1 Year In Business Anniversary

[Rperrett2]

Today marks one year since I started my general contracting business, and wow has it been a ride. I wouldn't say I thrived by any means, but I survived, and I guess that's something. It was a year in which I experienced a lot of failure, a lot of doubt, a rollercoaster of emotions, and in all honesty...my income took a kick right in the nuts. But also, I don't regret it. It has been an experience that no money can buy, I have learned A LOT, gained a lot, and I'm happy I did it.

I did about $250,000 in sales year 1. Probably even a little more but I will admit my financials were a MESS in the beginning and are still a work in progress. Not at all where I thought I would be, but I have high hopes for year two and I already have sold work that accounts for another $105,000+ receivable in Q3. More importantly I have focus and direction, so I feel like the future is bright. That $250k should have been double, but the first 6 months were pure struggle. The original business plan deteriorated; the original partnership dissolved, that put me into a spin where I really started overthinking everything and wasted a lot of time. There was a gap of time where I wasn't even really working because I was wasting so much time trying to find my way. I had to basically start over from almost scratch, redefine my business, my niche, my USP, literally almost everything.

I feel a lot better about where I am now. I'm finding my way, I'm sort of in the process of letting the market define my niche, I'm just truly out here trying to solve problems and provide value to my customers. I did $250k year one with almost no marketing and no selling other than closing deals that were dropped in my lap. I know with some focus on new sales I can drive the numbers up. I have a lot of experience selling in this space so I know I can do $1.5M in my sleep, but I also know I need to execute on the work so I'm currently working on building a team and a foundation as I increase sales. Thats the next step for me in Q3 and Q4...take some debt, build a team, sell work, execute on work...need to stick to the simple parts of the business and focus on growing that way.

I want to end this post with my positive takeaways from entrepreneurship and my first year in business. I was really looking forward to writing this post, I'm proud to have something I built, I'm proud I have put a full year into it. I did it on my own, with my own money, my own time, and my own sweat/sleepless nights. I have learned a lot about myself, business, and my industry. Here is the best part...one of the biggest things that hit me as truth when I read TMF ...the wealth trinity, Family, fitness, freedom. I have adjusted my life to really focus on the wealth trinity because I believe in it so much, and it is paying off. Looking back on the year, my relationship with my family has dramatically gotten better. I'm a better father and husband, more present, happier, more positive and the whole family feels the effects of it. My fitness and health are so much better than it was when I was in the corporate grind, and it continues to improve. I'm losing weight, getting back muscle tone, have more energy, and feeling so so much better. And freedom...that's a work in progress for the level of freedom I want to achieve, but I have been given a taste, and I love it, and I want to keep it.

Something I hear a lot is that consistency and persistence are very important to be successful. Well after a year of failing, struggling, adapting and building I can really see that to be true. I have a long way to go, but I'm here to stay. That's my ramble about year one in business...any advice, criticism, questions, good conversation, etc is welcome as always!

 

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[Albert KOUADJA]

Aujourd'hui marque un an depuis que j'ai lancé mon entreprise d'entrepreneur général, et waouh ça a été un tour. Je ne dirais pas que j'ai prospéré par tous les moyens, mais j'ai survécu, et je suppose que c'est quelque chose. Ce fut une année au cours de laquelle j'ai vécu beaucoup d'échecs, beaucoup de doutes, des montagnes russes d'émotions et, en toute honnêteté... mes revenus ont pris un coup dans les noix. Mais aussi, je ne le regrette pas. Ce fut une expérience qu'aucun argent ne peut acheter, j'ai beaucoup appris, beaucoup gagné et je suis heureux de l'avoir fait.

