Start a business: Make 10s -> 100s of millions, possibly billions.

[Enzo]

Speaking of discipline, let me drop this little jewel on y'all.

http://www.changethis.com/manifesto/96.01.SelfDiscipline/pdf/96.01.SelfDiscipline.pdf

Thank me later

Also, it can help if we look at what it is we do/are trying to do business wise

I'm going into my last year of law school.

I run an event marketing company in DC. We throw parties targeted at young urban professionals in the DMV.

I'm currently trying to expand the online portion of my business and am looking to collaborate with web and app developers, bloggers, and graphic designers.

If anybody on the Coli is interested in any of those fields or is in the DC area, hit me up.

Furthermore, I am looking to get into business consulting, especially those businesses targeting urban professionals in the DC area. I have a lot of connects due to my parties and my law school affiliations. I want to leverage these to help businesses increase their bottom line.


Who's up next?

 

[714562]

Speaking of discipline, let me drop this little jewel on y'all.

http://www.changethis.com/manifesto/96.01.SelfDiscipline/pdf/96.01.SelfDiscipline.pdf

Thank me later

Also, it can help if we look at what it is we do/are trying to do business wise

I'm going into my last year of law school.

I run an event marketing company in DC. We throw parties targeted at young urban professionals in the DMV.

I'm currently trying to expand the online portion of my business and am looking to collaborate with web and app developers, bloggers, and graphic designers.

If anybody on the Coli is interested in any of those fields or is in the DC area, hit me up.

Furthermore, I am looking to get into business consulting, especially those businesses targeting urban professionals in the DC area. I have a lot of connects due to my parties and my law school affiliations. I want to leverage these to help businesses increase their bottom line.


Who's up next?

If you're doing event marketing and want to do consulting, what in the world are you doing in law school? Sounds like a titanic waste of money.

 

[Diyhai]

Pfl

 

[Enzo]

If you're doing event marketing and want to do consulting, what in the world are you doing in law school? Sounds like a titanic waste of money.

I'm in law school on scholarship, and my summer job just landed me an extra 20K so it's not costing me anything for real. In addition, the law degree opens a lot of doors when it comes to consulting because people admire/respect certain occupations such as lawyers/MBA's/engineers etc.

 

[714562]

I'm in law school on scholarship, and my summer job just landed me an extra 20K so it's not costing me anything for real. In addition, the law degree opens a lot of doors when it comes to consulting because people admire/respect certain occupations such as lawyers/MBA's/engineers etc.

If it's free then it's not a waste of money so much as it is a waste of time. From one law student to another (in particular, a business undergrad turned law student) a JD won't get you any respect in the consulting world. If your law school has ivy-league caliber recognition, that may do it. But otherwise, no. It seems like you want to start your own consulting practice as opposed to getting hired by one...but law school doesn't really help you with that part either.

Obviously it's your choice and you're a 3L already, so I'm sure you've got your own thoughts on the subject...but in my opinion, if you never actually intended on practicing law for at least a couple of years, you should have gone for the MBA or focused on your side-businesses straight out of undergrad. That's way more helpful for consulting in terms of skills learned and career-relevant networking. Free is free but you're never getting that time back.

Anyway, that's just one man's opinion.

 

[Enzo]

Nah, I totally agree. I understand and appreciate your comment/opinion.

I've always been interested in the theory of law and it was a life long dream of mine to understand it and how the framework of law keeps a society together so getting my JD is a personal accomplishment more than anything.

Furthermore, the network that I have been exposed to as a result of law school is one that I would not have had access to anywhere else. I didn't grow up connected nor were any of my direct associations connected.

Being in law school gives me access to the young urban professionals that keep my event planning company running while allowing me into their world as well.

 

[714562]

Nah, I totally agree. I understand and appreciate your comment/opinion.

I've always been interested in the theory of law and it was a life long dream of mine to understand it and how the framework of law keeps a society together so getting my JD is a personal accomplishment more than anything.

Furthermore, the network that I have been exposed to as a result of law school is one that I would not have had access to anywhere else. I didn't grow up connected nor were any of my direct associations connected.

Being in law school gives me access to the young urban professionals that keep my event planning company running while allowing me into their world as well.

...and I get all that. But you could have gotten that same (if not an outright better) network in a DC MBA program, plus work relevant skills and a wider spectrum of young professionals outside of would-be lawyers. Is really worth going through a 3 year struggle purely for networking purposes?

Can't really put a price on a "life-long dream" but at the end of the day, the JD is a professional degree meant for people who want to practice law. If your consulting/event planning businesses ever take off, I have a feeling you'll look back on the things you learned in law school and say, "I didn't need to know any of that." And even if you've got 100% of your tuition covered, that still doesn't get into the cost of your living situation in DC (which isn't cheap), buying all of your law books. You're talking about an extra $100k on top of the tuition. Unless you're a DC native living at home or something.

