Going Self Employed

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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby middleway on Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:48 am

Also dangerously close to 40 myself however I went Self employed at age 24 and that grew into my own company with staff and a number of consultants. On Balance its one of my best life choices. I could never work for someone else now, no matter what they offered.

Best of Luck mate, you will smash it i am sure! :)
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby northern_mantis on Mon Apr 09, 2018 11:37 am

KEND wrote:Went out at age 50, had consultancy for 17 years. Advice, have 6 months savings so you can pay rent and eat with no income. Have a business plan, list potential clients and work through them. Don't rent permanent office until income merits it.Be prepared to work hard[80 hr weeks] and give up your previous life. Make sure this is what you want, you are not doing it to impress people or massage your ego.There is an element of luck involved, but there is a way of being lucky[read Wisemans book below]
The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind: Richard .Wiseman
https://www.amazon.com/Luck-Factor-Scie ... 151137683X
... and graphed research data from his eight-year study of luck, Wiseman's book promises to offer "a scientifically proven way to understand, control, and increase your luck." While many believe luck is a mystical force influenced by superstitious rituals, Wiseman, psychology chair at the University of Herfordshire in England,


Thanks very much. Haven't quite got 6 months wages, only managed 3. However it is a super low overhead business, can do training from home and research/analysis work wherever my laptop is so it is virtually all profit.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby northern_mantis on Mon Apr 09, 2018 11:39 am

middleway wrote:Also dangerously close to 40 myself however I went Self employed at age 24 and that grew into my own company with staff and a number of consultants. On Balance its one of my best life choices. I could never work for someone else now, no matter what they offered.

Best of Luck mate, you will smash it i am sure! :)


Wow that's young to make a success of your own business, good on you.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Ron Panunto on Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:28 pm

I'm 74 now and went on my own 14 years ago. I did it by purchasing the company that I had worked for for 7 years. It cost me $350,000, but I am making a good living and paid off the loan after 5 years. I'm a consulting electrical engineer specializing in forensics.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Bao on Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:49 pm

northern_mantis wrote:
middleway wrote:Also dangerously close to 40 myself however I went Self employed at age 24 and that grew into my own company


Wow that's young to make a success of your own business, good on you.


Agreed. That’s admirable. I wish I’ve had the same confidence back then when I was younger. But I was raised in a very different world compared to the one I live in now, in a very academic, highly artsy-idealistic environment full of artists, authors and cultural profiles. I’ve had absolutely no encouragement or support for the things I do now. Most people I know who succeeded early had parents who also were successful business people.

@Ron, that’s a great story with an equally important message. Maybe it’s never too late to start your own business.
Last edited by Bao on Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Strange on Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:55 pm

KEND wrote:Don't rent permanent office until income merits it.Be prepared to work hard[80 hr weeks] and give up your previous life.


yes, dun get into a situation where ppl can say you owe them money
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby everything on Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:10 pm

northern_mantis wrote:
everything wrote:Similar situation. I want to start a company (pretty high risk product company). Instead I left a large company to start a product for a small services company. Couldn't be happier so far. I still want to go the start-up route.

A friend of mine who is already starting a start-up at first started a training services company. He said this is a great way to go to get started with lucrative self-employment, assuming you have expertise (everyone has relative expertise). You design one course, and then deliver it multiple times per year (the same course). It seems possible you could do this with data analysis classes as part of your self-employment. Then he would do 2 or 3 consulting gigs mainly to have fresh experience and stories. But the profit center for him was training. Here is a little breakdown:

1. Design course. This is all done on your time, based on your experience in your gigs. No revenue.
2. Rent hotel space for training course. Possibly $1000 (in USA). You can search with sites like hotelplanner.com
3. Charge about $500-1000 for a one day class. Get 10-20 people.
4. Provide lunch (you could hand out prepaid cards for a fast-casual restaurant next to hotel) at about $15 pp.
5. Profit for one class (not including travel) is about $7000 - $15000 or so.
6. Repeat this 10x per year.
7. The students are leads for your gigs, and the gigs provide stories and demand assessment for training.


That's really interesting, thanks. It definitely seems like services are easier to get working than a product based business especially if you're flexible about what you deliver.


