Diary of Opening A New Business

[Don Dano]

I am an INSIDERS. But still don't know what business he is in.

 

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[randomnumber314]

Guys, it doesn't matter what the business is. It could be cotton candy distribution, what matters is the process if refining a sales script, getting the best people, having a unique angle for goung around the gatekeepers.

 

[csalvato]

Guys, it doesn't matter what the business is. It could be cotton candy distribution, what matters is the process if refining a sales script, getting the best people, having a unique angle for goung around the gatekeepers.

The reason I asked was because I question everything, not because I am trying to steal his idea. I was actually thinking of starting a business with a similar aggressive sales model which is why I asked - but I don't want to be led down a garden path.

It would have seemed weird that almost no one knew what the business was after 4 years of Jack meeting people in person, holding 1 hour phone calls for $75 and attending forum meetups. Apparently some people here know the business - but no one can tell me how they know (I am not even asking what it is).

It's just a little weird. I mean, at this point, the business should be into high 8 figures based on Jack's posts. That's incredible. That would be really hard to rip off at this point. Jack has put up SO MANY barriers to entry at this point, I would assume. So I am not sure why there is such a need for secrecy at this point.

Maybe I am just too much of a skeptic.

 

[jon.a]

Something in the auto parts industry. Good enough?

 

[csalvato]

Something in the auto parts industry. Good enough?

So far three people (including you) have responded to me, assuring me that they know.

All three people said a completely different industry.

 

[AllenCrawley]

 

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[csalvato]

 

[AllenCrawley]

LOL. I have no idea what business it is or even what industry it is in. I just couldn't help myself to add to your confusion. Sorry.

 

[Polarbeans]

Seems like some things never change...

Sums up just about how I feel right now.


Also i would like to thank Jack for sharing all this amazing information and his story. I signed up to the forums just because of this thread.

I will stay active.

 

[jon.a]

So far three people (including you) have responded to me, assuring me that they know.

All three people said a completely different industry.

Maybe he lied to us. Maybe the other two lied to you.

 

[ThexArm]

Very inspirational and thought provoking thread. I wish I could go through 650 comments on the thread... Had the op made $10 mil in 24 months or not? The thread gone on for too long and still going. Just wondering...

 

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[JEdwards]

Here is an update to this thread. Over the last 120 days I have been in the process of selling this business as another business I have opened has peaked my interest. In a totally unrelated industry.

A bunch of my competitors came together as a group, and offered me a bit of change to sell the business so they can get their customers back. (which I have slowly been taking away) As we have inventory, loans, accounts receivables etc it took a bit of time, but we are right there on the numbers and have agreed to and in the process of making the deal work and splitting up the customer base among the group. It is a great deal for all involved. This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

The 100 million when I started is not going to happen, I thought I could will my way up to that point, but nope. Can't seem to get their without putting in huge amounts of cash.

And I do not know what the other people told you csvalvato, but jon.a was correct and the business is in the wholesale auto parts industry. Good Luck to you.

 

[jon.a]

Here is an update to this thread. Over the last 120 days I have been in the process of selling this business as another business I have opened has peaked my interest. In a totally unrelated industry.

A bunch of my competitors came together as a group, and offered me a bit of change to sell the business so they can get their customers back. (which I have slowly been taking away) As we have inventory, loans, accounts receivables etc it took a bit of time, but we are right there on the numbers and have agreed to and in the process of making the deal work and splitting up the customer base among the group. It is a great deal for all involved. This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

The 100 million when I started is not going to happen, I thought I could will my way up to that point, but nope. Can't seem to get their without putting in huge amounts of cash.

And I do not know what the other people told you csvalvato, but jon.a was correct and the business is in the wholesale auto parts industry. Good Luck to you.

Shit, I just got busted for spilling the beans

 

[DeletedUser394]

@jon.a for president. The man doesn't tell a lie!

 

[JEdwards]

Shit, I just got busted for spilling the beans

Its ok, half the people in the board knew, just the two that responded to him might of heard something else when I said it.

 

[csalvato]

Its ok, half the people in the board knew, just the two that responded to him might of heard something else when I said it.

Thanks @JackEdwards & @jon.a . I hope you don't mind my skeptical eye - I find not questioning things gets me in trouble.

 

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[jon.a]

Thanks @JackEdwards & @jon.a . I hope you don't mind my skeptical eye - I find not questioning things gets me in trouble.

But, remember the real point was that it just doesn't matter.

 

[Bigguns50]

@JackEdwards .. So I've followed this and 1st and foremost...CONGRATULATIONS ! Well done.

2nd, I personally don't care if it's auto parts or balloons. What interests me is what opportunity did you see ? Did you see weakness in the competition ? Or an undeserved market ? Did you attack at a different angle ? etc.

I'm not asking for details....just in general if you can say.