I wish you luck man, I really do.

Anyway, back on topic.

 

[Brown_Pride]

There are people who run a successful business and never went to college.

College is not for everyone, and it could be a waste of time for some people who can learn their craft and trade elsewhere, like a chef, IT/computer technician, singer/dancer, graphic designer, auto mechanic, etc...all these guys can open their own business and be very successful.

But I shake my head when someone says, "college is for suckas, start your own business so you can work for yourself." Because it makes starting your business seem like something you can do on a whim with no planning or preparation.

Only an ignorant person shuns learning;
There are ignorant rich/successful people.
There are smart people who are poor failures.

Sad little truth of life is that intelligence is a tool, so is force of will, drive, work ethic, the gift of gab, the ability to communicate, mechanical inclination, etc, etc;
Most people are good at something and are gifted with certain tools. Successful people are the people who utilize their tools to their utmost. You don’t NEED college to be successful nor start your own business, but it is not for suckers. A person with enough hustle and a mechanical inclination can open up a body shop and eat well, or a lawn care service or janitor service, you don’t need college for that, but you do need other gifts, force of will to win contracts, drive to keep you going when you’re eating noodles 5 nights a week for 3 years, work ethic, etc, etc.

All that being said I’m mechanically inclined, intelligent enough, I like talking and I love the craft of sales (though I’m not great at it).
I’ve leveraged those things into numerous ventures in my 30 years on this planet.
At 14 i would take a lawn mower and a weed wacker around my square mile neighborhood and hustle up work, for a 14 year old a full 8 hours of grass cutting on a Saturday would get me around 400-500 bucks in one day. That’s good eating.

At 20 I started looking into MLM’s, found some that worked well, got burned, but never over extended myself and held tight to the axiom, “if it sounds to good to be true then it is” and was able to dodge financial ruin while still making some coin. I learned a lot though.

At 25 I created an online gaming, started getting about 1 million visits a day, started making some nice cash on monetization and such, the work on keeping the site up was tremendous, I should have hired people but as it was a hobby and I was making like 2k a month on it caping at 8k a month it wasn’t enough for me to quite my job and I forsaw the shift, so I’ve all but let the site die (again this was dumb).

At 30 I’ve just been working for someone else, BUT I am always looking, I’m a hustler by nature though so I’ve no doubt I’ll get into something else later down the road, right now ‘m flipping shyt on CL and building custom computers on the side for a markup, again this is more a hobby than serious business.

What was the point of all of this…
If you want to start your own business a. Learn from people who have already done it. That helped me out a lot. B. Learn to sell. Study selling, if you have the time BECOME A CAR SALESMAN, not as a career but because you’ll go through sales training and it will always be beneficial. C. Find the tools you’ve been blessed with and work those to your advantage.

There’s my advice/perspective.

 

[Enzo]

...and I get all that. But you could have gotten that same (if not an outright better) network in a DC MBA program, plus work relevant skills and a wider spectrum of young professionals outside of would-be lawyers. Is really worth going through a 3 year struggle purely for networking purposes?

Can't really put a price on a "life-long dream" but at the end of the day, the JD is a professional degree meant for people who want to practice law. If your consulting/event planning businesses ever take off, I have a feeling you'll look back on the things you learned in law school and say, "I didn't need to know any of that." And even if you've got 100% of your tuition covered, that still doesn't get into the cost of your living situation in DC (which isn't cheap), buying all of your law books. You're talking about an extra $100k on top of the tuition. Unless you're a DC native living at home or something.

I wish you luck man, I really do.

Anyway, back on topic.

Thanks fam.

Yeah, i am a DMV native and my expenses haven't changed much since starting law school. I own a property and invest in another one. I may practice for a couple of years cause that 160k is no joke but after working at a firm, I look at it as being more of a glorified secretary as opposed to an adviser which is why I'm looking into consulting.

 

[Habit]

drive to keep you going when you’re eating noodles 5 nights a week for 3 years, work ethic, etc, etc.

This is the key ingredient.

One thing I'm usually at odds with when it comes to the topic of starting your own business, you have a lot of dreamers who only have a vague idea what it means to be a business owner or even what it takes to support themselves.

They are idealistic but unsophisticated, and their motto usually amounts to, "you never know if you don't try."

Most of the time they never leave the "idea" phase.

I feel a lot of things goes into running a business, including having real life experience. Also, talent and skill increases your chances of success.

The biggest argument against college is why have all that debt? Well....

