A different kind of midlife crisis

[KlangFool]

Before you start, you need to ask yourself a very simple and important question: why would you want to do this? What is your motivation?

Klangfool - it's a fair challenge. I'm at the stage of searching where developing rules or a heuristic for evaluating the next opportunities is next vs. vetting real opportunities. I have a good career in a healthy public megacorp although I know I won't be at the same company in five years for a variety of reasons.

ChowYunPhat,

You cannot develop any rule without knowing what do you want out of the job/business.

KlangFool

[smitcat]

Smitcat - loved these pieces of your post. Taking your time to know yourself and properly research opportunities seems very important. I'm at the stage where my network has expanded to include people who can help evaluate as well as present opportunities. Would love to hear more about what you and your family settled on long-term to the extent you can share. Much appreciated.

We refined what our real interests and goals were and began a larger startup with one of us running that.
A number of years of casual but detailed research.

I believe it is quite important to figure out your own set of 'clarifiers' that will allow you to assess your business interests. Perhaps some of our will help you see what we were thinking at the time (initially 20+ years back now).
- Buy existing of build
- Do we like this product or service a whole bunch
- net profit size by time
- estimated investment
- storefront or virtual
- realistic hers of operation (24/7 , 5 x 8 ,etc)
- scalable or not
- est # of employees
- time to breakeven
- ability to be completely 'off' of work for weeks at a time
After you have a couple of dozen of these you would be best to zero in on what is most important in your case and lead with those results.
In our case the business had no relation to what either of us were doing in our previous corporate jobs, neither was any of our formal education in this area.
FWIW - we work less than 1/2 the hours and the cash flow is more than 2.5X the inflation adjusted compensation that we were receiving at the time.
There are/were 2 more really important benefits , 1.we like what we are doing and 2.We will sell the business's for a sizable amount of funds after taxes and fees.

[smitcat]

OP,

I come from a multi-generations business family. 50% of my family is in one form of business or another. Some people can be successful in business and some people can't. It takes a certain personality type and ability.

In a megacorp, you could be a specialist. You only need to be good in one thing. In a business, you need to be good in several things and you need to partner with folks in the area that you are weak in. You need to do accounting, sell, marketing, product management, and customer management. Any weakness in a single area will doom you.

But, back to the very basic and simple question, why would you want to do this?

A) You will most likely fail.

B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.

C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour.

There are exceptions like my older brother. But, we were in our family business since childhood. He ran the family business while in high school. He was a general manager for an MNC. While he was employed at the megacorp, he started 3 companies and sold two of them.

KlangFool

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

[KlangFool]

OP,

I come from a multi-generations business family. 50% of my family is in one form of business or another. Some people can be successful in business and some people can't. It takes a certain personality type and ability.

In a megacorp, you could be a specialist. You only need to be good in one thing. In a business, you need to be good in several things and you need to partner with folks in the area that you are weak in. You need to do accounting, sell, marketing, product management, and customer management. Any weakness in a single area will doom you.

But, back to the very basic and simple question, why would you want to do this?

A) You will most likely fail.

B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.

C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour.

There are exceptions like my older brother. But, we were in our family business since childhood. He ran the family business while in high school. He was a general manager for an MNC. While he was employed at the megacorp, he started 3 companies and sold two of them.

KlangFool

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

[smitcat]

OP,

I come from a multi-generations business family. 50% of my family is in one form of business or another. Some people can be successful in business and some people can't. It takes a certain personality type and ability.

In a megacorp, you could be a specialist. You only need to be good in one thing. In a business, you need to be good in several things and you need to partner with folks in the area that you are weak in. You need to do accounting, sell, marketing, product management, and customer management. Any weakness in a single area will doom you.

But, back to the very basic and simple question, why would you want to do this?

A) You will most likely fail.

B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.

C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour.

There are exceptions like my older brother. But, we were in our family business since childhood. He ran the family business while in high school. He was a general manager for an MNC. While he was employed at the megacorp, he started 3 companies and sold two of them.

KlangFool

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

"Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business?"
No
What business did you have experience with? Where do you get your numbers for business failures? Have you frequently attended business resources like SBDA . SCORE, local funding companies, college courses etc?

[KlangFool]

OP,

I come from a multi-generations business family. 50% of my family is in one form of business or another. Some people can be successful in business and some people can't. It takes a certain personality type and ability.

In a megacorp, you could be a specialist. You only need to be good in one thing. In a business, you need to be good in several things and you need to partner with folks in the area that you are weak in. You need to do accounting, sell, marketing, product management, and customer management. Any weakness in a single area will doom you.

But, back to the very basic and simple question, why would you want to do this?

