WE'VE MOVED!

We are proud to announce our NEW community destination. Engage with resident experts and fellow entrepreneurs, and learn everything you need to start your business. Check out the new home of StartupNation Community at startupnation.mn.co

If you could start over again, what would you do?

2»

Comments

  • VannieVannie subscriber Posts: 0
    If I could start over again, I am sure that I would end up where I am now. I think I would have taken a straighter route to get here though, if I had given it more thought. 
    In each job I have had, at some point it became my duty to coach, advise or counsel employees. While at my last job before I retired to work for myself, my manager and I were talking after an office meeting had taken place. At some point in our conversation, he said, "you know what you are?, you are a coach." I am now happy coaching and writing. In my case, I did not know what I knew.   
  • LidstromLidstrom subscriber Posts: 1
    I would`ve never worked for someone other than myself. I was brought up with the idea that you have to `get out there and find a job.` The family tradition of working for the other people. It has taken me a long time to believe that I could ever be my own boss and that running your own business doesn`t mean you have to come up with `the next big thing` to be successful. So, if I could start over I would break free from those chains much earlier in my life and take more chances when I could have more easily absorbed the risks. Despite all the courses I had taken, I fell back on the way I was raised when it came to jobs and finances. My parents always worked for others and were always bad with money, so I spent the first 10-12 years of my adult life doing the same thing. Finally, my wife and I decided we would break the cycle that both of our parents and siblings were in and teach our children that things can be a lot better. There is no better way to teach them than with actions, and that is what we are aspiring to do now. Plus, there is nobody we trust more to hold to strong ideals and business culture than ourselves (we`ve both worked for companies that sold themselves out (not just financially, but also culturally) and were never the same again). I am hoping to raise my son and daughter with the idea that they can provide for themselves. That they don`t have to `find a job`, but rather can `create a job` instead. 
  • VannieVannie subscriber Posts: 0
    Wow. An excellent observation Mike. From now I will simply think of myself as "a business owner".
  • stevesteve subscriber Posts: 14
    Actually, I am starting over. Just the other day my wife commented,
    "who would have ever thought we`d be doing what we`re doing."

    Up till now my ventures have involved computer programming. This is the
    first business we`ve been able to do together. Our gluten free bakery
    combines Carol`s love of experimenting in the kitchen (along with her
    need to eat gluten free) with my love of  problem solving in a way
    we never could have imagined.

    Right now I`m eating the best gluten free bagel I`ve ever tasted. I
    call it "quality control." It`s a tough job but somebody has to do it. 
    We aren`t satisfied until it`s so good you`d never know it was gluten
    free. This one`s definitely a keeper. Now if we can just get the dough
    to go through a bagel machine without gumming everything up. That`s
    where the problem solving comes in.

    Just yesterday we got a call from our distributor telling us about a
    store owner on the other side of the state excited about selling our
    cookies. We feel like we`re creating the life we want to live, making a
    product people need and want to buy, doing something we enjoy together.
  • melcoachmelcoach subscriber Posts: 1
    Why would I want to do this all over again! Ay carumba. It was hard enough the first time.
    Seriously, this is a great question and often when I speak to live audiences I tell them the my story that I`ve really gone full circle. When I graduated college, my first "job" was selling personal improvement workshops. After I freaked at the enormity of 100% sales commission (I was only 24 at the time), and got a "real job" I realized 10 years later that I`m truly an entrepreneur.
    So here I am again, with tons more experience, as an expert in the field of getting entrepreneurs to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can get more done (AKA professional development.)
    I related to what many said -- I couldn`t be where I am today if I hadn`t followed the path I did. I too had no early role models -- except what NOT to do -- and had to make a lot of mistakes and go it alone. But if I could go back, I would do a couple of things different.

    I`d invest early. I was so caught up in actually having my own $$ at a young age that I spent it all. Woops.
    I`d have gotten funding sources lined up for my business BEFORE I left my stable corporate job. I didn`t realize how hard it is to get a loan without a J.O.B.
    I`d have mentored with a business building expert in my first year -- rather than waiting until I spent thousands of dollars on wasted advertising and I was broke, client-less and overwhelmed.
    Oh, and if I could wave the magic wand to go back 10 years...I`d keep my San Diego house I bought when I moved to L.A. Talk about a good real estate investment.
    Great topic! Thanks.
  • wangheswanghes subscriber Posts: 0
    I
    would definitely do it differently, especially I now know there`s a way
    to make a better living and be happier with a new career as a business
    man, which is what I`m trying to establish myself as one.

    I`m 36 years old and only have just now realized that I was given a
    "looking glass" by my parents when I was in college. I really love my
    parents, but I was never given the option of considering starting my
    own business either while I was still in college or after I have
    completed my college degree. They emphasized the security of working
    for someone else.

    It is still not too late for me to take some of the money I``ve earned
    and saved from working for a boss and start my own business, something
    my parents still wish that I don`t do. They have lived their lives, now
    it`s time for me to live mine.

    If I could, I would begin my life as a retailer of some sort for a
    number of years and then go into real estate business, and use some of
    the profits to develop an invention and build a business with it.

    Now I`m only on the first step, which is to start an online retail business. Good luck to you folks.
  • ErinErin subscriber Posts: 3
    If I could do it differently, I would have learned entrepreneurial skills at an early age and started businesses instead of working for someone else.  I`ve always been fortunate, never had trouble finding a job, but didn`t realize that MY dreams weren`t going to come true that way.  In addition to my cooking classes, I want to start businesses in the fields of media production, horse training, real estate investing, and a million other things.  One thing at a time!
     
    What other businesses would YOU start?
  • rocknroll333rocknroll333 subscriber Posts: 2
    I would have taken an accounting class in college. I think financial accounting should be a requirement in highschool.
    I had to learn accounting on the job, as I was responsible for financial reports for the accounts I managed. I literally sat side by side with my former employers accountant and learned all that she did, so that I could be successful with the promotion I had just earned. 
    I am thankful I got the chance to work in a company that knew my skillset and would arrange the development of the missing pieces to my education by partnering me up with mentors
Sign In or Register to comment.