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More Questions

Question:
I quit my paycheck job in May of this year to fallow my dream for my own business. I have a great support system of family and friends. I have gotten off to a slow but I think good start. I am wondering about registering my business and tax id numbers a such.
I have the skill and the supplies to make my product but money is in short supply and I am pretty lost when it comes to legal things.
Laura

 

Laura,

Registering your business and getting a tax ID number is a very simple task that can be done online at the Minnesota Sec of state website.
That being said I would always talk to your accountant before doing that and also consider if it is worth the effort and cost right now. Once you register you have to file taxes for that business and pay someone to do those taxes.
Work on building it up. Get it going and then get your paperwork done.

Mark 

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Questions!

Question:
So, Mark, do you have some kind of itemized list for streamlined success in starting a new business? Or maybe a checklist for improving a business, you know, subtle things we didn’t even know we needed to do?
You are the expert… dish!
Bill

Bill,
That is exactly what I hope to accomplish here. It will take time as I will be putting things up 3-4 times a week, but I will be doing exactly that.  Then I will change what I said to something else because if I have learned anything in 9 years it is that I am always learning how to do things better.

Question:
What can a young person do to make themselves viable in any job market? (Don’t care about recession bullshit.) Secondly– what can they do to make themselves indispensable to a business? (That is, what skill is most sought after in a business?)
Emily

Emily,

Young people are a hard sell to any business owner because you have no track record. Also the younger people are the less chance they take work seriously. Being persistant seems to work with me. I admire someone who just does not take no for an answer.

You make yourself indispensable  to a business by making it money. The people I love the most are the ones that know their job, DO their job, and I can just check in from time to time to make sure the course is correct. People that need to be told what they have to do, people that give you 4 hours of work in an 8 hour work day, people that bring their personal bullshit to the office, and all of that have a short shelf life with me. Also I want people that see my vision. I DESPISE paycheck workers. A paycheck worker is someone that does not care at all about the place they work. It is just how they get money. I can not even understand how someone can do that. That said the boss creates a lot of paycheck workers by not involving them in the vision of the company. The boss forces them to have no passion for anything at work.
So to sum up, show up, work hard, bring passion to the tble, and make me money and you will never need a resume’ again. 

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What the hell is this?

For 9 years I have been a business owner. For the last 7 I have worked for myself with no other income source. Starting my first business from scratch taught me a lot. Starting 7 more has taught me even more.

What I want to do here is post video’s, blogs, and answer questions for others looking at how to make the step from wage monkey to entrepreneur. To tell it like it really is. To try and answer questions that everyone has when they are considering making the leap from receiving a paycheck to creating a paycheck. It is a hell of a leap. One filled with a lot of questions, doubt, fear, and just plain frustration.

I am hoping that I can give real world advice without the snake-oil salesman BS that is so often the case when people talk on this subject. It is not easy. It is not fun a lot of the time and it can destroy you mentally and financially. Let’s face facts, 66% of all businesses fail within 2 years. Around 40% actually make it to 4 years. The reasons vary all over the place but maybe I can help keep you in the 40% by sharing the lessons I have learned. I have started and own several businesses that generate millions of dollars in revenue every year. It was not easy and it will not be for you either, but maybe I can help make it easier.

This is my way of giving back because I did not do this alone. I had help along the way in the form of people who believed in me, helped me, and even invested in me.

Good luck and let’s enjoy the ride.