Banking isn’t for me and I have an entrepreneurial itch - I want to start a business.
Obviously, easier said than done. But I want to take risks and put it all on the line. If it doesn’t work out, fine.
But I don’t even know where the hell I would start. How do you even come up with an idea that warrants that risk?? Obviously not quitting my job until I have an idea that is worth throwing myself into, but where do you even start coming up with ideas??
The best thing to do is start part-time in accordance with your FT role and ramp up the pipeline so you actually have revenues and profits when you quit corporate. I understand all FT jobs may prohibit working part time in tandem with the FT role, sucks for you.
Since you’re on here, ever considered RE as an owner renting units out?
Yeah I feel like real estate is the most tangible and simple to get into. Easy to understand and figure out what makes something succeed.
RE is highly capital intensive
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/50-business-ideas-from-the-my-first-million-podcast-that-you-can-build-with-no-code-tools-1595e7f0f5
Dude I love My First Million Podcast. It’s probably my favorite at the moment, it’s easy to passively listen to but also helpful. I get tired of hammering away at AWS talks for tech and stuff like that.
same. I listen for trend awareness.
One of my former coworkers and I would always grab lunch once a week. Our usual quick spot was Jimmy Johns. My coworker said he likes the subs and the idea of making a simple cold sub with minimal staff. I told him you have a good job, maybe just invest with somebody. But he said he was tired of working and wanted something more fruitful. Fast forward, he quit his job and now has 9 locations. No doubt he's got incredible work ethic considering the labor shortage he is experiencing but he's happy making subs instead of financial models. Sometimes you just never know what the future holds. Do what makes you happy and if you get good enough at it, you'll make money...obviously assuming there is a demand for that product/service.
lol nice
Your friend went for a franchise model for a business? Aren't these capital intensive?
Not sure exactly how he got there, but he saved enough based on our discussions. Maybe not that capital intensive, since he doesnt own the real estate and equipment is minimal. If I remember correctly, he bought like a few existing locations from one owner and used SBA for financing which is like 10% down. Just googling it, seems like average franchise would cost somewhere around $400k to $500k, so if he bought three with financing, his total equity in is $150k. He's at 9 locations since he first started, which has been more than 8 years since buying the initial three. Been awhile since I spoke to him, but back then he said he averaged around $40k per location, so assuming thats still his going bottom line, thats $360K a year. He did mention its a lot of blood and sweat involved especially given how hard it is to hire, but he rolls between locations in a Porsche Taycan so I imagine he's doing well and seems happy.
I would challenge your assertion that it's easier said than done. Starting a business in America is criminally easy - literally. You can be in "business" in 24 hours but all of your activity will be contrary to rules, regulations, and tax requirements. But that's neither here nor there, it does lead me to say: just begin. You gotta start somewhere and you better be mentally prepared for the fact you won't get it right the first time.
You could wait until you have the perfect idea and plan and plan and plan before actually pulling the trigger; but no plan survives first contact with the enemy/reality. So decide what you're going to do, actually do the thought exercise of writing a business plan, creating financial projections (and understanding all assumptions behind them), and doing your market research. Then once you have the capital needed to buy the business or get a loan to get started... just dive in. If you're truly an entrepreneurial soul; this won't scare you as much as it sounds like it will. Getting your hands dirty will provide an enormous amount of clarity that you couldn't have while still working FT and trying to create ideas and plan. If you're a halfway decent IB analyst; you know good business from bad business. It's simple... but not easy.
But to answer your specific question - do as others have said here:
1. Talk to business brokers to start getting a feel for the universe of possibilities if you wanted to buy a business and to get your first look at real, existing small business financial statements so you can know what reality may look like when you're in the saddle
2. Go find a good SBA lender that works with start-ups and ask them to connect you with some of their more successful clients. Small business people love to talk about themselves and be fawned over so they'd likely give you an inside look into their operation and share some wisdom about landmines to avoid.
3. Do not underestimate the power of a robust business plan. Understand it will be iterative and you will want everyone to poke holes in it. You don't know what you don't know so constantly use new information to inform and evolve your plan and projections so that at any time you do, in fact, have a plan. While no plan survives first contact with reality, planning itself is indispensable and will always help center you when you are staring at 14,326 different things that need your attention. Stay focused on whats important.
4. There are countless franchises out there. To get an idea of how many - go look up the SBA-approved franchise directory. It's ginormous. Go look at the potential investor kits for some of these franchises and see what bits of wisdom are included in there (like amount of capital to have available to invest, what to expect in terms of earnings, and what skills you'll need to bring versus what you can expect to hire somebody for).
buy a business, use creative financing. a lot less risky than starting a business.
buy an ATM route- https://atmbrokerage.com/atm-routes-for-sale/
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