J'ai fait environ 250 000 $ la première année de vente. Probablement même un peu plus, mais j'admettrai que mes finances étaient un MESS au début et sont toujours en cours. Pas du tout là où je pensais être, mais j'ai de grands espoirs pour la deuxième année et j'ai déjà vendu des travaux qui représentent un montant supplémentaire de 105 000 $ et plus au troisième trimestre. Plus important encore, j'ai de la concentration et de la direction, donc j'ai l'impression que l'avenir est prometteur. Ces 250 000 $ auraient dû être le double, mais les 6 premiers mois ont été une pure lutte. Le plan d'affaires initial s'est détérioré; le partenariat d'origine s'est dissous, ce qui m'a mis dans une vrille où j'ai vraiment commencé à tout repenser et j'ai perdu beaucoup de temps. Il y a eu un intervalle de temps où je ne travaillais même pas vraiment parce que je perdais tellement de temps à essayer de trouver ma voie. J'ai dû pratiquement recommencer à zéro, redéfinir mon entreprise,

Je me sens beaucoup mieux là où je suis maintenant. Je trouve ma voie, je suis en quelque sorte en train de laisser le marché définir mon créneau, je suis vraiment là pour essayer de résoudre des problèmes et d'apporter de la valeur à mes clients. J'ai fait 250 000 $ la première année sans presque aucun marketing et aucune vente autre que la conclusion d'offres qui ont été abandonnées sur mes genoux. Je sais qu'en me concentrant sur les nouvelles ventes, je peux augmenter les chiffres. J'ai beaucoup d'expérience dans la vente dans ce domaine, donc je sais que je peux gagner 1,5 million de dollars pendant mon sommeil, mais je sais aussi que je dois exécuter le travail, donc je travaille actuellement à la constitution d'une équipe et d'une fondation à mesure que j'augmente les ventes. . C'est la prochaine étape pour moi au troisième et au quatrième trimestre... s'endetter, constituer une équipe, vendre du travail, exécuter le travail... il faut s'en tenir aux parties simples de l'entreprise et se concentrer sur la croissance de cette façon.

Je veux terminer ce post avec mes plats à emporter positifs de l'entrepreneuriat et de ma première année en affaires. J'avais vraiment hâte d'écrire ce post, je suis fier d'avoir quelque chose que j'ai construit, je suis fier d'y avoir mis une année complète. Je l'ai fait moi-même, avec mon propre argent, mon propre temps et mes propres nuits de sueur et d'insomnie. J'ai beaucoup appris sur moi-même, mon entreprise et mon industrie. Voici la meilleure partie... l'une des choses les plus importantes qui m'ont frappé comme vérité quand j'ai lu TMF ... la trinité de la richesse, la famille, la forme physique, la liberté. J'ai ajusté ma vie pour vraiment me concentrer sur la trinité de la richesse parce que j'y crois tellement et que cela porte ses fruits. En regardant en arrière sur l'année, ma relation avec ma famille s'est considérablement améliorée. Je suis un meilleur père et mari, plus présent, plus heureux, plus positif et toute la famille en ressent les effets. Ma condition physique et ma santé sont tellement meilleures qu'elles ne l'étaient lorsque j'étais dans l'entreprise, et cela continue de s'améliorer. Je perds du poids, je retrouve du tonus musculaire, j'ai plus d'énergie et je me sens tellement mieux. Et la liberté... c'est un travail en cours pour le niveau de liberté que je veux atteindre, mais on m'a donné un avant-goût, et je l'aime, et je veux le garder.

Quelque chose que j'entends souvent, c'est que la cohérence et la persévérance sont très importantes pour réussir. Eh bien, après un an d'échec, de lutte, d'adaptation et de construction, je peux vraiment voir que c'est vrai. J'ai un long chemin à parcourir, mais je suis là pour rester. C'est ma promenade sur la première année dans les affaires... tout conseil, critique, question, bonne conversation, etc. est le bienvenu comme toujours !

A big step in your journey.even if it was hard you still survived, that's the most interesting thing



congratulations and happy birthday.



during your first 6, give us a detail on how you struggled and got through this period. Thank you.



And also, tell me:

Tell me, what rewards did you give yourself for this birthday??



how did you celebrate this birthday?

 

[Fasted]

Today marks one year since I started my general contracting business, and wow has it been a ride. I wouldn't say I thrived by any means, but I survived, and I guess that's something. It was a year in which I experienced a lot of failure, a lot of doubt, a rollercoaster of emotions, and in all honesty...my income took a kick right in the nuts. But also, I don't regret it. It has been an experience that no money can buy, I have learned A LOT, gained a lot, and I'm happy I did it.

