Hello everyone!
I`s been a month since I consider myself to be a "true" entrepreneur. I literaly started 0n the 1st of January, not because of some fancy New Year Resolution, but because my friend immigrated to my country on 29th of December and we both found and bought an old 2002 Ford for $1500 on 31sh of December which allowed us to switch to b2b clients.
Since my FTE in summer 2023 I`ve been part-time entrepreneur - I worked full-time blue-collar job and in my spare time served my local community with my screwdriver, wrench and occasionally - with my 3d-printer. This business of mine was more of a necessity - my FTE put me in a position where I could not support myself with job alone and I had to create an alternative cash flow.
3 people during 2023 impacted my vision.
First was an elderly entrepreneur (possibly a scammer though) from Russia. He had a huge vertical farming equipment project on late development stage tailored for a specific niche - he wanted his buyers to use vacant office space which was generated by pandemic and everyone going online. He needed me as a speaker for the project (as I professionally speak on public). Eventually the start-up died but I learned a lot about international production as we were studying the opportunities to mass-produce our product.
Second was an entrepreneur from Ukraine who was stranded overseas when the war started. He had a farm back in Kharkiv region and was using it to develop automated farming equipment. He came to me to use my 3d-printer as he was living nearby and was working on a new incubator. I not only printed some details for him but was also able to develop some parts in Fusion 360, so I am grateful for an insight into an inventor`s mind and into the RnD process.
Third one was a local entrepreneur, who does house cleaning in the local area. He shared his business details and some customers with me as being a sole proprietor he suffers from lack of free time and wanted someone around who could help him with his work while he goes on vacation or smth like that. Although it is the lowest possible business in my area it is still a business and I am able to learn accounting and b2b processes while earning $30 per hour instead of $10 per hour I was earning at a factory. So while it is something without Scale or Time commandments in sight, it still grants me valuable skills and time to develop my next stage.
NOW FOR THE ACTUAL PROCESS
On the 1st of January I had a job which brought me something around $2500 per month and a side-hustle with around $500 monthly income. I also had a friend and a car to expand my Empire with. We had a working model for business and a mentor to guide us through. And we leaped head first. Not knowing how to do marketing, we designed a simple printed ad with some free internet clipart and put my personal telephone in there. As I worked night shifts and due to language (most calling was done in Hebrew and my friend does not know it) my friend woke me up each time I had an incoming call. And while I was not asleep, i made cold-calling.
It was hard, but it brought fruit - from our first week we had some clients coming and signing the deals with monthly payments. I am really surprised how fast it all started. This month I got $500 in payments from b2b clients, $500 from b2c side hustle and $2500 coming from work. But during all this time I was signing b2b contracts, starting immediately or from 1st of February, so by now I have signed papers for a total of $2000 per month. Lower than my salary, but it takes only a fraction of a time which my work took. So I considered my options and made another leap of faith - yesterday I quitted my job. With all that free time I can focus on marketing and add more clients to the fold. On Sunday I have a meeting with one old lady with a potential $500 monthly deal which would even me in terms of income with my not-so-good job I left.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR ME?
I really do not see myself moping floors for the rest of my life. It is an honest job and I do it willingly and professionally, but I see it as a temporal solution to pay the bills. So I came with an escape plan. I know where I eventually want to end up and there are several possible roads which will lead me there.
I will continue working on my cleaning business. I want to completely fill 2 days of the week - Monday and Friday, with stable customers. Knowing my speed and price, it is safe to say that one full day brings at maximum about $3000 per month. $6000 a month will cover all the taxes, living expenses and will give me enough money for risky experiments.
For the other 4 days of the week (due to extravagances of my country of residence it is not viable to plan any work for Saturdays), there are some projects I can work on here. Option #1 - I can do more cleaning job but I do not want as I want to keep those days free of stable commitments. Option #2 - I can expand my handyman side-hustle to a more profitable house repair and remodelling business. It is more profitable than cleaning and more risky as no monthly payments are involved. It is also harder in terms of Entry. Option #3 - I am thinking about establishing a production facility for some outside lighting and advertising structures. It is something I made back in Russia fro some time and I have knowledge, but do not know local market at all. The upside is that I will have instruments for big plastic-metal-electronics projects I dream of and those instruments will not just wait for my inventions but bring cash on the way.
And during this development of this sweat manufacture, I also plan to work on some physical tangible products. I am familiar with Fusion 360, Arduino and PCB design and there is a list of products I created during my studies based mainly of complaints like "Why no-one made THIS already?". I remotely know how to organize overseas production and plan to embark on a journey:
1. Take an idea
2. Make a working prototype
3. Try to sell prototypes in my local area
4. If (3 = true) {scale.up;}
5. ???
6. Wallmart sales exceeded $1bil, we need another forklift to the cash storage
I decided not to wait and already ordered from Aliexpress all the needed parts for my first prototype. During February mostt of them will arrive so I hope by my next progress post here there will be some photos I will be able to share.
Any feedback is welcome!
