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Get on that track! The industry/hobby needs people with drive and passion!
-Scott
The online aquatic business..getting into the game according to the Fellman School of Business...
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Get on that track! The industry/hobby needs people with drive and passion!
-Scott
OP
OP
Excellent advice that everyone should heed! And you're absolutely right about having to develop some "separation" for the hobby and business...It can be so easy for the "biz" part to sap out the passion that made you get into things in the first place..!
-Scott
OP
OP
Love that...And super useful to really think about just "what" your market is...So many potentially good businesses went south for lack of a solid market definition...
Thanks for the reminder!
Scott
Eienna
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I really appreciate how kind you've been with me. I think most would have dumped me as a potential customer at this point...but all I get here is encouragement. I like it a lot. <3
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The only true failures in life are the ones that do not try. You can start up a business and fail for any number of reasons. But if you never even tried and you wanted to you failed yourself. Do you want to live life saying what if? Or do you want to say I gave it all I had every day.
My first attempt at a business left me in excess of $80,000 in debt. It took me about eight years to pay that off. No bankruptcy, I paid that off in full with interest. Without asking for help or crying about it too much. When I started my second business my wife refused to support it and threatened to leave me on numerous occasions( with justification). We struggled very much over the years just trying to get off the ground. It took ten years to get to a point where I could take a modest paycheck. Honestly it will probably take another ten years to recoup what I have invested in the business. I in essence have bought myself a job. Most would have given up on it a long time ago. But after ten plus years of struggles I have something I am very proud of. It will never make me a millionaire but it has filled my life. My wife and kids have a roof over their heads, kids have food on the table and our bills get paid. There is nothing left at the end of the month but I feel like the richest man in the world. I have fulfilled a dream and if the bottom fell out tomorrow I have done what very few people in this world can achieve. I do not measure success financially. My success is in knowing millions of hobbyists all over the world have something I made with my hands in their tanks. To know I touched lives and made the industry better. Knowing no matter how small one man can make a difference. I helped spawn other hobbyists into successful business owners and not just in this country and that through my products we have made a positive impact on the coral industry and helped to reduce wild coral collecting and helped to make aqua-cultured coral more affordable for everyone. That is something no one can take from us.
I guess I look at it like this. If you try and fail at least you tried. If you fail to try you fail yourself. But if you do not give it 100% you will fail. If you are hesitant when you go in you will probably fail. If you are not confident in yourself you will probably fail. If you are doing it only for the money you will probably fail. NO matter how smart or how well together your business plan is you will probably fail. But at least you tried and that big what if factor is something I didn't want t live with. And if you think you get laughed at for your ideas or what you want to do. Try explaining a frag plug to someone. I was a running joke for years at my "other job".
Honestly if I look back on it all none of it was worth it financially. I made a lot more money doing other things. At one point I think I went three years without a day off. I haven't had a day off since driving home from Macna last year......if you can call 20+ hours of driving a day off. But every life I touched and every smile I put on someones face makes the struggles worth it.
Do it or don't do it. But do not have any regrets. Treat people how you want to be treated. Treat every customer like they are your number one customer. That ten dollar sale from one hobbyist is just as important as the $100 sale from another. Because that ten bucks could be all that hobbyist can muster up in a week or month. And they are willing to give that to you.
My first attempt at a business left me in excess of $80,000 in debt. It took me about eight years to pay that off. No bankruptcy, I paid that off in full with interest. Without asking for help or crying about it too much. When I started my second business my wife refused to support it and threatened to leave me on numerous occasions( with justification). We struggled very much over the years just trying to get off the ground. It took ten years to get to a point where I could take a modest paycheck. Honestly it will probably take another ten years to recoup what I have invested in the business. I in essence have bought myself a job. Most would have given up on it a long time ago. But after ten plus years of struggles I have something I am very proud of. It will never make me a millionaire but it has filled my life. My wife and kids have a roof over their heads, kids have food on the table and our bills get paid. There is nothing left at the end of the month but I feel like the richest man in the world. I have fulfilled a dream and if the bottom fell out tomorrow I have done what very few people in this world can achieve. I do not measure success financially. My success is in knowing millions of hobbyists all over the world have something I made with my hands in their tanks. To know I touched lives and made the industry better. Knowing no matter how small one man can make a difference. I helped spawn other hobbyists into successful business owners and not just in this country and that through my products we have made a positive impact on the coral industry and helped to reduce wild coral collecting and helped to make aqua-cultured coral more affordable for everyone. That is something no one can take from us.
I guess I look at it like this. If you try and fail at least you tried. If you fail to try you fail yourself. But if you do not give it 100% you will fail. If you are hesitant when you go in you will probably fail. If you are not confident in yourself you will probably fail. If you are doing it only for the money you will probably fail. NO matter how smart or how well together your business plan is you will probably fail. But at least you tried and that big what if factor is something I didn't want t live with. And if you think you get laughed at for your ideas or what you want to do. Try explaining a frag plug to someone. I was a running joke for years at my "other job".
Honestly if I look back on it all none of it was worth it financially. I made a lot more money doing other things. At one point I think I went three years without a day off. I haven't had a day off since driving home from Macna last year......if you can call 20+ hours of driving a day off. But every life I touched and every smile I put on someones face makes the struggles worth it.
Do it or don't do it. But do not have any regrets. Treat people how you want to be treated. Treat every customer like they are your number one customer. That ten dollar sale from one hobbyist is just as important as the $100 sale from another. Because that ten bucks could be all that hobbyist can muster up in a week or month. And they are willing to give that to you.
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