 

[jazb]

What happened to the new progress thread you promised, a lot of us were looking forward to that.

and also, thank you for this thread. its been life changing for some people i've spoken to on here (serious)

@JackEdwards .. So I've followed this and 1st and foremost...CONGRATULATIONS ! Well done.

2nd, I personally don't care if it's auto parts or balloons. What interests me is what opportunity did you see ? Did you see weakness in the competition ? Or an undeserved market ? Did you attack at a different angle ? etc.

I'm not asking for details....just in general if you can say.

He answered that at the start. old, boring (and rich!) industries where competitors have made their money and are now asleep at the wheel.

also the fact that every new entre is obsessed with the next social media, when they should be looking at old boring industries. theres a huge gap here that young people dont even think about

 

[Bigguns50]

@jazb ... Thanks. It's been a while since I've read back.

I agree with him. I see lots of opportunities with old boring products.

 

[tafy]

Actually I did care to find out what industry it was. It does help you think about things a bit clearer. Thanks for clearing this up.

I couldnt imagine the logistics of a business like this, good job Jack.

 

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[Lakeview]

This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

Well done Jack, congratulations!!! Rep to you my friend!

For the purpose of this forum, this GOLD thread has provided more than enough information for anybody to open a new business. 28 pages provides a lot of details and random comments. Perhaps we should recap lessons learned from this thread. I'll start with key observations that impacted me. In so many "need an idea" posts in this forum, #1. and 2. are so often overlooked.

1. identify an opportunity that has been done before
2. do it better than everyone else
3. establish an aggressive selling plan
4. find good employees and treat them well
5. .....next?

 

[xmartel]

Here is an update to this thread. Over the last 120 days I have been in the process of selling this business as another business I have opened has peaked my interest. In a totally unrelated industry.

A bunch of my competitors came together as a group, and offered me a bit of change to sell the business so they can get their customers back. (which I have slowly been taking away) As we have inventory, loans, accounts receivables etc it took a bit of time, but we are right there on the numbers and have agreed to and in the process of making the deal work and splitting up the customer base among the group. It is a great deal for all involved. This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

The 100 million when I started is not going to happen, I thought I could will my way up to that point, but nope. Can't seem to get their without putting in huge amounts of cash.

And I do not know what the other people told you csvalvato, but jon.a was correct and the business is in the wholesale auto parts industry. Good Luck to you.

Congrats Jack!

This thread has been life changing. And thanks again for meeting with me last year. With the wisdom you've shared, even if my current business failed (it's growing very quickly at the moment), I'll never have to go back to the slowlane.

Are you going to start another thread similar to this one for your new business?

 

[1milclub]

Can't say the biz, maybe when I sell it.

This is written in one of the posts on the very first page. The gentleman has lived by his words - hats off to him!

 

[pickeringmt]

Awesome to see an update here!

Congrats on the sale - it sounded like your heart had already moved on anyways, so I'm sure it is a positive thing even if you didn't hit 100 million.

I'm looking forward to the next thread as well.

 

[csalvato]

This is written in one of the posts on the very first page. The gentleman has lived by his words - hats off to him!

Well, not exactly. He said he is in auto industry.

He could make hub caps or he could be Elon Musk

I don't care either way. I don't understand the level of secrecy, especially with it being sold now...but it's not exactly true that he disclosed the business name and product.

 

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[RHL]

I don't care either way. I don't understand the level of secrecy,

For someone who doesn't care, you're doing a good job of faking it. This makes me nervous. The fallout of digging like this basically made @JasonR stop posting, @biophase seems to be way less active since those two scammers sniffed out and ripped off his two businesses (can anyone blame him?), Jack posts very infrequently, LikWid posts very infrequently, pretty soon we'll be left with a forum full of posts like this:

Very inspirational and thought provoking thread. I wish I could go through 650 comments on the thread... Had the op made $10 mil in 24 months or not? The thread gone on for too long and still going. Just wondering...

And nobody will have to bother snooping around forum content creators' successful businesses because no one who remains active here here will have a successful business anymore.

 

[csalvato]

For someone who doesn't care, you're doing a good job of faking it. This makes me nervous. The fallout of digging like this basically made @JasonR stop posting, @biophase seems to be way less active since those two scammers sn out and ripped off his two businesses (can anyone blame him), Jack posts very infrequently, pretty soon we'll be left with a forum full of posts like this:

I'm glad I make you nervous. And thank you for the attack. But I assure you, you are nervous about the WRONG THING.

Let me be perfectly clear.

At this stage, @JackEdwards is a man behind a computer. @JasonR is a man behind a computer. I am a man behind a computer. And so are you.

And you know what SOME people behind computers do? They lie.

That's right. It's the whole basis of "to catch a predator". Lying on the internet isn't something new.

