Embracing the Risks and Rewards of Owning a Business

Ready to take the plunge into the world of business ownership? Buckle up and join us as we navigate the exhilarating yet challenging journey of entrepreneurship. From childhood entrepreneurial endeavors to wrestling with unsupportive families, we're unpacking the stark realities that come with running your own business. But it's not all about the struggles; there's plenty of rewards to be had too. 

We venture into conversations about the difficulty of dealing with irate customers, the draining need for constant approval, and the ceaseless nature of business ownership. But don't fret, we also delve into the thrill of risk-taking and the unmatched satisfaction that comes with having your venture succeed. Drawing from our personal experiences, we aim to instill resilience and self-reliance, stressing the importance of focusing on your journey and finding a supportive community. So, whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, tune in for a candid exploration of business ownership, its risks, its rewards, and everything in between.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So fifth episode we are committed. More than a month been doing it more than a month. We are excited about it. There is a ton of pros to being a business owner, for sure, yeah, but there are also some Some downsides as well.

Speaker 2: 0:17

Yes, I know.

Speaker 1: 0:19

You know both of us have a lot of experience in the downsides Uh-huh you probably more a little bit than me. You know You've got a little bit more experience within different partnerships, different industries, all kinds of stuff. So you've been a business owner, partner done. You know other adventures as well. What were some of the toughest things you've overcome within your experience?

Speaker 2: 0:43

So Whenever I was, I think I was in like second grade.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Okay, so we're going back. We're going way, way back.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Um, I went to a private school and I remember I had a friend who or you know a distant friend, okay who had got money from chores. He would get five dollars a week and I was incredibly jealous.

Speaker 2: 1:05

$5, that you know in second grades, like everything, like you can buy all the soda you want and like all the candy and you know You're you're balling if you're making five dollars a week right second grade and and I was jealous because my family was not the richest family so we wouldn't, you know, get paid for chores or do anything like that.

Speaker 1: 1:27

It's funny you say that because I was the same way. I had yeah, I had friends that would get an allowance and I'd be like, why don't I get an allowance? And they're like only way you're getting allows is if you're doing like three, four hours of manual labor work. I'm like Jesus. All they have to do is take the trash out.

Speaker 2: 1:43

20 bucks like yeah, okay, yeah but so I was jealous and I wanted to make some money myself, because we had a treasure chest at school when you could go and buy things so you could buy like little snacks at class or like a little piece of candy or whatever. And so what I did was I started up with my friend. We went around the school and we found all of the Dropped like pencils and pens throughout the gymnasium and in the classes, and like we would go to a high school Place and we would just anywhere we could find pencils, pens or racers anything cool.

Speaker 2: 2:26

Yeah we scooped it up and then we started going to all of our friends In our grade and other grades to try and sell them these cool items that we had just like. Grabbed off of the floor second grade yeah, please, and it was awesome. We made quite a bit of money. Yeah, and for second grade. I think, I think we made like a hundred dollars okay, from, from everything in a week too, yeah, in second grade.

Speaker 2: 2:53

So it was really cool. But the fun ended when the principal found out and I was called into the, the principal's office, and I was. I Was like pooping my pants all the way there. I I was so scared and Whenever he sat me down, he basically told me like hey, what you're doing is not ethical, and it was a Christian school. And he said it's not ethical, it's not right. You're taking advantage of people and you have to go return all of that money and Apologize to your entire class and anybody who you sold up to. Hey, yeah, and so here I was, second grade, thought I had a brilliant billion dollar idea. I thought I was gonna be the next Jeff Bezos and, yeah, turned out, I had to return all the money and I was just left like totally defeated, thinking for honestly the longest time that Like owning my own business or like doing something, like selling something to somebody, was like bad.

Speaker 2: 3:55

Yeah, for whatever reason yeah like that was just instilled in me because second grade, just being told that you're so impressionable, being told that what you're doing, is unethical. It's unethical right. And we were just selling pencils and pens and whatever to our classmates who wanted the pencils and pens that we had found because they were cool and like we would clean them up and make them pretty and we would add value to the process, not like we were stealing a pen and be like going back to that person like hey.

Speaker 1: 4:23

You want a pen like. It's not so funny too, because in the last podcast we talked about how school teaches you and almost programs you to be an employee. Yeah not a boss Like because it's so much boom right there perfect example. No, it, it. That's just wild. That were like that makes so much Sense because there's I mean that's second grade, but that definitely hasn't stopped. I mean, you have a good idea.

Speaker 2: 4:49

And then it gets shot down.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Oh yeah, or you have a good idea and then it fails, or you have a great project and the client says they hate it. Yep, like that is the downsides of business, and you learned it in second grade. I learned it probably two or three years ago, that's. That's so wild, so that you know, fast forward to today, what would you say? Like what's one of those same things, but in the real world, not second grade world.

Speaker 2: 5:15

Yeah, so family. Okay so my, my parents, they are my dad's a pastor. Yeah my mom is now a nurse and you know again, they didn't grow up that wealthy right.

