[rphan2]

Do you guys think when deciding to start up your own business, which is more important? Figuring out what you want to do or knowing all the details of how to get things started ( taxes, business structure, bookkeeping etc)...I am sooo close to quitting my 8-5 and willing to pretty much do anything where I can start my own business and start somewhere. Motivation isn't the problem, but I have no special skill. I spend all day trying to think of any business idea I can get a start with and go from there. I don't mind the hours and any hard work since I am pretty much obsessed with being self employed at this point. Every time I try to read up on starting a business, it seems like the amount of info out there is infinite. Can you guys share a story or two on how you got started from the ground up? Looking for any tidbit of advice I can get....

[Mr Tonka]

Find a business you want to get in to. Find a business owner who is older and may need to figure out a succession plan. There are many business owners out there who have kids with no interest in the family business. They would love to see their legacy carry on via someone who is enthusiastic and hard working.

[Hisam135i]

Find an area you love, indulge your self in that area (know everything there is possible to know) should be simple to start from there. I honestly think people become to locked on the idea of how to start a business rather than just going out and seeing what you can do (that is after you learned everything about the market). Just my 2 cents

[Dr. G]

Your business will quickly start to feel like a 9-5 with all the extra headaches of running a business if you don't enjoy what you do. Either find something you would at least somewhat enjoy doing everyday or go for gold and start laying the foundations for something you hope will go BIG in the future.

[rphan2]

So I guess everyone agrees that you gotta do something you have a passion for. I get that, we all have things in life we like to do. I'm single and don't really have anything to keep me back from devoting all my time into starting a business. I would like to start something online based and go from there. Anyone run their own business mainly through online sales or something similar?

[SavvyByNature]

Def... do something that you enjoy doing. There is nothing more fulfilling than getting paid for something that you would do for free. I have always enjoyed working with technology, so it was quite easy to open up a business doing that. I'm not 'full-time' as of yet, but eventually.

Another thing to keep in mind is NOT to quit you 9-5 as of yet. You want to ease into starting your own business. Once it gets to the point of running fully on its own, then migrate full-time over to your business.

Here's a good reddit topic to read: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...b_to_follow_a/

[ENGINE er]

Keep in mind you dont have to LOVE the thing you are working with, you could just love the business. I am a real estate investor, i dont LOVE houses, wood, or nails, but i LOVE building the business, the creativity necessary to get some of theses deals done and i love making something that used to be a wreck the nicest on the block.

What the others have said about not quitting until you are on solid ground is sound advice. Make sure the business is stable, and you have at least 6mo of personal expenses saved up to keep you going while the business is going through growing pains.

[fatgrandma]

Originally Posted by SavvyByNature

Def... do something that you enjoy doing. There is nothing more fulfilling than getting paid for something that you would do for free. I have always enjoyed working with technology, so it was quite easy to open up a business doing that. I'm not 'full-time' as of yet, but eventually.

Another thing to keep in mind is NOT to quit you 9-5 as of yet. You want to ease into starting your own business. Once it gets to the point of running fully on its own, then migrate full-time over to your business.

Here's a good reddit topic to read: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...b_to_follow_a/

+1. If you plan to start an online thing, you should be able to stay with your 9 - 5 job at the beginning of your project. That's the good thing about online stuff.

[Ehwnnc]

Better have some dough takes money to make money

[Hisam135i]

If you're interested in an online store and need to learn how to make your own site use w3schools.com to learn the basics of CSS and HTML, than use either joomla or Wordpress to build your site (using basic code to manipulate templates to get the feel and look you want)

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by SavvyByNature

Def... do something that you enjoy doing. There is nothing more fulfilling than getting paid for something that you would do for free. I have always enjoyed working with technology, so it was quite easy to open up a business doing that. I'm not 'full-time' as of yet, but eventually.

Another thing to keep in mind is NOT to quit you 9-5 as of yet. You want to ease into starting your own business. Once it gets to the point of running fully on its own, then migrate full-time over to your business.

