Want to start your own business - Ask an entrepreneur anything!

[George Gooney]

Good read

 

[the cool]

lol at you fools listening to this dude about starting a business when he doesn't make any money

 

[Hov]

so you're able to ball out under the guise of a tax write off??:eh:



as for zuckerberg, he can afford to have a $1 salary, cuz he cashed in when the he sold off a gang of shares when facebook went public.

It is not about balling out my man! Not in the least. Being an entrepreneur ain't about balling out and being rich, it's about creating an idea or making a mark in an industry and getting paid for it on your own terms.

Man look, if you want to ball out, I seriously say get a job or go play a sport. Because thinking you are just going to start a business and make millions is child talk. Read a real story - your life is going to suck and you are going to quit if its about the money, because you aint going to make none starting out. Even if you make alot, it will leave you. There are some bad, bad days starting out as a business owner on your OWN. No paycheck no nothing, you have to go get it.

So it CANT be about the money - it has to be about the dream and believe in yourself. What is balling out anyway? Cars, lots of homes? Clubs? Trips? I dont care much about most of that crap, I literally live and love my job. If my folks want to do stuff, we an do it, but i am older, man balling out is living solid to me, I could care less about that stuff.

 

[Hov]

lol at you fools listening to this dude about starting a business when he doesn't make any money

Huh? One of my clients right now is the Department of Defense. Are you seriously kidding me? And no I never graduated college.

Anyone can do it, but stop the stupidness and listen.

 

[MJ Freedom]

I wanna start a merchandising company, and a marketing company as well... any general advice for me, a brother who's basically been a worker his whole life but wants more?

 

[Cynic]

I wanna start a merchandising company, and a marketing company as well... any general advice for me, a brother who's basically been a worker his whole life but wants more?

figure how to get clients before you start these businesses....

So find an existing merchandising/marketing company and arrange to get them clients for a cut.

This way you get real live first hand experience on how to market and sell your service/product without the overhead/payroll.

If you are successful at that then go open those businesses

It is not about balling out my man! Not in the least. Being an entrepreneur ain't about balling out and being rich, it's about creating an idea or making a mark in an industry and getting paid for it on your own terms.

Man look, if you want to ball out, I seriously say get a job or go play a sport. Because thinking you are just going to start a business and make millions is child talk. Read a real story - your life is going to suck and you are going to quit if its about the money, because you aint going to make none starting out. Even if you make alot, it will leave you. There are some bad, bad days starting out as a business owner on your OWN. No paycheck no nothing, you have to go get it.

So it CANT be about the money - it has to be about the dream and believe in yourself. What is balling out anyway? Cars, lots of homes? Clubs? Trips? I dont care much about most of that crap, I literally live and love 12.26. If my folks want to do stuff, we an do it, but i am older, man balling out is living solid to me, I could care less about that stuff.

What you are saying here is you don't know how to make money from day one....

There needs to be a clear distinction between creating income and "running a business". I didn't get into business to struggle and toil away long hours....I got in it to make money.PERIOD I made and have taught my employees to make 6 figures a month from the very first month ....with no loans, no credit


Everything comes down to tracking your numbers and either increasing the transactions or the size of the transaction in your company. Also setting policies and keeping accountable and disciplined....it's not about wallowing on slow months like a clueless struggling business owner



The struggling business owner is the worst kind out there...they hate their customers...their employees and blame the economy for their own negligence. They all deserve to go bankrupt and luckily there is a cleansing (recession)of these idiots every ten years I avoid these people at all costs....

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Shout out to @Hov for trying to have a progressive thread.

And @ all the nikkas in here mad

 

[Yup]

Very interesting.

 

[Hov]

Wow, I am so glad this thread is back. Very much needed. Here is an update on my company, and I am still willing to answer any questions, as well as implore others the share in this thread.

(btw, reading what I just wrote is crazy to me. I started out as a 19 year old drop out in S O H H, talking to people about my hood and Jayz vs Nas, lol - now I'm on the Coli talking about business.)