I`s been a month since I consider myself to be a "true" entrepreneur. I literaly started 0n the 1st of January, not because of some fancy New Year Resolution, but because my friend immigrated to my country on 29th of December and we both found and bought an old 2002 Ford for $1500 on 31sh of December which allowed us to switch to b2b clients.
Since my FTE in summer 2023 I`ve been part-time entrepreneur - I worked full-time blue-collar job and in my spare time served my local community with my screwdriver, wrench and occasionally - with my 3d-printer. This business of mine was more of a necessity - my FTE put me in a position where I could not support myself with job alone and I had to create an alternative cash flow.
3 people during 2023 impacted my vision.
First was an elderly entrepreneur (possibly a scammer though) from Russia. He had a huge vertical farming equipment project on late development stage tailored for a specific niche - he wanted his buyers to use vacant office space which was generated by pandemic and everyone going online. He needed me as a speaker for the project (as I professionally speak on public). Eventually the start-up died but I learned a lot about international production as we were studying the opportunities to mass-produce our product.
Second was an entrepreneur from Ukraine who was stranded overseas when the war started. He had a farm back in Kharkiv region and was using it to develop automated farming equipment. He came to me to use my 3d-printer as he was living nearby and was working on a new incubator. I not only printed some details for him but was also able to develop some parts in Fusion 360, so I am grateful for an insight into an inventor`s mind and into the RnD process.
Third one was a local entrepreneur, who does house cleaning in the local area. He shared his business details and some customers with me as being a sole proprietor he suffers from lack of free time and wanted someone around who could help him with his work while he goes on vacation or smth like that. Although it is the lowest possible business in my area it is still a business and I am able to learn accounting and b2b processes while earning $30 per hour instead of $10 per hour I was earning at a factory. So while it is something without Scale or Time commandments in sight, it still grants me valuable skills and time to develop my next stage.
NOW FOR THE ACTUAL PROCESS
On the 1st of January I had a job which brought me something around $2500 per month and a side-hustle with around $500 monthly income. I also had a friend and a car to expand my Empire with. We had a working model for business and a mentor to guide us through. And we leaped head first. Not knowing how to do marketing, we designed a simple printed ad with some free internet clipart and put my personal telephone in there. As I worked night shifts and due to language (most calling was done in Hebrew and my friend does not know it) my friend woke me up each time I had an incoming call. And while I was not asleep, i made cold-calling.
It was hard, but it brought fruit - from our first week we had some clients coming and signing the deals with monthly payments. I am really surprised how fast it all started. This month I got $500 in payments from b2b clients, $500 from b2c side hustle and $2500 coming from work. But during all this time I was signing b2b contracts, starting immediately or from 1st of February, so by now I have signed papers for a total of $2000 per month. Lower than my salary, but it takes only a fraction of a time which my work took. So I considered my options and made another leap of faith - yesterday I quitted my job. With all that free time I can focus on marketing and add more clients to the fold. On Sunday I have a meeting with one old lady with a potential $500 monthly deal which would even me in terms of income with my not-so-good job I left.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR ME?
I really do not see myself moping floors for the rest of my life. It is an honest job and I do it willingly and professionally, but I see it as a temporal solution to pay the bills. So I came with an escape plan. I know where I eventually want to end up and there are several possible roads which will lead me there.
I will continue working on my cleaning business. I want to completely fill 2 days of the week - Monday and Friday, with stable customers. Knowing my speed and price, it is safe to say that one full day brings at maximum about $3000 per month. $6000 a month will cover all the taxes, living expenses and will give me enough money for risky experiments.
For the other 4 days of the week (due to extravagances of my country of residence it is not viable to plan any work for Saturdays), there are some projects I can work on here. Option #1 - I can do more cleaning job but I do not want as I want to keep those days free of stable commitments. Option #2 - I can expand my handyman side-hustle to a more profitable house repair and remodelling business. It is more profitable than cleaning and more risky as no monthly payments are involved. It is also harder in terms of Entry. Option #3 - I am thinking about establishing a production facility for some outside lighting and advertising structures. It is something I made back in Russia fro some time and I have knowledge, but do not know local market at all. The upside is that I will have instruments for big plastic-metal-electronics projects I dream of and those instruments will not just wait for my inventions but bring cash on the way.
And during this development of this sweat manufacture, I also plan to work on some physical tangible products. I am familiar with Fusion 360, Arduino and PCB design and there is a list of products I created during my studies based mainly of complaints like "Why no-one made THIS already?". I remotely know how to organize overseas production and plan to embark on a journey:
1. Take an idea
2. Make a working prototype
3. Try to sell prototypes in my local area
4. If (3 = true) {scale.up;}
5. ???
6. Wallmart sales exceeded $1bil, we need another forklift to the cash storage
I decided not to wait and already ordered from Aliexpress all the needed parts for my first prototype. During February mostt of them will arrive so I hope by my next progress post here there will be some photos I will be able to share.
Any feedback is welcome!
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