Here's a good reddit topic to read: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...b_to_follow_a/

The problem with this mindset is that those people typically end up doing a lot for free.

Originally Posted by ENGINE er

Keep in mind you dont have to LOVE the thing you are working with, you could just love the business. I am a real estate investor, i dont LOVE houses, wood, or nails, but i LOVE building the business, the creativity necessary to get some of theses deals done and i love making something that used to be a wreck the nicest on the block.

What the others have said about not quitting until you are on solid ground is sound advice. Make sure the business is stable, and you have at least 6mo of personal expenses saved up to keep you going while the business is going through growing pains.

This. Do something you're knowledgeable about or have a knack for. A friend of mine used to run cabling for a local IT company. (this was a while back) He knew it inside and out and had the drive and motivation to do this on his own. He started out of his mom's garage, grew into an office, and after 12 years of hard work he sold his "little" company to Lucent Technologies for $32million. He didn't start that business cause he loved running cable. He started it because he was good at it and was motivated to be the guy signing checks rather than running cable.

Originally Posted by Ehwnnc

Better have some dough takes money to make money

True enough, but some industries take less to get into.

[rphan2]

Great advice so far guys, there's so much to learn and read about right now.

[Pontrelli]

It sounds like you are considering this because of frustation over your existing job..not really a good move to be motivated by anger or frustration ..especially in this economy.

[spiike32]

1. You're leaving an 8-5 to go to a 5-8 aka starting a new business
2. Establish a solid business plan which includes a revenue plan and an exit strategy. If you don't know what those are, read up on these before quiting your current job, and do not "start a business" without knowing your target market and how your business will generate revenue.
3. It takes money to make money. Once you're out of the seed stage, google angel investors in your city and get ready to make your business grow.

[amanda hor$t]

apparently, i don't know jack about business, but have gotten pretty good at asking for money. whatever works lol

[rphan2]

Originally Posted by Pontrelli

It sounds like you are considering this because of frustation over your existing job..not really a good move to be motivated by anger or frustration ..especially in this economy.

It's not really frustration over my job as much as just being my own boss and working for myself has always been a goal. The idea of how successful I can be or how big of a failure would depend on me alone for the most part and that's what I feel like I want to do in life. I think the hardest thing right now finding out what type of business and how to get the things slowly moving in the right direction. I got lots of good stuff from you guys that made me really think. I know this would be extremely hard to achieve, but I just can't see myself working for the "man" as a career.

[amanda hor$t]

i just had a great idea for a small biz. i can borrow money on margin for next to nothing. charge people 20% for paycheck advances. but i can't stand dealing with poor people. anyone want to deal with poor people for me (knowing a lot of poor people: definite plus)?

[rphan2]

So I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about doing something on my own. I do have an idea of what I want to do, but I need to get started on creating a website and slowly work on it. I come from a banking operations background, so don't know much about creating/maintaining a website etc. Can someone sorta point me in the right direction as to where to start? Everytime I do a search, there's just too many results and options, I don't even know where to begin lol...

[fayes uraro]

There's a lot of things to consider on having a small business. First you need to think of which business interest you. Be sure that you have a fund and good location
Well, goodluck and thanks for the ideas.

[N55]

Better have the funds to fund the business. It takes money to make money...

[amanda hor$t]

Originally Posted by N55

Better have the funds to fund the business. It takes money to make money...

not if you ask for it

[fireline43]

I go through the same feelings the OP goes through. My family owns a construction company which is not succussful and I started out working there. I really enjoyed not having to worry about someone else making my schedule for me. But because it wasn't a good business to be in I went to something safe, the federal government. Now to recent developments, that's not working out that amazing either, and I already hate the job.
So I pretty much sit around trying to think of a business to start on the side and grow it over time to become a full time. Pretty much my 2 things I have going for me: either something dealing with the construction industry that I can work off my family, but be smarter. Or 2, my wife loves to bake and wants to start a cupcake business, but it seems to be a saturated market.