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Uneek Sales
subscriber Posts: 1 Member
Hi All!
My name is Rich and I recently launched my new Business 'Uneek Sales LLC'. I started a different company in 2013 (it's still officially a Company / LLC, just haven't done anything with it.) called 'Street Dreams Motorsport LLC', I reallyrics wish I would have held out on starting that company, I was still in Business School and basically I was just Amped up on wanting to start a business lol, and even though I put A LOT of though, work and capital into the Business I just really didn't think through some aspects enough, I'll give a run down on what I mean. (I'm going to go into some deep shiz, so will be lengthy)
In 2005 I was in a high speed motorcycle accident on the expressway when a car cut me off while we were doing 80MPH+ after slamming on my brakes, my front wheel locked up and I went over the windshield at those speeds! Needless to say, the accident left me permanently disabled (I was hospitalized for almost a month, and then home cared for about 9 months before my wounds healed and went through physical therapy. I was dumb that day because it was July 30th and 105° so I not only wasn't wearing my leathers like a idiot, but I was in a t-shirt and shorts, I at least had on a helmet lol, that being said I ended up with 60% of my skin being gone, 25-30% was equivalent to 3rd degree burns). So unable to work, I lost everything I worked so hard for (I made good money for a 21 year old, as a CNC Machinist), lost the house, sports car, $50k pickup, obviously the motorcycle, etc. and I ended up having to move back in with my parents.
In late 2011 after being disabled (in constant chronic pain) and not able to work for going on 7 years, I was going completely "Stir Crazy" and is when I decided to go back to College (this time was online courses) for 'Small Business & Entrepreneurship', while taking my classes I fell more and more in love with the idearly of starting my own Business so when a "Writing a Business Plan" project came up in class, I jump at the idea of writing the plan for a business to ACTUALLY launch. I have always been a "Gearhead" and loved Cars and Motorcycles, since I was SO passionate about them I thought building a business around them was a perfect idea (everyone always says build a business around something you're passionate about.).
So after finishing my Business Plan on this company (and getting a A lol), I started putting my plans into motion. I talked with my Dad since he is just as passionate about cars and motorcycles, and he loved the idea too (BTW my Dad is also disabled after being hit while on his bicycle and a car ran a red light, breaking his back and neck). So now that my Dad was on board, I made it official and launched the LLC with my Dad as a Partner.
Here is where things really should have been thought a bit harder on, because after launching the LLC I literally went full on all in on the business and invested basically every penny I had saved up over the years before the accident plus the money I got from retroactive disability, it was a good chunk of change. We got our own little shop, and I stocked it up with all the "Goodies" needed for working on Motorcycles (we decided to focus on just motorcycles at first until we could afford a larger shop), things like a $3,500 one Motorcycle Lift & $500 for a Secondary, a $1,000 Sandblaster, Thousands on a English Wheel & Planishing Hammer, $1,500 on a Industrial Air Compressor, $800 TIG Welder, $800 Plama Cutter, then decided to spoil us and got two new 42" Toolboxes and filled with new quality tools! Not to mention the Thousands of Dollars on misc items needed to work on/fix/flip, fabricate and customize motorcycles. If I recall correctly when I totaled everything up it was right around $30,000 to launch the business not including the shop, which really doesn't sound like much to launch a company BUT when you're talking about $30,000 from a disabled guy unable to work well then it's a bit different. So now, after I just said that last sentence you may see where I am going on the "Thinking More" comments. After being completely Gung-ho about launching this business and being to passionate about motorcycles, I NEVER once sat down and thought about how much work it was going to take to run this business full-time, we're both disabled and have chronic pain, yet we had it in our min that we were going to wrench on motorcycles for 8-12 hours a day?
After coming to term that there really was NO way the 2 of us were going to be wrenching on the motorcyclesame full-time, I had to go back and adjust the business plan. Luckily we had two Mechanic Family Friends that after hearing our plans and going over the business plan were both very excited to be a part of it which took a huge weight off my shoulders. I was 70% Owner of the company so we decided that Dad would give up 5% of his stake and I would give up 15% of mine and give 10% to each guy, leaving us at 55%, 25%, 10% & 10%. Stay Tuned, this is where everything falls apart.
After the 4 of us came up with and agreed upon a plan I was going to draw up all the new paperwork and get everything updated the next week. We were already thinkingabout what we wanted to do for our first project, we really wanted to build a full on bad as custom motorcycle so we cold establish a name for ourselves and showcase our talents. I also had a GREAT idea on how we could accomplish it! Back in 2013 the 3D Printer Scene was just coming into a more familiar existence, but has never been used withinthe motorcycle fabrication community and I had just gotten a quality, fairly large (18"×18"×18") 3do Printer jus a week before the 4 of us talked. I was thinking about a BUNCH of different ways to use this printer to make the bike stand out, like custom emblems, custom air intake, custom grips, custom gas cap, custom tail lights, custom instrument cluster, I mean the sky was the link limit! So the next week comes, I have plans to take care of this paperwork Thursday, so since it was only Monday I wasn't stressin', I was just waiting for my Dad to get home from taking my Mom to her Doctors Appointment so Him and I can get the shop ready for the build. Few hours later they get home and as soon as they came into the living room I could tell something wasn't right but before I could say a word they both just broke down crying, my Mom justfound out that she had Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer.