Yeah I think so, based on what others have said, and the basic economics (get started selling what you can go ahead and do immediately vs. spend a lot of time/capital developing product, then try to sell that). Training seems to fall in between. The downside my friend encountered that he loved at first is a lot of travel (he went around the world to provide training). If you can tie the product and services together, might be great, but a lot of entrepreneurs tell me it is hard. I am lucky right now the services biz owner is committed to fund a product (SaaS), and we are certainly trying to add something complementary. A key for me is that I'm learning a ton from doing this; hopefully learning enough to take that next step ("the best way to learn to be an entrepreneur is to be an entrepreneur").
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Michael on Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:03 pm

Ron Panunto wrote:I'm 74 now and went on my own 14 years ago. I did it by purchasing the company that I had worked for for 7 years. It cost me $350,000, but I am making a good living and paid off the loan after 5 years. I'm a consulting electrical engineer specializing in forensics.

Thx for sharing. :)

Why did you decide to buy the company instead of continuing to work for it? What risks did you plan for? Do you think being 60 at the time is an advantage or disadvantage to someone like OP, who is 40?
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby middleway on Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:14 am

Wow that's young to make a success of your own business, good on you.


To be clear I was made redundant and had to make some tough choices in a market that wasnt employing my trade, so in some ways my hand was forced. Happily my business partner was also made redundant.

There was 5 - 6 years of limited money, working as a bouncer to make ends meet, living in shitty rented apartments, spending what little money i had to travel to see my then teacher etc.

Definately not a plain sailing story but all of that makes me appreciate the position i am now in all the more.

Most people I know who succeeded early had parents who also were successful business people.


My parents got divorced when i was young, so I was raised by my mother and grandmother. My mother was a PHD Veterinary Biologist for 50 years. She was wholey underpaid and struggled to raise me and my brother alone. So my story is quite different i guess.

:)
Last edited by middleway on Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Bao on Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:19 am

middleway wrote:There was 5 - 6 years of limited money, working as a bouncer to make ends meet, living in shitty rented apartments, spending what little money i had to travel to see my then teacher etc.


Seems like a normal situation for most successful entrepreneurs who started from scratch. It's just the road most people need to take, working very hard while earning a little and have very little sleep. The situation might be better or worse and go on for a shorter or longer time, but what they all have in common is that they all went on and didn't give up.

My parents got divorced when i was young, so I was raised by my mother and grandmother. My mother was a PHD Veterinary Biologist for 50 years. She was wholey underpaid and struggled to raise me and my brother alone. So my story is quite different i guess.


Interesting... 8-)
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby KEND on Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:12 am

Although I started business at 50 I had several self employed periods before that.In 20's I started a construction company building launderettes, went belly up one year later, gambled for a year at 30, ran a martial arts school for two years at 42. Was chief engineer in an architect/engineering company with staff of20+, highly stressful, decided I could do better on my own. Had setbacks a couple of times in recessions. My working class family worked for other people, had no entrepaneurial skills,all left school at 16.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Ron Panunto on Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:37 am

Michael wrote:
Ron Panunto wrote:I'm 74 now and went on my own 14 years ago. I did it by purchasing the company that I had worked for for 7 years. It cost me $350,000, but I am making a good living and paid off the loan after 5 years. I'm a consulting electrical engineer specializing in forensics.

Thx for sharing. :)

Why did you decide to buy the company instead of continuing to work for it? What risks did you plan for? Do you think being 60 at the time is an advantage or disadvantage to someone like OP, who is 40?


The owner of the company wanted to retire and he was going to close the business. I really didn't plan for any risks, I had complete confidence in my skills. I would say that age is not the issue, however, the sooner the better.
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby KEND on Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:23 am

Ron are you still working? I continued on my own until I was 81, it kept my mind active. My clients called me back after my partner and I folded the company in 2001. I found that my years of experience in engineering was still in demand
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby northern_mantis on Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:40 am

Some inspiring stories, thanks guys!
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Re: Going Self Employed

Postby Ron Panunto on Thu Apr 12, 2018 7:25 am

KEND wrote:Ron are you still working? I continued on my own until I was 81, it kept my mind active. My clients called me back after my partner and I folded the company in 2001. I found that my years of experience in engineering was still in demand


Yes, I'm still working - not sure when and if to "retire."
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