mental support

[Steve]

When you first starting playing around with the idea of starting your own business, who did you find was most supportive of your idea and who was the least? Where do you advise those considering starting a business, to look for mental support?

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[CHEESE2009]

Lawn care business tips

This is a fantastic question! My parents support me, & at the last minute they think I'm making a mistake. It gets me down a lot, makes me feel hopeless! And when your starting up, there's so much to do. A lot of my friends feel used, & are having trouble understanding I appreciate using there tools (copiers, folding machine, etc) Personally the only thing on my mind is going all out with advertising. I wont make it if I put my business at the end of my priorities! My girlfriend for one doesn't understand that this is OUR future, without it we're screwed. She gets mad if she has a day where she's free to hangout, & I only end up being with her late into the day. I have things to do, & it's all so stressful! I have a few thousand flyers done, my stepdad offered to do a few hundred more for me. My stepdad owns a pharmacy & can copy my flyer for free (no color), so I said "perfect, thanks!" What does he go and do? He sends someone to go print my flyers & another store & now I he's stressing about how he lost money! Also, when I go to my friends to use his copier, he said "you should come over some time, & you don't have to bring papers to copy" aka don't USE me, right? .......... Anyway, my motivation is basically knowing nothing gets done if I don't do it myself. Knowing I work like a machine. Everyone who is against me is inferior. Starting my snow removal business, I hired 7 guys. I got rid of them all, so I could work alone because I'd make more money, & wouldn't get ripped off. I would shovel 11 driveways every storm, I'd start at 6:30am & finish at 5am the next day. I'd actually get drunk just so I could go through with it. I pushed myself so I could afford my junk for lawn service. I have a very big fear in trusting people, but during the winter I was proud & happy finally knowing how capable I am of doing such extreme tasks. Everything was done to perfection, no complaints, & I felt like a super hero! I am not a perfectionist, but I've fired people for folding flyers crooked. The reason for this is simple, as a business owner you control everything & are always siked for an outcome, and hired crew just don't get that buzz which makes us push ourselves to our limits. They are simply there for the money, & don't give a damn how it's made.

[CHEESE2009]

At the time I was still working for a snow removal company. So I would never sleep. I'd do my stuff on the side, WHICH KILLS. I saved a lot though. All I had to do was tough it out.

[Steve]

Very interesting!

It is fascinating to me how some new business owners seem to get up and started and not miss a beat. It's almost as if all of the heavens aligned for them. Yet for others, it is a major personal battle.

Another thing I have found to be fascinating is who is supportive of your goal and who isn't. At one point I thought if there were other business owners in your family, they would be very supportive of you to go out into the entrepreneurial world. But it seems more often than not, that is not the case. I don't know what % of business owners don't feel like entrepreneurs but instead like they own a job, but I bet it is a lot.

I also think being supportive is a quality that is not often found. Even if it's just a quick 'you can do it.'