Obviously there was no way we could plan for something like that, after one of the worse nights of my life the next day we told our buddies that plans have dramatically changed and Street Dreams Motorsport LLC is currently on the back burning, we're obviously going to be giving my Mom 100% of our Attention, Support and Love and do everything we can for her, ando obviously they totally understood and agreed. So SDM got pushed to the back burner and we focused 100% on my Mom and her needs, unfortunately even though she fault her hear out on October 18th, 2014 my Mom lost her battle with Cancer after it had spread to her brain.
I know that this was a long story at the end there, but I just wanted to share it with everyone, especially Entrepreneurs thinking about or in the process of starting their first Company, you need to REALLY sit down and think of ALL the aspects of starting the business, don't get "Tunnel Vision" like I did. Obviously I know you wouldn't be able to "Think Of" someone getting Cancer, but it does remind you that literally anything COULD come up, and you need to be ready to deal with it.
Lately Dad and I have been having a hard time keeping our heads out of water financially, with us both being disabled and a lack of any real income I had to try again and that's when 'Uneek Sales LLC' first came to be. My Dad and I have always loved to find "Hidden Gems" whether we're out Metal Detecting or Garage Saling, we just love finding expensive items for cheap, or free! So I knew starting a "Resellers Business" would be a great fit for us, plus it can be ran from home and for the time being can be sold completely online so definitely a business we can manage and manage with just the two of us. The biggest problem we had was my dumb as sunk ALL my money into SDM, so we literally had zero start-up capital. I ended up selling the literal ONE thing I owned of any value which was my Gaming Computer, so when we launched Uneek Sales we literally did EVERYTHING with $2,000 lol. It's been slow going but we put every penny back into the business and we're slowly growing every month.
I will go ahead and wrap this post up here, which I doubt anyone even got to this point lol, I ended up typing a novel here, but I just wanted to talk about my new Business but also on what it took to get here and what we went through in between. Thanks everyone for checking out my post, and definitely hats off if you made it all the way to the end! If you have any questions or anything go ahead and send me a message or a email at rich@buyuneek.com, Thanks Again.
-Rich
My name is Rich and I recently launched my new Business 'Uneek Sales LLC'. I started a different company in 2013 (it's still officially a Company / LLC, just haven't done anything with it.) called 'Street Dreams Motorsport LLC', I reallyrics wish I would have held out on starting that company, I was still in Business School and basically I was just Amped up on wanting to start a business lol, and even though I put A LOT of though, work and capital into the Business I just really didn't think through some aspects enough, I'll give a run down on what I mean. (I'm going to go into some deep shiz, so will be lengthy)
In 2005 I was in a high speed motorcycle accident on the expressway when a car cut me off while we were doing 80MPH+ after slamming on my brakes, my front wheel locked up and I went over the windshield at those speeds! Needless to say, the accident left me permanently disabled (I was hospitalized for almost a month, and then home cared for about 9 months before my wounds healed and went through physical therapy. I was dumb that day because it was July 30th and 105° so I not only wasn't wearing my leathers like a idiot, but I was in a t-shirt and shorts, I at least had on a helmet lol, that being said I ended up with 60% of my skin being gone, 25-30% was equivalent to 3rd degree burns). So unable to work, I lost everything I worked so hard for (I made good money for a 21 year old, as a CNC Machinist), lost the house, sports car, $50k pickup, obviously the motorcycle, etc. and I ended up having to move back in with my parents.
In late 2011 after being disabled (in constant chronic pain) and not able to work for going on 7 years, I was going completely "Stir Crazy" and is when I decided to go back to College (this time was online courses) for 'Small Business & Entrepreneurship', while taking my classes I fell more and more in love with the idearly of starting my own Business so when a "Writing a Business Plan" project came up in class, I jump at the idea of writing the plan for a business to ACTUALLY launch. I have always been a "Gearhead" and loved Cars and Motorcycles, since I was SO passionate about them I thought building a business around them was a perfect idea (everyone always says build a business around something you're passionate about.).
So after finishing my Business Plan on this company (and getting a A lol), I started putting my plans into motion. I talked with my Dad since he is just as passionate about cars and motorcycles, and he loved the idea too (BTW my Dad is also disabled after being hit while on his bicycle and a car ran a red light, breaking his back and neck). So now that my Dad was on board, I made it official and launched the LLC with my Dad as a Partner.
