Starting my own business

[gwb72tii]

working for yourself is the best, and hardest, thing you'll do
i'v had a business partner for 17yrs, never had a written agreement, always on a handshake. she's the best, but now she wants to retire and a written agreement would be great right about now.
have a 1,3, and 5yr plan, and execute the plan

i'd say good luck, but hard work pays off better

[Nairb]

First post was like a project style DIY for starting your own business. I lqtm'd.

[equate975]

Haven't updated for a while, we are real close to opening now. We are super far behind schedule. I have had to deal with so much bullshit it was impossible to keep things moving ahead. We JUST got our signs a few days ago, hopefully going to get them up on the building tomorrow, but this week has been below 0 all day everyday. Should be warm tomorrow though.

The construction and layout is pretty much done, I have all the software sorted out, all the POS going, etc....

At this point we just need to clean up a few odds and ends and order up our inventory.

My camera can't do that wide of an angle, but this is walking in the front door.. The back wall will have signs and stuff on it, prices etc...





Mostly a workbench for phones/ipods and maybe room enough for a few laptops.



Empty display cases..





Backroom that houses all of our networking crap, and a big bench for overflow and desktops







Edit:

FYI if anyone is interested in opening their own business, do yourself a favor and dump your girlfriend. Shit will never get done otherwise. Also don't try to have a life.

[george graves]

Wow - 3 months. Good thing you're not paying rent!

[sweet6e30]

keep up the good work. A good way to actually make money is NOT to work for somebody else! unless your a whore! lol

[nickflic3]

Congrats dude, I was just wondering about this the other day. Sorry about all the trials but I'm sure you'll get through it :up:

[SoEm0]

Looking good. A friend and I are currently looking for a place to rent for our computer biz. Every time we want to go looking a ton of business comes in lol.

[paddyhart]

hope you are android compliant! Times have changed the last three months.

[Kruzen]

hope you are android compliant! Times have changed the last three months.

[Kruzen]

So how is this coming along?

[TexasTerp]

Edit:

FYI if anyone is interested in opening their own business, do yourself a favor and dump your girlfriend. Shit will never get done otherwise. Also don't try to have a life.

Hahaha, welcome to the club! How's everything coming along?

[apm]

I hope things are going well for you opening your own business! Like they said, keep tabs of your expenses and make sure you have good cash flow vs overhead. It can add up rather quickly.

When I was 22, I started my own computer biz as well. I ran it for about 4 yrs, so I know a thing or 2 about starting a computer shop.

I used a different route though. I establish my cash flow/clients before opening a shop itself. I developed some applications first to small biz owners and used it to open the shop. This is a good approach since you have solid base before running it out of a building.

- Went to schools/local governments and contacted them about selling computer supplies/services. Yes I supplied disks/papers(Dander Mifflin? :) and tutorials/labs to schools. 1st year to 4th year HS. Once you get the hookup your golden.

- Then local government. Just be patient enough, I was able to pull accounting, census,etc on 4 different city precincts. Just have to work hard and you must know what you're talking about.

- And then finally after almost a year, I opened up officially my own PC biz office. Registered biz name, tax, the whole shebang.

- I ran computer rentals, repairs, supplies, even had a few companies I wrote System Apps for.

It can be very rewarding, but you have to work hard. And you have to watch out for overhead and expenses. You need to find good suppliers as well. Competitives ones I might add, so that your cost are controlled and you can past the savings.

CONS:
- Sometimes you have to work hard on the weekend as well. VS 9-5 and you're on your own.
- There are customers that are really a pain. It sometimes stressed me out dealing with them. But those are only few.
- Extras from a company like stocks, health care, bonuses, training, career growth will be missed, since you're on your own.

So after 4 yrs of running it, I went back to corporate world. More peace of mind and growth for career. I'm doing some flipping of stuff on the weekends though. Biz is in my blood I guess.

[fransgine]

Good luck equate975. It was really great news to start your own business.

[Rau]

Good luck equate975. It was really great news to start your own business.

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[Pantless Spency]

any updates on your business?