I did about $250,000 in sales year 1. Probably even a little more but I will admit my financials were a MESS in the beginning and are still a work in progress. Not at all where I thought I would be, but I have high hopes for year two and I already have sold work that accounts for another $105,000+ receivable in Q3. More importantly I have focus and direction, so I feel like the future is bright. That $250k should have been double, but the first 6 months were pure struggle. The original business plan deteriorated; the original partnership dissolved, that put me into a spin where I really started overthinking everything and wasted a lot of time. There was a gap of time where I wasn't even really working because I was wasting so much time trying to find my way. I had to basically start over from almost scratch, redefine my business, my niche, my USP, literally almost everything.

I feel a lot better about where I am now. I'm finding my way, I'm sort of in the process of letting the market define my niche, I'm just truly out here trying to solve problems and provide value to my customers. I did $250k year one with almost no marketing and no selling other than closing deals that were dropped in my lap. I know with some focus on new sales I can drive the numbers up. I have a lot of experience selling in this space so I know I can do $1.5M in my sleep, but I also know I need to execute on the work so I'm currently working on building a team and a foundation as I increase sales. Thats the next step for me in Q3 and Q4...take some debt, build a team, sell work, execute on work...need to stick to the simple parts of the business and focus on growing that way.

I want to end this post with my positive takeaways from entrepreneurship and my first year in business. I was really looking forward to writing this post, I'm proud to have something I built, I'm proud I have put a full year into it. I did it on my own, with my own money, my own time, and my own sweat/sleepless nights. I have learned a lot about myself, business, and my industry. Here is the best part...one of the biggest things that hit me as truth when I read TMF ...the wealth trinity, Family, fitness, freedom. I have adjusted my life to really focus on the wealth trinity because I believe in it so much, and it is paying off. Looking back on the year, my relationship with my family has dramatically gotten better. I'm a better father and husband, more present, happier, more positive and the whole family feels the effects of it. My fitness and health are so much better than it was when I was in the corporate grind, and it continues to improve. I'm losing weight, getting back muscle tone, have more energy, and feeling so so much better. And freedom...that's a work in progress for the level of freedom I want to achieve, but I have been given a taste, and I love it, and I want to keep it.

Something I hear a lot is that consistency and persistence are very important to be successful. Well after a year of failing, struggling, adapting and building I can really see that to be true. I have a long way to go, but I'm here to stay. That's my ramble about year one in business...any advice, criticism, questions, good conversation, etc is welcome as always!

Congratulations! Sounds like you've learnt a lot and made some good money this year.

Could you be more specific regarding general contracting, what is it exactly that you do? Do you have a progress thread at all?

 

[Rperrett2]

A big step in your journey.even if it was hard you still survived, that's the most interesting thing



congratulations and happy birthday.



during your first 6, give us a detail on how you struggled and got through this period. Thank you.



And also, tell me:

Tell me, what rewards did you give yourself for this birthday??



how did you celebrate this birthday?

First 6 months, wow...there was a lot. I probably don't even remember it all because it seemed like something every damn day...but:
My business partner flaked. We took a big job that was 2.5 hours away from home for not enough money, that was a struggle as I was staying on the job all week, literally living in my camper on the job site with my wife at home with our 2 year old and 3 month old at the time. Eventually my business partner and I separated. That left me pretty lost and spinning on what to do as the plan was never for me to run the thing on my own. I had doubts if I could even do it myself. I had read TMF a few months prior and was really set on starting an internet business. I was looking for a job, trying to keep my GC business to make money, and trying to brainstorm a new internet business. I was spreading myself too thin, not focused on any one thing. Ran into some family health problems, ran into some money/debt problems. Took some jobs for too little money. Got so overly obsessed with the stress and the struggles at one point that it started to negatively effect my marriage. Sales really lacked during this time because I wasn't pursuing anything, I was focusing and working on the wrong things and not knowing what my company even was or where I was heading. I lost a lot of work during this time being focused on the wrong things.