A) You will most likely fail.

B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.

C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour.

There are exceptions like my older brother. But, we were in our family business since childhood. He ran the family business while in high school. He was a general manager for an MNC. While he was employed at the megacorp, he started 3 companies and sold two of them.

KlangFool

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

"Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business?"
No
What business did you have experience with? Where do you get your numbers for business failures? Have you frequently attended business resources like SBDA . SCORE, local funding companies, college courses etc?

smitcat,

Direct first-hand observation of my friends and family members. I come from a multi-generation business family. We had been in all sort of business for hundreds of years. 50% of my extended family is in one form of business or another. And, this is across multiple countries too.

KlangFool

[smitcat]

OP,

I come from a multi-generations business family. 50% of my family is in one form of business or another. Some people can be successful in business and some people can't. It takes a certain personality type and ability.

In a megacorp, you could be a specialist. You only need to be good in one thing. In a business, you need to be good in several things and you need to partner with folks in the area that you are weak in. You need to do accounting, sell, marketing, product management, and customer management. Any weakness in a single area will doom you.

But, back to the very basic and simple question, why would you want to do this?

A) You will most likely fail.

B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.

C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour.

There are exceptions like my older brother. But, we were in our family business since childhood. He ran the family business while in high school. He was a general manager for an MNC. While he was employed at the megacorp, he started 3 companies and sold two of them.

KlangFool

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

"Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business?"
No
What business did you have experience with? Where do you get your numbers for business failures? Have you frequently attended business resources like SBDA . SCORE, local funding companies, college courses etc?

smitcat,

Direct first-hand observation of my friends and family members. I come from a multi-generation business family. We had been in all sort of business for hundreds of years. 50% of my extended family is in one form of business or another. And, this is across multiple countries too.

KlangFool

And as you have stated before a few times - they were all successful!!!
Excellenmt and i am very happy for them.

[KlangFool]

OP,

You need to know what you are and what you bring to the table.

In my older brother case, he provided the business case, access to funding (angel investor), and customer contact. He was a director of marketing for a while. So, he could be part of the founder's team without doing a lot of works while keeping his corporate job. The engineers/technical folks did most of the works.

KlangFool

[KlangFool]

"A) You will most likely fail."
50% of small business startups are still in business at the end of 5 years. I would like to think that folks on the Bogle site will outperform the average startup by a reasonable amount.

"B) You will work a lot harder and make less or no money for a few years.
C) You will have less freedom. You do not clock out after office hour."
This is not accurate for us anyway , not sure which business you owned and what your experiences were.
We have 3 business's open now, the longest has been 16 years and the shortest has been for 8, about '38 business years' of experience so far for us.

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

"Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business?"
No
What business did you have experience with? Where do you get your numbers for business failures? Have you frequently attended business resources like SBDA . SCORE, local funding companies, college courses etc?

smitcat,

Direct first-hand observation of my friends and family members. I come from a multi-generation business family. We had been in all sort of business for hundreds of years. 50% of my extended family is in one form of business or another. And, this is across multiple countries too.

KlangFool

And as you have stated before a few times - they were all successful!!!
Excellenmt and i am very happy for them.

1) After many failed attempts and years of failure.

2) Not all of them succeeded. Some are not suited to run a business.

KlangFool

[smitcat]

smitcat,

Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business? That is what I am talking about. Yes, after a few years and you had developed your system, it may take less time. But, the business usually takes a lot more times in the beginning.

KlangFool

"Did you work a lot harder than your corporate job when you first started the business?"
No
What business did you have experience with? Where do you get your numbers for business failures? Have you frequently attended business resources like SBDA . SCORE, local funding companies, college courses etc?

smitcat,

Direct first-hand observation of my friends and family members. I come from a multi-generation business family. We had been in all sort of business for hundreds of years. 50% of my extended family is in one form of business or another. And, this is across multiple countries too.

KlangFool

And as you have stated before a few times - they were all successful!!!
Excellenmt and i am very happy for them.

1) After many failed attempts and years of failure.

2) Not all of them succeeded. Some are not suited to run a business.

KlangFool

This information...
"1) After many failed attempts and years of failure.
2) Not all of them succeeded. Some are not suited to run a business."
This is new information that you have not said in the past , this is exactly what might help the OP.

How many failed? Due to what circumstances? How many failed and how many were successful? What was the outcome of the failed business? In what countries were each of these business's?

[bb]

How many failed? Due to what circumstances? How many failed and how many were successful? What was the outcome of the failed business? In what countries were each of these business's?

I don't think anyone needs the 3'rd degree for stating an opinion. Both parties responded to the OP's request.
That should suffice.