How did you start your own business?

Hi @MassielC! 

The first step is finding the motivation and desire to work for yourself, which is where you are now. YAY! From there, start taking it one day at a time. Once I had my business vision, as well as figured out the lifestyle I wanted my business to provide, (I came up with this by writing a Life Plan), I started building my business on the side. I worked my full time job while building up my virtual assistant clientele base until one day I had the stability and the courage to quit my full time job. It takes patience (which is far from my strength! :smileyhappy:) and persistence, and I know you can find both. I would love to stay in touch and keep up with your journey! We are all here to support you. 

@MassielC I recommend that you discover what your top 5 strengths are by taking the Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. You can buy a hardback cover book for around $30 and get the code at the back to take the assesment online. Or you can search online to just buy the code only. After you take the assesment which I think is about 40 minutes long you will get a detailed report for your top 5 strengths. If you can use this insight to help you build your business vision and values around you. 

It isn't clear why you need Grants or Funding. To start many businesses, you just start. Waiting around for others to Subsidize you is not a good plan. Needing Credit or Loans to "be in business" will prevent you from Being In Business.

Go to your Library and see if you can get the Books "Start" and "Business Boutique" which are both part of Dave Ramsey's group of professional resources.

Don't quit your job unless you have a different job to go to, while you organize how to go about being in business for yourself. You should be able to do Both and overlap, as well, because you need to be sure your concept for being in business will work, before intending to rely on it for everything.

"i dont have money saved up because i am unable to save much from what i make at work after paying bills."

I recommend you also get some financial couseling for the strategy that addresses this condition First. Starting your own business will be a bit of a Strain on the financial picture you already have. You know the phrase, "Get your Ducks in a row." That means, get everything else Right, before deciding to leap into a new condition that can be a bit chaotic, on its own.

"i am not happy working anymore."

Honey, when you work for yourself, it can be Worse. Make sure your eyes are open going into this. Just this last week, I ate a 5-hour site visit = won't be charging for it.

What kind of business are you trying to start? I started my own bookkeeping business this year. It does not take a lot of money to start a bookkeeping business, so that was not a problem. Seems like obtaining capital is the problem for you. Have you tried obtaining a small loan? Building an efficient business takes time. Do not rush or you could end up in serious trouble. Set short term and long term goals. That really helps out, because that will push you. Also, think about what makes your business different from the next. Are your prices cheaper, etc? I understand that you do not like working anymore, but if that is your only reason for starting a business, you will not make it far. 

For me, I got fed up with corporate life. I couldn't take the office politics any more.

@AudreyPratt thank you for the advice. i will definitely do a life plan as well. i am a very patient person and i will use that to my advantage. 

@Markus my dream is to open a cafe one day. but i would like to also have an at home business i could do to make stable money while i work on my dream business. i have heard of people opening bookkeeping businesses at home and it worked out for them. i have looked into it for myself am interested. how did you start yours? its not that im trying to rush, i know that wont work out. i am a patient person, i have just been very frustrated with being mistreated at my job and having been unsuccessful with starting a business. i am currently looking for another job. i have tried to get a loan but unfortunately i cant get any loans due to bad credit. i dont have a problem working. i am willing to work to achieve my goals and dreams. i am just tired of working for people that mistreat me and dont care about their business. i am tired of my life revolving around their schedule. i will follow your advice about short and long term goals. i feel that will be one good start. 

@MassielC I understand it is a nightmare working with bad coworkers or supervisors. I was doing freelance bookkeeping business years before I started my business so I just transferred those clients over to my business. I just went to my state website and signed up to become an LLC. That is great, keep on chasing your dreams. I have learned over that it is very important to be a good salesman. This is were I was lacking when I started my business but I am definitely getting better at it. You need to be able to answer what makes your business different from the next. Do you have an accounting background?

Love the thoughts from our awesome community here. I agree with @Markus - learning is key to getting started. I wonder too - since your dream is a cafe, is there an opportunity to start small? At a farmers' market on the weekend or a lunch time cart in a busy district near you? I'm a huge fan of starting small and within your means - so it might take time but one foot in front of the other. As @AudreyPratt said, we are all here to cheer for you, brainstorm with you and throw ideas around. Use us! 

@Markus no i dont have much of an accounting background. i have done finances and minor bookkeeping for businesses i have worked for in the past. basically i have used quickbooks before and kept financial records and have paid the bills for the business before. in total it would be less than a year experience doing this. 

@LeslieBarber thank you for the info. i have done the farmers market thing before and i loved it. i had the opportunity once with a friend. she tried it a few times and it worked ok for her so she mentioned it to me. she makes natural skin and hair products and i sold desserts at that time. it went well. i would gladly continue the farmers market idea when i am able to. unfortunately my job makes me work most weekends and thats when most farmers markets are running. i am currently looking for another job that is mostly a monday through friday so my weekends can be free for things like that. a cart or even a food truck (i would love that) is not possible at this time because either one would cost thousands. but yes as you said starting small and within my means is a great way to start. thats why i like that farmers market idea. there are actually many of them in my local area. 