In a way, one of my downfalls is actually my experience working with bigger businesses in my career. I'm really good at figuring out process, business development, and business strategy. However, having worked on those things for larger companies the last 15 years or so had me thinking too big too fast. When I should have just been focusing on selling, providing value, growing the business from the ground up, I was way too high level and overthinking process and systems way ahead of where I was, trying to put things in place and solve problems that haven't even happened yet. That did not work out for me.

How'd I get through it? Good question. I have a really good career coach who I pay good money, but that helped me keep on track. I really exhausted my options; I looked into a lot of jobs and got some great offers. I put a lot of thought and time into all my business ideas. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that 1) No job I got was better than working for myself, 2) I needed to focus on ONE business idea and I might as well give the one I already started a fair try. Other than that I guess it's just commitment, persistence, stubbornness, wanting to prove people wrong. The desire to be better and provide for my family keeps me going and kicked me in the butt to get business on the right track.

As far as rewarding myself for the anniversary. I don't feel the need to do that. I don't really see a year in business as a goal reached for me. I'll celebrate a little at $500k in sales. I'll celebrate at $1M in sales, among other accomplishments. Those are goals that will feel good to achieve. Being in business 1 year was never a goal, in fact I expect to be in business for a year and much longer so I don't need to reward myself for purely existing for a year. I'm going to make this business something real, something big, something to celebrate. In time.

 

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[Rperrett2]

Congratulations! Sounds like you've learnt a lot and made some good money this year.

Could you be more specific regarding general contracting, what is it exactly that you do? Do you have a progress thread at all?

Thank you. Learned a lot, yes. Money...I did ok. I made good money at my slowlane job so once I get back up to that level consistently, I'll be a little more happy/comfortable with the money side of things. But I truly feel rich in family life, fitness and health. I have a lot more freedom than I did in my slowlane job...and that's a tradeoff that I am very ok with while I build this thing.

Funny you ask about what I do, the identity of the business was a big part of my struggle after my partner and I split. What I ended up on was Construction Management. I take multi-trade jobs that have a lot of moving parts, are schedule specific, and the owner wants things to run smoothly but not deal with the day to day management of it all. (custom homes, additions, remodels) I self perform very little, if any, of the actual on site work. I subcontract all the site work, I manage the subs, payments, schedule, materials if needed, communicate with the customer, etc. This has worked well as I am a one man show right now. It also allowed me to let the market decide my path/niche. As things progress it seems like I'm finding my niche in the remodel/renovation side of things. So now I'm focusing on residential and commercial kitchens, baths, garages, basements, offices, etc. Basically interior remodeling. I'd like to take on a few employees and bring some of the work in house to better control schedule and increase profit.

I don't have a progress thread. But I think I'm going to start one soon. Now that I have a better handle on what I'm doing I'd like to keep a progress thread that I can continuously update.

 

[Albert KOUADJA]

Thanks you for your

First 6 months, wow...there was a lot. I probably don't even remember it all because it seemed like something every damn day...but:
My business partner flaked. We took a big job that was 2.5 hours away from home for not enough money, that was a struggle as I was staying on the job all week, literally living in my camper on the job site with my wife at home with our 2 year old and 3 month old at the time. Eventually my business partner and I separated. That left me pretty lost and spinning on what to do as the plan was never for me to run the thing on my own. I had doubts if I could even do it myself. I had read TMF a few months prior and was really set on starting an internet business. I was looking for a job, trying to keep my GC business to make money, and trying to brainstorm a new internet business. I was spreading myself too thin, not focused on any one thing. Ran into some family health problems, ran into some money/debt problems. Took some jobs for too little money. Got so overly obsessed with the stress and the struggles at one point that it started to negatively effect my marriage. Sales really lacked during this time because I wasn't pursuing anything, I was focusing and working on the wrong things and not knowing what my company even was or where I was heading. I lost a lot of work during this time being focused on the wrong things.

