What Is Your Story?

[windowwasher86]

Hello,

I'm just starting up my business. Just wondering what people's stories are of business startup to ten years later. I'm interested to hear about the ups and downs. Good times, and bad, and more importantly what motivated you to get through the tough times and set backs!

Im looking forward to answers!

[greenoak]

my start up was that i had something people wanted...and i kept finding more of it....pretty simple..and my dh soon joined in .and we reinvested as fast as possible...we totallly bootstrapped which made us faster and free'er....also we had a failed business behind us which made us smarter and more careful...and made listening to the big buyers obvious to us...which imho is not always that big a priority....
now we are mature, 30 yrs, and hobbled with all kinds of responsibility and layers of business...and 10 or 15 workers depending on us...
berware...a down thing is getting popular at a price you dont like.... and cant be satisfied with.... that can happen in a slow creep

[vangogh]

About 10 years ago I was working for different tech companies around the time the dotcom era was coming to an end or had just ended. Jobs became a similar cycle. Hard to find one, find one, work for awhile, and then get laid off. I didn't like cycle and with a friend decided to start a business. I had wanted to start one for a long time and the timing seemed right. At one of the jobs that let me go we worked turning print books into ebooks (a few years before anyone cared about ebooks unfortunately) My job required working with code similar to html. After being there awhile it became obvious none of us was going to have a job for long and I decided to learn html and how to build websites.

Early on I didn't know how to market my own business. Neither did my friend and our business didn't last long. I did learn enough so that I was pretty good at developing websites and I learned enough to know I needed to become better at marketing. I started a new business.

Yes there have been up and down times and there always will be. What keeps me going is a love for the work I do and a love for working for myself. I enjoy the freedom and responsibility of working for myself too much to ever want to work for someone else again and it motivates me to continue to find a way not to. I also know the work I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be doing. Even if I had to get a job doing something else I would still be developing websites if only for myself. That drives me to keep learning and getting better.

Mostly what keeps me going is passion for what I do.

[billbenson]

I'm similar to Vangogh in that I'm a product of the dot com crash of 1999 ish. I was an international salesman of Telecom Switching Equipment. I also have an engineering background. The jobs went away. One of my last jobs only lasted 6 months or less but was for a successful online company selling hi tech products. While I was there I bought a Dummies book on DreamWeaver, a web design program, and learned some web design. I could see that the world was moving online from the company I worked for and left there for a web design job for a Telecom distributor.

That distributor eventually went bankrupt and I started looking for a job. While I was looking for a job I contacted one of the manufacturers that the bankrupt distributor had and they approved me as a vendor. I then wrote a web site selling the products. I promoted the website using Google Adwords and was soon making more money than the job offers I got would pay. So I quit looking for work and concentrated on the web business.

I might add that as a field salesman for most of my career I worked out of my house. That prepared me well for working for myself out of my house as well.

[jamestl2]

I'm probably more recent than most here. I just got into the web industry a few years ago (2007) started learning about web development as much as I could (basically because I found it to be fun).

On a professional level, that didn't happen 'til more recently. I started doing some odd freelance jobs here and there and I officially launched my Wordpress business when I created Engipress, which was late 2009.

Today I work part-time for a local marketing company, doing Wordpress Development. It's great getting paid for something and working on stuff you enjoy doing.

[Patrysha]

I started writing out my story...but it's a long and twisted journey and the computer ate it...

I started out as a home childcare provider in 1997...I have since (in no particular order) worked in (or at) direct sales, graphic design, web design, desktop publishing, copywriting, freelance writing, press release writing, brochure writing, fiction writing, a grocery store, radio sales, newsletter writing and editing, article writing and editing, public relations, radio sales, podcast production and hosting, public speaking, daycare, preschool & k-12 as a sub...

And somehow every little bit of that experience is the foundation of what I do today...which is specialize in marketing for small spas and salons :-)

[huggytree]

in business for almost 5 years now....1st 9 months was part time while i worked for someone else....boss found out and fired me, so i went full time......it never was much of a struggle...always made enough to survive.....every year has seen a sales increase from 10-45 percent............about a year ago i finally hit a point where i dont worry much anymore.....i dont lose customers and still gain a new one 1-2x a year.....without much sales effort it just keeps going and building on its own....i sell quality and advertise it, but in reality i actually focus more on service....i learned customers buy on quality, but keep using you based on service.....no one else takes care of them like i do

my problem for a year+ has been how to grow and take it to the next level while the economy sucks for construction......i dont think i can fail as long as i stay a small 1 man company....my failure will come when i grow and hire employees........

after a few years if your making good decisions you'll feel comfortable........

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Charles. There are lots of ups and downs to business. One important ingredient for success is sticking with it. There are a number of things that motivated me to keep at it. A big one was knowing I was doing the right work. I enjoy what I do and immediately upon starting knew it was something I would continue to do the rest of my life regardless of where I did it or how I made money. Somehow I knew this was what I was supposed to do.

That feeling leads to a lot of confidence in knowing I'll be a success as long as I keep at it, which makes it easier to weather any downtime.