Here is where things really should have been thought a bit harder on, because after launching the LLC I literally went full on all in on the business and invested basically every penny I had saved up over the years before the accident plus the money I got from retroactive disability, it was a good chunk of change. We got our own little shop, and I stocked it up with all the "Goodies" needed for working on Motorcycles (we decided to focus on just motorcycles at first until we could afford a larger shop), things like a $3,500 one Motorcycle Lift & $500 for a Secondary, a $1,000 Sandblaster, Thousands on a English Wheel & Planishing Hammer, $1,500 on a Industrial Air Compressor, $800 TIG Welder, $800 Plama Cutter, then decided to spoil us and got two new 42" Toolboxes and filled with new quality tools! Not to mention the Thousands of Dollars on misc items needed to work on/fix/flip, fabricate and customize motorcycles. If I recall correctly when I totaled everything up it was right around $30,000 to launch the business not including the shop, which really doesn't sound like much to launch a company BUT when you're talking about $30,000 from a disabled guy unable to work well then it's a bit different. So now, after I just said that last sentence you may see where I am going on the "Thinking More" comments. After being completely Gung-ho about launching this business and being to passionate about motorcycles, I NEVER once sat down and thought about how much work it was going to take to run this business full-time, we're both disabled and have chronic pain, yet we had it in our min that we were going to wrench on motorcycles for 8-12 hours a day?
After coming to term that there really was NO way the 2 of us were going to be wrenching on the motorcyclesame full-time, I had to go back and adjust the business plan. Luckily we had two Mechanic Family Friends that after hearing our plans and going over the business plan were both very excited to be a part of it which took a huge weight off my shoulders. I was 70% Owner of the company so we decided that Dad would give up 5% of his stake and I would give up 15% of mine and give 10% to each guy, leaving us at 55%, 25%, 10% & 10%. Stay Tuned, this is where everything falls apart.
After the 4 of us came up with and agreed upon a plan I was going to draw up all the new paperwork and get everything updated the next week. We were already thinkingabout what we wanted to do for our first project, we really wanted to build a full on bad as custom motorcycle so we cold establish a name for ourselves and showcase our talents. I also had a GREAT idea on how we could accomplish it! Back in 2013 the 3D Printer Scene was just coming into a more familiar existence, but has never been used withinthe motorcycle fabrication community and I had just gotten a quality, fairly large (18"×18"×18") 3do Printer jus a week before the 4 of us talked. I was thinking about a BUNCH of different ways to use this printer to make the bike stand out, like custom emblems, custom air intake, custom grips, custom gas cap, custom tail lights, custom instrument cluster, I mean the sky was the link limit! So the next week comes, I have plans to take care of this paperwork Thursday, so since it was only Monday I wasn't stressin', I was just waiting for my Dad to get home from taking my Mom to her Doctors Appointment so Him and I can get the shop ready for the build. Few hours later they get home and as soon as they came into the living room I could tell something wasn't right but before I could say a word they both just broke down crying, my Mom justfound out that she had Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer.
Obviously there was no way we could plan for something like that, after one of the worse nights of my life the next day we told our buddies that plans have dramatically changed and Street Dreams Motorsport LLC is currently on the back burning, we're obviously going to be giving my Mom 100% of our Attention, Support and Love and do everything we can for her, ando obviously they totally understood and agreed. So SDM got pushed to the back burner and we focused 100% on my Mom and her needs, unfortunately even though she fault her hear out on October 18th, 2014 my Mom lost her battle with Cancer after it had spread to her brain.
I know that this was a long story at the end there, but I just wanted to share it with everyone, especially Entrepreneurs thinking about or in the process of starting their first Company, you need to REALLY sit down and think of ALL the aspects of starting the business, don't get "Tunnel Vision" like I did. Obviously I know you wouldn't be able to "Think Of" someone getting Cancer, but it does remind you that literally anything COULD come up, and you need to be ready to deal with it.
Lately Dad and I have been having a hard time keeping our heads out of water financially, with us both being disabled and a lack of any real income I had to try again and that's when 'Uneek Sales LLC' first came to be. My Dad and I have always loved to find "Hidden Gems" whether we're out Metal Detecting or Garage Saling, we just love finding expensive items for cheap, or free! So I knew starting a "Resellers Business" would be a great fit for us, plus it can be ran from home and for the time being can be sold completely online so definitely a business we can manage and manage with just the two of us. The biggest problem we had was my dumb as sunk ALL my money into SDM, so we literally had zero start-up capital. I ended up selling the literal ONE thing I owned of any value which was my Gaming Computer, so when we launched Uneek Sales we literally did EVERYTHING with $2,000 lol. It's been slow going but we put every penny back into the business and we're slowly growing every month.
I will go ahead and wrap this post up here, which I doubt anyone even got to this point lol, I ended up typing a novel here, but I just wanted to talk about my new Business but also on what it took to get here and what we went through in between. Thanks everyone for checking out my post, and definitely hats off if you made it all the way to the end! If you have any questions or anything go ahead and send me a message or a email at rich@buyuneek.com, Thanks Again.
-Rich
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Comments
That is quite the story. You make very good points, as even the most prepared-entrepreneurs have to face challenges they would have never dreamed of. Your journey has obviously been filled with a lot of roadblocks and tragedies (I am sorry to hear about your mother and the accidents). But your willingness to not let anything stop you from living your dream is inspiring.
My name is Ryan, and I am the community manager here. I encourage you to peruse around our community, which has thousands and thousands of discussions. I also recommend checking out our content side for great articles, videos, radio shows and more. We have a ton of helpful content that can help you get passed challenges.
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