In a way, one of my downfalls is actually my experience working with bigger businesses in my career. I'm really good at figuring out process, business development, and business strategy. However, having worked on those things for larger companies the last 15 years or so had me thinking too big too fast. When I should have just been focusing on selling, providing value, growing the business from the ground up, I was way too high level and overthinking process and systems way ahead of where I was, trying to put things in place and solve problems that haven't even happened yet. That did not work out for me.

Comment ai-je pu m'en sortir ? Bonne question. J'ai un très bon entraîneur de carrière que je paie très cher, mais cela m'a aidé à rester sur la bonne voie. J'ai vraiment épuisé mes options; J'ai regardé beaucoup d'emplois et j'ai reçu des offres intéressantes. J'ai mis beaucoup de temps et de réflexion dans toutes mes idées d'affaires. En fin de compte, je suis arrivé à la conclusion que 1) aucun travail que j'ai obtenu n'était mieux que de travailler pour moi-même, 2) je devais me concentrer sur UNE idée d'entreprise et je pouvais aussi bien essayer celle que j'avais déjà commencée. À part ça, je suppose que c'est juste de l'engagement, de la persévérance, de l'entêtement, vouloir prouver aux gens qu'ils ont tort. Le désir d'être meilleur et de subvenir aux besoins de ma famille m'a poussé à continuer et m'a donné un coup de pied dans les fesses pour mettre les affaires sur la bonne voie.

As far as rewarding myself for the anniversary. I don't feel the need to do that. I don't really see a year in business as a goal reached for me. I'll celebrate a little at $500k in sales. I'll celebrate at $1M in sales, among other accomplishments. Those are goals that will feel good to achieve. Being in business 1 year was never a goal, in fact I expect to be in business for a year and much longer so I don't need to reward myself for purely existing for a year. I'm going to make this business something real, something big, something to celebrate. In time.

Thanks you for your reply.

 

[Fasted]

Thank you. Learned a lot, yes. Money...I did ok. I made good money at my slowlane job so once I get back up to that level consistently, I'll be a little more happy/comfortable with the money side of things. But I truly feel rich in family life, fitness and health. I have a lot more freedom than I did in my slowlane job...and that's a tradeoff that I am very ok with while I build this thing.

Funny you ask about what I do, the identity of the business was a big part of my struggle after my partner and I split. What I ended up on was Construction Management. I take multi-trade jobs that have a lot of moving parts, are schedule specific, and the owner wants things to run smoothly but not deal with the day to day management of it all. (custom homes, additions, remodels) I self perform very little, if any, of the actual on site work. I subcontract all the site work, I manage the subs, payments, schedule, materials if needed, communicate with the customer, etc. This has worked well as I am a one man show right now. It also allowed me to let the market decide my path/niche. As things progress it seems like I'm finding my niche in the remodel/renovation side of things. So now I'm focusing on residential and commercial kitchens, baths, garages, basements, offices, etc. Basically interior remodeling. I'd like to take on a few employees and bring some of the work in house to better control schedule and increase profit.

I don't have a progress thread. But I think I'm going to start one soon. Now that I have a better handle on what I'm doing I'd like to keep a progress thread that I can continuously update.

I’d read your progress log for sure. Interested in how you go about managing this without actually getting your hands dirty.

 

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[Rperrett2]

I’d read your progress log for sure. Interested in how you go about managing this without actually getting your hands dirty.

Oh I still have to get my hands dirty a good amount, especially while I'm still such a new business. But building a network of great subcontractors helps. And I need to hire a guy or two to perform some of the work we are doing in house. I need to be able to at least have the option to answer my phone, look at jobs, or go on sales calls without holding up progress on site.

 

[Rperrett2]

As far as rewarding myself for the anniversary. I don't feel the need to do that. I don't really see a year in business as a goal reached for me.

And just to be clear...for all of you who have been in business a year and do celebrate those milestones...good on you!! Seriously, it's not easy so I congratulate you. I'm just saying that's not a goal I originally set for myself so although I'm happy to have been in business for a year, I'm just not going to reward myself for it until I knock down some goals.