Small business owners, what do you usually make gross when initially starting up?

Thread: I am living in the offices of my new business until I can afford a house. Badge of honor, or not?

How did it go? You making money, breaking even, loss, etc? May I ask what type of business? Anything else would be great. Probably by the 1st of Jan will be structured under an LLC. Prototyping almost done... have several leads for advertising, and even FREE tv exposure...

I thought this was intended as a thread for new restaurant owners.

Well it could be. I'm just trying to get a feel of how well or poorly some small business owners did here on start up, how long it took to make money, or even tank. Also, interested in what a small business owner would have done differently initially. Thanks!

Small business owners pretty much everywhere tough it out until they make some kinda miniscule profit!

In year 4!

So are you saying that you personally are barely making money after being in for 4 years? If so, can you explain what the problem may be? Market, advertising, not enough initial capital, etc? What would you have done differently? Thanks again!

OK, but I thought "make gross" mean really bad food effort.

You know..




Have you ever watched Restaurant Impossible? It's really fascinating.

For me I have no employees. I invest $20,000 per unit for developement for 2 years.

Then sell said unit for 1 or 2 million. Overseas tax free.

Interesting. We have thought about having the product we are prototyping made overseas, but are hesitant with possible patent infringements, and or crappy quality - more so patent theft. Thoughts on issues you have from doing overseas business?

Started a small business doing criminal background checks for clients.only needed computor and fax machine.gross recipts within 3 months was aprx $33,000 monthly..

Seriously? If I might ask did you have to spend initially a lot of money for advertising? Just curious how you got your name out there...

i remember i grossed $78 my first month in business. it took me a little over a year before i started actually bringing home a paycheck.

that was 8 years ago and things are much better now.

and i built this!

If you are asking this question here, then you by no means should start your own business! I am not trying to be a jerk, but, you have to know your business...plain and simple. You need to know the usual margins in the type of business you are going into. Here is a list of types of books to go check out...

Marketing for a small business.
Accounting for a small business
Tax law for a small business

You need to think about risk and insurance and the form of the business...LLC, S type corporation, D type corporation...

local laws...getting tax ID numbers, filing the paperwork for your business....licenses for your business....do you need insurance for your business...which may vary with how you "incorporated."

Take the time to think and plot out your business...don't just jump into it!

Here is a question for yourself...not us here...but for you...
What is the failure rate of this type of business once it starts up?

Hahaha, good for you! What would you have changed differently if anything over the course of the years? Advertising, money spent on advertising, etc? What do you think is the key to getting a product or service out there?

Going OK. Making money? Yes. It's a construction/high end home repair. Foundation repair. It's a required repair to maintain home owners insurance coverage in some cases. W/ the economy, people having the $$ to make repairs is more of a problem than finding customers.

Hope this helps you in you quest. Good luck OP.

I already have a business plan, attorney, accountant, etc. Basically I am trying to get input from other business owners to see what they may have focused on in the early terms that would have made a difference in revenue, sales, etc. Thanks.

So, no issues with advertising, just finding people who have $$$ to buy the service? I can see that. Thanks.

Then your first order of business is to fire your accountant...and then fire your attorney. Your accountant should be able to answer the questions on revenue...and your lawyer should have given you the best type of business to start...which would affect how your accountant crunches the numbers. If they want extra money for that type of help...then either get new accountants and lawyers...then go down to the nearest SBA and ask to speak to an accountant...who should be able to help you out for free.

Advertising is different in different markets. In Houston, Google Adwords was the most affective @ $10K per month. Smaller markets you can do radio and TV for half of that.

Are you outta yer fuckin' mind?

I work for local government!

I tax 'em!

A lot depends on other factors besides those two. I have initial reports, but the product that will be pushed onto the market really has no competitors. It truly is amazing. Has taken two years of prototyping, shit tons of recalculations, etc. So I (we) are in some aspects in un-charted waters so to speak. That is why I was asking some questions. i am very confident it will suceed. And nothign wrong from getting others perspectives, but what may look good ON PAPER is not really reality. Thanks again.

I got you. So you normally see revenues in 4 years? Check. Thanks.

Did no advertising.cold called companies like trans union,choicepoint etc that offer background checks.they are retail but pay vendors to do wholesale for them.we currently do about six hundred a day.

Thanks. My buddy can get me tv time - free, on a major channel, so that might work in my favor...

No. I'm BS'ing you!

I made it all up.

Best of Luck!

No prob. I need a good laugh from time to time... hahahaha. thanks.

My employee's made way more than I did. Until I sold it.

Karma is a BITCH. Free to you is stealing from someone else. You will fail because you wish to take a short cut....it will bite you.

Pardon the language, but, "Oh, that fu<king problem" - I know what you mean. You are trying to figure out a pricing strategy for your new product...which nobody else has out there...so how the heck do you set a price on a product where you don't know how many you will sell and at what price people will buy. Tough question. Even though I don't live in the San Jose area...I would call the San Jose area SBA and talk to somebody down there. The SBAs do have some decent people some times. From what I am reading from your post...you have some sort of device (most likely electronic) that you want to set the price for.

This may sound f'ed up...but I am not kidding you: I went to Taiwan (was working in the semiconductor industry)...even in the hotels in the Hsinchu area they have "directories" read "phone books" with lists of manufacturers looking to produce your product. Just like there are yellow pages in the hotels here...there are "manufacturer's directories" in the hotels there.