Anyhow, we have changed our business model slightly. I'm also gonna be in a feature in Delta Flight Airlines mag in Nov, so I will let yall know how big or small that is, and maybe post the page.

We have grown into a unique design company, because we now incubate and invest into companies, brands, idaes and products. So we are like a marketing/creative agency, that is also an investments company.

 

[Raptor]

Do you know anyone doing property development and flipping houses, can a civil engineering degree be useful in PD

 

[Pyrexcup]

any good books you recommend

 

[Hov]

any good books you recommend

Off the top of my head:
Choose Yourself by James Altucher
Steve Jobs by Walter-Isaacson

 

[Hov]

Do you know anyone doing property development and flipping houses, can a civil engineering degree be useful in PD

I am actually meeting with a friend/founder of investment firm in a few min. The firm started out doing property & real estate. I dont know too much about that market myself, but where I am (DC), its a little pricier than other areas, and the major investors and developers and paying 500k cash for 400k homes and sitting on them since so much is being redeveloped, and this is now the costliest place to live in the US.

I can ask about civil engineering degree and get back to you when I meet him in a few.

 

[DPresidential]

Very...interesting thread...

Weirdly just in time for how I'm feeling...

A little back ground about myself...

Graduated College w/ a Bachelor's in Business Management & Finished Law School in 2009. I've been practicing Law since. Without saying much about where I work, outside of the trials, I really feel like I'm forcing myself to continue my career as an attorney. I am really good at it & where I'm at I will progress, but it's becoming increasingly hard.

I'm a BIG people person, I excel at public speaking& creativity seems to always be with me. Even in the most mundane situation, I'm thinking outside the box about creating something r making a business out of it. Things of that nature.

I've always dreamed about owning my own business(Something that I think every black man/woman should strive to do by the way) & I'm really starting to feel like the time is now. I once wrote up a business plan for a Web 2.0 Social Networking Site that caters to Attorneys & law students. I have an idea, that is very dear to my heart, about owning a unique food truck among a few App ideas.

I'm caught in this limbo though...what inspired you to just get up and do? What was your first step? And considering my background, what do you suggest?

Also, I dream about blogging on issues from the perspective of a Professional Black man experiencing every day life in a humorous & serious way, actually much like on the Coli.

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

I have a visual brand development company. There is a book out now that explains how your first idea or iteration of your business is never the one that you end up with, and it is VERY true. I started out with the idea for a web design company, because I knew how to design websites - but I had a very, very large base of people I knew from my ball playing days, very charismatic, and I was into more than just creating website - I loved helping businesses grow. I literally could (and have a team now that can) do anything - movies, photography, events, billboards, printing, animation, web, apps, anything.

So, my value to any startup/business/athlete/entertainer/trep is that I can sit down with you, learn about your idea or business, and we can find a way to present it to the world in a "million dollar" fashion - that requires a real sitdown of how we are going to attack your industry visual-wise. Its akin to putting a album together that has a thought process and track listing like Kendrick Lamar instaed of throwing random songs together like Waka Flocka. Yes, you need a logo and website, but they need to mesh with the bigger picture. You need social media, but you need certain platforms more than others in different industries. Gone are the days of build it and they will come. We need to design for a reason, track whats going on, and get people to follow you and your brand the same way people fight over Apple/Android even though they never met anyone who built the product or have no stake in it.

Right now I admit I spend too many hours. About 10 - 14 a day. It still doesnt feel like enough - but it doesnt feel like 10 - 15. When i had a job I couldnt wait for 5 to hit but now its like there is always something to do, and in the creative field you can be immersed in a product.

The expenses were very low until I opened a location, which incurs overhead - lease, lights, electricty, web, all that stuff. The opening expenses were legal related - please avoid legal zoom and lawyers for your initial LLC, you can take it to your local district yourself and do it for like $200, but a lawyer will cost lie $1500.

My company is named 12.26 Studios. (www.1226studios.com)

DC in this bytch