Speaker 2: 5:32

And they were you know very you know traditional parents Strict. We went to private school. You know I went to public school for a little bit, but primarily private school very strict Regiments and played sports and whatever, and that was basically it. And so whenever, like I would talk to them about wanting to start my business, or even to today, like I will talk to Like family members and like they'll always ask me like, so when are you going back to college?

Speaker 1: 6:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Well, why don't you get a job as a software engineer? Your brother is making you know $200,000 and you know you're over here doing this. Like isn't this safer, isn't this better? Like, yeah, you get stock options, you get health care, you get a guaranteed salary. Like, yeah, is it worth it doing what you're doing? And so you know, just like in school, like there's always going to be people when you're starting business, when you're growing, when you're at the Baby states like you know I'm currently at, I would say, in the grand scheme of things, right, business is huge. There's always new, multiple levels. You can. You can go between. Like people are going to. Like just try and not, you know, push you to do that.

Speaker 1: 6:54

I would say people are going to shit on your dreams. Oh, 100% legitimately. Yes, it is. That's just part of starting your own business, doing your own thing.

Speaker 2: 7:04

I mean it's and because it's kind of Well thinking about it in their defense. It is kind of crazy to start your own business.

Speaker 1: 7:11

It is because, once again, we I believe we're all kind of programmed and taught we need to be employees, do the safe thing, do the safe route. So when somebody goes and goes against that, it's kind of like hey, that's not a good idea.

Speaker 2: 7:24

Mm-hmm, so I don't.

Speaker 1: 7:25

I'm not mad at them for thinking, yeah right, I have the same exact as experience as you. Not same exact, but for us, where we're at right now, that's the hardest part of like you know you want to feel supported and and people to be, you know, happy for you and proud of you and and things like that.

Speaker 1: 7:42

And so you know, for for me it's it's the same thing. I didn't learn it in second grade but you know, for me the one of the first kind of harder things was, you know, and I've talked about it before, but leaving the fire department that disappointed. Mm-hmm my family. It genuinely disappointed them and To this day I still don't think there's like a ton of encouragement behind what I'm doing, like I think they still ask me Every other time I go up there, you know.

Speaker 2: 8:13

So yeah, do you still have your firefighter certifications. Have you thought about going back doing that?

Speaker 1: 8:18

I you know I always answer with this is my passion. Yeah, like this is what I want to do, and it may not be handyman in 10 years, it might be busy, but it might be something totally different than business. It might be who knows? Yeah, but the hardest part is accepting that they might not believe in you and that you have to go and do it on your own. And then that makes everything else so much more difficult, because there goes your support system.

Speaker 1: 8:46

Yeah right, there goes the people that believe in you and love you and trust you and you want to call them and say we just had a deal on the table and it went through and now I don't know what to do. Or you know what I mean, or this client's really mad, but you're not going to tell them that, because then what are they going to think? I told you so.

Speaker 2: 9:03

I told you so.

Speaker 1: 9:06

Just leave, yeah, so the last people you call are them and say the only time if they ask me about how everything's perfect my business is perfect.

Speaker 2: 9:15

It's booming amazing. Yeah, it is great.

Speaker 1: 9:19

And inside I'm like so you know, that is definitely maybe. I wonder, like you know, five, 10 years, does that just become numb Like, do you just not care anymore? I mean, you've at least dealt with a little bit longer than me. I'm still aversion in this aspect.

Speaker 2: 9:40

Yeah, I don't think you ever become numb to it, but you become better at managing it.

Speaker 2: 9:47

So, like you know, I've been self-employed for quite a bit of time. You know I've been on and off with owning stuff for you know quite some time. Yeah, and you know you just learned that. Hey, like you said, you know I'm my customer's mad at me. I'm not going to go and complain about that to my parents because you know they're going to tell me. I told you so. Like, go get your college degree, go, you know, go in the software engineer, do something. And like, I just learned how to better manage that. And really that just comes down to finding other people who are in similar boats as you and being able to talk about it with them.

Speaker 2: 10:30

Because, like, if I see another business owner going through something I can relate to that, like they just miss payroll, like Ben, they're done, that, let's talk about it. And versus a lot of other people, like, again, nothing you know against them. They just haven't been in those situations and so it's hard for them to relate to the experiences you're going through. To come and customers being mad at you and you not being able to pass it to a manager Yep.

Speaker 1: 10:56

And remember at the time where the customer didn't pay us the 2000. Right, they wait. They paid the 50% upfront. They didn't pay the other half and the first thing I wanted to do was like call my dad and have them. You know, compete this person up you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Like come defend me. And instead I texted you and then I called you and I know the response you gave me is what I needed to hear. And I think that was one learning point for me, because I did end up talking to my parents about it and the first thing my dad had a little bit better answer to it, but my mom was very much like fight till you die for that $2,000. And I get it, I understand where she's coming from, but in the grand scheme of things you're kind of like hey, man, honestly, let's break it down.