So when I see someone who is behind a computer, I assume there is a chance he is lying. When I hear from other forum members that no one has ever heard WHAT this business is, let alone the industry it's in, that raises a red flag. I am trying to decide if this is advice I should actually take, or if @JackEdwards has been blowing smoke up my a$$.

You would agree that it is important that you only take advice from CREDIBLE SOURCES, yes?

When I say I am going to take his advice and use his process as a model, I am SERIOUS.

I am talking about I put ads in craigslist and reached out to my network for salespeople for a wedding planning business I had in mind.

Then, suddenly, I did a gut check. OMG, I am basing ALL of these decisions on someone I never met, who I read about in a forum, who won't even give me his business name!! OMG!!!

So I came here and asked a simple questions before going any further trying to hire people. And guess what? I got a LOT of conflicting information. I asked other more seasoned forum members - and I got even MORE conflicting information.

That's just RED FLAG, RED FLAG, RED FLAG.

And you know what, I gotta trust my gut.

I started digging about some of the OTHER zen gurus on here ::cough cough:: and found out a lot of information that I did not like. I found information that made my skin curl, actually -- after putting some people on this forum in touch with TRUSTED CONTACTS. The interaction actually wound up embarrassing me.

So the question still stands. Why does the business name and revenues (the only thing that actually lends credibility to any of this information) still have to be withheld THREE YEARS after the founding of the company when the owner is actually SELLING the business??

So even if this thread is TOTALLY legit, I don't know if I can trust it...because we are all just people behind computers. And people behind computers SOMETIMES LIE.

And that applies to a lot of the threads and people on this forum that claim one level of success, when it's not true or acquired through less-than-admirable means.

There's a difference between @JasonR and @biophase's situation and this one. @JasonR and @biophase had information about their business made public wayyy early in the process. @JackEdwards is ready to sell.

So what does this mean. There is a PROBLEM on this forum.

People can go around claiming whatever they want...and nothing is policed.

"I made $10M in three years by hiring salespeople -- here is a picture of my Bentley and empty office space"

"I made a deal with Lori Granger selling paint brush covers"

"I threw my printer off a balcony and made $1000 in a single day"

This is good news though, right? Because we are entrepreneurs. We SOLVE problems.

Notice...two of these people backed up their claims with proof. One went on Shark Tank. The other posted analytics tracking of his revenues.

But @JackEdwards just says "I am in the auto industry". There is no proof provided to anyone (at least no one who is in a position of authority or trust).

Before marking things as "GOLD" it may make sense to actually VERIFY the information somewhere first. A private bank statement showing first sale sent to MJ. A link to the company website (like iwear8.com [i guess I am going to rip off his business too?]).

It doesn't need to be public. It just needs to be VETTED.

I mean, we keep going around saying "the idea isn't important" and "the product isn't important". We keep saying it's all in the execution. Startup founders all agree.

Elon Musk isn't walking around saying, "I can't tell you what I'm working on, it may be in the space industry." Why? Because the dude solves hard problems and that's what sets him apart.

After three years of executing, you're going to tell me that my asking for more info is making you "nervous"? I am really going to be able to rip off three years of "pro-entrepreneur" execution by learning that he runs XYZ Widgets & Things in Austin Texas?

Give me a break.

If everyone on here is so scared to let other people know their business and product, they aren't solving a hard enough problem.

 

[ThexArm]

And nobody will have to bother snooping around forum content creators' successful businesses because no one who remains active here here will have a successful business anymore.

I read first few pages which were most informative in terms of starting a business and initial startup issues with employees etc. then it become a little bit repetitive. My aim is not to snoop around as you suggested but to highlight the point that any successful startup business may not achieve what it set out to achieve in financial terms but it does become successful by repetitively doing the things it does best. A lot of people on the forum wants to achieve financial success in very short period of time and this thread highlight that fact that it takes time to build a business, create a structure around it and scale it such that you are able to sell it.

Here is an update to this thread. Over the last 120 days I have been in the process of selling this business as another business I have opened has peaked my interest. In a totally unrelated industry.

A bunch of my competitors came together as a group, and offered me a bit of change to sell the business so they can get their customers back. (which I have slowly been taking away) As we have inventory, loans, accounts receivables etc it took a bit of time, but we are right there on the numbers and have agreed to and in the process of making the deal work and splitting up the customer base among the group. It is a great deal for all involved. This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

The 100 million when I started is not going to happen, I thought I could will my way up to that point, but nope. Can't seem to get their without putting in huge amounts of cash.

And I do not know what the other people told you csvalvato, but jon.a was correct and the business is in the wholesale auto parts industry. Good Luck to you.

Thank you Jack for sharing an update. It's very commendable to see you sharing your experiences and knowledge here. I have, for one gained a lot from your experience through this thread. Good luck with your new venture.

 

[Wuz]

its better to not know the specifics about the business we are talking about . we are free to apply his advice in wherever industry we re working on.

Now some people think that all his valuable advice only fits in the industry he mentioned...