded it for 2 yrs. We put more $ into that business over that period than a lot of people retire with. Do not ever get happy ears for opportunities. We pulled out and shite it down 6months ago. My suggestion would be to start small and prove it out…especially if it’s a startup in an industry where you can do that.
Posted on 11/15/25 at 5:53 pm to rltiger
Congrats man! ESOPs aren’t for everyone. We’re young enough to be able to accept getting paid out over 6-7 yrs. That 2nd bite of the apple is going to be sweet!
Also, we sold 100% so the company paying no taxes in perpetuity is going to be extremely powerful for growing and scaling the businesses over the long term for the employee owners. The young leadership folks will end up with millions after 20 more years.
Also, we sold 100% so the company paying no taxes in perpetuity is going to be extremely powerful for growing and scaling the businesses over the long term for the employee owners. The young leadership folks will end up with millions after 20 more years.
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