Speaker 1: 11:47

$2,000, our hourly rate's X amount, if you work more than this to try to get that and at the end of the day you're like is it worth it? It's just not even like there's certain things, there's certain battles you just let go. And I think that's the biggest part that people don't understand, as being a business owner is like there's so much stuff you've got to just let go. You don't have to fight absolutely every person, every customer, everything you need to make things right. I mean, there's a difference in letting it go and actually providing you a good service or whatever.

Speaker 1: 12:22

But if you did everything in your power, stop trying. You know what I mean. That person's irrational. That person's not going to. It's just not going to work out in your favor. I guarantee if we would have taken that person to court and done all kinds of stuff, it still would have ended up not being in our favor. It would have been more headache for us.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Yeah, and maybe we made the $2,000, but we spent a month and a half doing it and I missed out on $10,000 of work. So it's kind of like, just take everything with a grain of salt, just really analyze it, think about it. Is it worth it? And to me, I've learned that a lot with my family Is it worth telling them everything? Because I shit you, not, every time that I talk about my success, something bad ends up happening, just like when we had that success with Biswip.

Speaker 1: 13:10

You know, about a week ago or so I, you know, I wanted to call my parents because I wanted to tell them the good thing that happened, yep, and of course the next day that good thing ended up turning into not a good thing and nothing came from it. And so just kind of, shows you like. You don't have to, you know, preach the rooftops about like how great you're succeeding or how great everything's going. Take the same approach you do with like the bad. Like you, you don't tell them everything that's bad, that's happening. You also don't have to talk about all the good. It's, just do your own thing. Yeah, you know, like if it's your business, you run it, you're successful in it and that should be all you need.

Speaker 1: 13:47

It doesn't have to be.

Speaker 2: 13:47

You know, if they ask you a specific question, sure, give them an answer if you want to, but if they're not asking you questions, just do you yeah, I think that's so important because Within bit, so like when you're an employee Everything's kind of smoothed out like we've talked about, like if you have a problem, you can throw it to your upper manager yeah, it's now their problem to solve but also like everything else is smoothed out, like you're always going to get paid, yeah, every single time. You're never gonna lose money by going to work.

Speaker 2: 14:17

Yeah you're going to. As long as you're good at your job, you are going to keep that position and you don't have to worry about losing your job. Mm-hmm. And it is almost like, especially in today's job market, the Employers responsibility to help you grow and to give you new past. Right, you'd be able to challenge you and to help you Push you along in that journey. But with business like, you can be high one day and you can be in the absolute lowest depths and like deep despair the next day. Yeah, just like you said, like super awesome success next day, holy shit, yep. And like that is business like and it's really is so, like it's so cyclical, like I, looking back on and now I'm like really kind of immune to it.

Speaker 2: 15:06

Like it, I'm numbed to it almost yeah where, like one month will do Really awesome and then the next month, like we'll lose customers, will you know? Like things will go really shitty. You know some big problem will come up and then I'll get super focused, I'll work really hard on solving that problem. It'll get fixed and you all feel on top of the world and then shit hits the fan again and I'm back on the grind. Yeah, and like as a business owner, like you just get used to that ups and downs, because there's nothing to smooth out, doles, bumps in the road for you. You don't have suspension. If you're a business owner like you feel every single bump, every single one, and you won't always get paid. You will work way more than all your employees. Yeah, and there is no guarantee for you as the business owner, like there is as an employee.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Yeah, literally not one, yeah. So basically I mean, everything has a risk and and Comparing, you know, employees to, and employers, business owners. As an employer, as a business owner, you're going to have more risks right and buy. In the grand scheme of things, you get more reward.

Speaker 2: 16:14

Yeah, and that's what. That's the point of it.

Speaker 1: 16:16

There's no gain without risk. There's no gain without risk. So as an employee and we talk about it I feel like almost every podcast is like it's nice because you don't have as many risks, you get to live a little bit more comfortable. I maybe that's what you want. That's perfect, that's great.

Speaker 2: 16:32

Yeah, you go home. You don't have to think about that thing that happened at work. You can shut it off and go on with. Yeah, I'll knock out up tomorrow and you're done.

Speaker 1: 16:40

Yeah there's no clocking out for us. No, it's it like like Haley will ask why don't you just worry about that tomorrow? And it's like I got you gotta figure it out right now.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Yeah, I don't know why, I just have to like and because you can't pass it like, if you don't figure it out, it's not going to get figured out right and tomorrow there's gonna be another problem and another problem after that, so like there is no clocking out, yeah, I do think you know risk versus reward is huge as a business owner.

Speaker 1: 17:06

Yeah, sure, and that is the detrimental part of the ups and downs. Right, if it's. If, if you're taking a lot of risks, you're gonna have a lot of downs, you're gonna have a lot of downsides to it, but the rewards are so Beneficial it's worth it, yeah, so if you've been thinking about starting your own business, take this as a sign.

Speaker 1: 17:28

just do it. So if you're thinking about starting your own business and you've been listening to this podcast and you're trying to figure out if this is what you should do, risk versus reward the rewards are 100% worth it. Yes, there's a ton of risks. Yes, there's a ton of downsides, but the rewards outweigh them Tremendously. Go start your own business. You can do it.