@MassielC I like how you're being cautious but also have a vision for what you'd like to have one day. I too think the farmer's market is an excellent first step! Since one of your long term goals is potentially having a food truck, I thought Charlene's story might help you find some inspiration. We're cheering for you! :smileyhappy:

@MassielC Definitely sounds like you are taking smart next steps. Just know that we've all been there - have the dream and need to make our life fit. We are all here to cheer for you and support you. Reach out anytime! 

@AudreyPratt thank you for sharing Charlene's story with me. i loved reading it and yes it was helpful and inspiring.

@MassielC - Excellent! Keep us posted on your progress, and please do not hesitate to ask your fellow community members any questions you may have in the process. :smileyhappy:

MassieIC, in following this discussion, I noticed the following:

You really don't have a good background for taking on bookkeeping as your business and that isn't what you expressed you want to do, anyway. So, don't do that.

You want to do food/food cart. That means the transition to having your own business would include you getting jobs doing that now, with other people, so that you can learn about food business management, they would pay for your need to be trained on health and safety and safe food handling (as their employee); you can observe various operations to learn what you like and don't like from "behind the curtain" and evaluate what you would want, for your own business. Having that experience makes it more likely you can jump start into your own business and not lose time on your startup; helps you have some frame of reference for setting pricing and sourcing supplies; see what it is like to have employees, regulatory reporting requirements, etc; and in general, get that experience behind you and not interfere or overlap with the issues of also trying to start up the business and the operation.

Because you have three considerations:

The business part of this.

The operational part of this.

The Knowledge for all of this.

Bite the bullet and take some jobs, even knowing the pay might not be what you would hope for, because they still are paying to while you learn, which is not a bad situation.

@qbteachmt     i understand why you would say to get a job in the food industry. when someone wants to start a business or run a business they should get hands on experience with it first. i have always known and agreed with that. and just because i havent mentioned it yet doesn't mean i don't have food industry experience. i do actually have plenty of experience for years. i have worked in restaurants, coffee shops, dessert/chocolate shops, consessions, flea markets, etc. my parents also owned 2 restaurants when i was younger that i helped out with by working in them after school. i also have friends that work in different areas of the food industry, food trucks, as well as another friend who is an actual restaurant owner. he is willing to help get me started but i dont have the finances for that yet. i also learn new things and get advice from them as well. although, i love these types of jobs more than what i'm doing now (hotel manager), unfortunately, i cannot just "bite the bullet" and take a food industry job with lower pay. in my area (and many others i'm sure) the typical pay for food type jobs is minimum wage and that is less than $8 an hour and you dont always get tips. rent and utilities are too much for me to take less pay. and i'm not living beyond my means at all. this is sadly the cost of living in my city and many people here are in the same boat. finding another job is not easy to do to begin with (which is what i am doing now), and i cannot afford lower than what i make now.  i have other people that rely on me working and my paycheck. i am still hoping to do what i mentioned before and find a more regular monday - friday job and leave my weekends open to start small like with farmers markets and other similar venues and go from there.

Having job experience isn't the same as Paying Attention to the things that now are of interest to you. You would not be taking this job for Filler, but to Learn from. That is different that "just wait staff." And you might need to keep some other day job, as well. But did not expend time and resources trying to get a Bookkeeping Business started, when that is Not what you want to be doing. You already mentioned you have bad credit, your business plans are not gaining traction. Don't keep spending time, energy and resources on things that do not Move you Forward in what you seem to want as your goal.

Honestly, if you have a job you hate, and you want to do something else, and it doesn't pay that well, but that is what you want to do, anyway, then take Two Jobs if you have to. You have to Focus on only that end goal and work like a dog to get there, if this is what you want to do.

I completely agree with @qbteachmt. I currently work in the food industry and there is lots of experience and safety (that you must know) involved. Defenitely takes a lot to start a business and I completely understand your situation. Also, there are lots of minor things to consider in the food industry also, example: licenses which normally consist of: state and city/county business license, state or city/county retail license, food handlers card, ServSafe certificate, and a few others also. Hope you can get to what you would like to do. I really enjoy working in the making of the food. 

Also, not sure what you are looking to do, but I know a small business that is growing that started in their home kitchen and all they make is cookies and pies and they sell at farmers markets. That's how we started was at Farmer's Markets. There are tons of them around here. 

When I was starting my business, I started with writing my business plan. When it was ready, I started working on my own website for my business. I used a professionally designed website template by TemplateMonster. So that was the way I started up my own business.