You either:

1)Go to college,
2)Go to trade school, or
3)Work to gain experience in your field.

No one says your must go to college. But you still need a day job until you reach your goal. They have to at least acknowledge that fact.

 

[Brown_Pride]

This is the key ingredient.

One thing I'm usually at odds with when it comes to the topic of starting your own business, you have a lot of dreamers who only have a vague idea what it means to be a business owner or even what it takes to support themselves.

They are idealistic but unsophisticated, and their motto usually amounts to, "you never know if you don't try."

Most of the time they never leave the "idea" phase.

I feel a lot of things goes into running a business, including having real life experience. Also, talent and skill increases your chances of success.

The biggest argument against college is why have all that debt? Well....

You either:

1)Go to college,
2)Go to trade school, or
3)Work to gain experience in your field.

No one says your must go to college. But you still need a day job until you reach your goal. They have to at least acknowledge that fact.

More to the fact the that expensive ass piece of paper does speak to your drive and ability to complete something once started.

From a pragmatic standpoint you hit the nail on the head with regards to still needing to eat.

Startup Failure Rates — The REAL Numbers

25% don’t make it past year one, only 29% make it past year 10. These are the numbers for successrates (the most optimistic ones I can find).

That’s to say 7 out of 10 business fail within 10 years.

Now if you can look at that number and not see the value in a “back up” plan in something more concrete then chances are you don’t have the vision to run a business in the first place.

Also, there are cheaper ways to go to college, CC 2 years then transfer to in state schools. Still pricey but not nearly as much as 4 years at a state or private university.

One other benefit is this:
College degree = professional = earns more money, meaning you can dump more money into your business.
No college degree = working at taco bell, meaning you need to dumb money into basic survival and piece mail your business.

 

[Habit]

More to the fact the that expensive ass piece of paper does speak to your drive and ability to complete something once started.

From a pragmatic standpoint you hit the nail on the head with regards to still needing to eat.

Startup Failure Rates — The REAL Numbers

25% don’t make it past year one, only 29% make it past year 10. These are the numbers for successrates (the most optimistic ones I can find).

That’s to say 7 out of 10 business fail within 10 years.

Now if you can look at that number and not see the value in a “back up” plan in something more concrete then chances are you don’t have the vision to run a business in the first place.

Also, there are cheaper ways to go to college, CC 2 years then transfer to in state schools. Still pricey but not nearly as much as 4 years at a state or private university.

One other benefit is this:
College degree = professional = earns more money, meaning you can dump more money into your business.
No college degree = working at taco bell, meaning you need to dumb money into basic survival and piece mail your business.

Also, the rule of thumb is don't expect to make any money the first 3 or 5 years.

If these anti-college folks do go the business route I hope they realize in most cases it not all glamour and glitz. At least one person acknowledge you'll have to work in your living room until your business gets off the ground. Who knows how long that will take.

I've met some general contractors my architect work with that are doing really well, very knowledgeable, and never spent one day in college. Civil engineering is a very technical field, so I have to get a college degree. I feel college is not applicable if someone has different desires or passion. Its up to the person to decide if that's the case with them, instead of letting people pump their heads full of ideas.

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

One of the biggest problems that cats run into when they try to do their own business gig, is that they try to start off too big. They want to be Boss Tyc00n status right out the gate. They create extra overhead for meaningless shyt, they micro-manage dudes under them, they pretty much do everything on some big level that isn't called for.

The best thing to do is create a lil side hustle and make that shyt successful. People may knock it but lil side shyt like detailing cars, lawn service, and/or even selling shyt can help you step ya business game up as far as mental outlook and certain situations. I would rather someone master some basic level shyt like that and then stepping into the deep end of the pool as opposed to never doing any type of business venture ever and jumping right up to the big leagues.

 

[Enzo]

Agreed. Does anyone currently have a side hustle that is bringing them additional income and would they care to explain how it works, etc

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

That's why I'm majoring in economics. fukk working for someone else for the rest of your life. I'm gonna work for a few years, get some experience and stack a little $ and after that I'm working for myself.

Trillions!!!!!

Research on Small Businesses - start-ups, statistics, SBA, bankruptcy, GEM, failure, business closures, developing countries

fukk starting a business just for the hell of starting a business. The #1 focus should be building wealth. You don't need your own business to do that.

And people think running a business means not having to work for anybody? W/a job you have 1 interview, 1 boss. W/a business, you have to basically interview + network for every paycheck.

Like that link I posted said, most businesses fail very quickly.

Dont think having your own business will be some panacea because you hate your job. And dont even bother with a business if you don't have a good idea or connections. WEALTH. BUILD IT.