Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi guys,
 
My name is Tarek, I live in France, I work full time as a Project Manager (I`ve got a background in software development) and I`m planning to set up my Micro ISV (1)
 
I don`t want to build an empire, I just want to make a good living out of it and maybe hire another developer if the sales become really good (My current definition of really good is at least 6 times my current monthly salary)
 
I want to become a product company, I know already the type of product I want to build, I will be selling my product online via the Internet, using the try (45 days free trial) before you buy scheme. I might try to go try the retail route in case the product will be selling well online

I will be creating the product and starting marketing & selling it while keeping my day job (I need to pay the bills) and since
I`m not very sure if my venture will be a success or a total failure, I prefer minimizing the risk for now, and I will only quit "the man" once the sales start arriving on a regular basis.

The difficulty I see will be time management & low morale, that`s going to be really hard to go to work on my product after a hard day at work and on the week end.

I`m thrilled to have joined such a vibrants community, because it`s nice to share experiences and balances things off with more experience business persons.

The benefits I can see from this community is knowing that I`m not the only the one who had decide to choose to follow the entrepreneurial route (I might not be as nuts as I`ve intiallytought) and I can get advises from what seems a very supportive community.

I look forward chatting with your on the forums.

If you`ve got any good tips & advises for creating & growing a (online) business while having a day job + a family (wife + 18 months toddler)

Excuse me in advance for my rather poor English but I`m just a poor French farmer, so expect a lot of grammar & spelling mistakes from me

Here`s a feature request for the web site : Spell Checker

Congratulations to the Sloan Brothers for creating such an awesome community.

Best Regards from France,

Tarek

 

 

 (1)
     http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Micro_ISV.html
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_ISV

Welcome Tarek to the startup community, you`ve come to the right place
and we are glad to have you among us.
cheers. Magda

Hi Tarek,

Welcome to SUN!

I have been in a similar position to you. I started my own on-line business while working for a large corporate company (and having a wife and two teenagers!!!). It was hard work - but I loved every minute of it. I am passionate about my own business and if I had enough energy, I`d work 24x7. My wife has been extremely supportive - we talked about it beforehand and discussed the long hours etc. I have learnt so much and made many mistakes (but that is part of the journey - isn`t it?).

I believe your `low morale` times will be overshadowed by your passion.

I`ve written a time management e-book. I am happy to give you a copy and in return you could give me some honest feedback (which I may use as a testimonial). Let me know.

Great speaking with you and enjoy your journey.

What are your dreams?

Andrew

Hello Tarek,

Welcome to the forum.

It was nice reading your thoughts about how you are planning to setup your own Micro ISV. What kind of firm you are in right now? Software based?

I was working for a software company for the past 2+ years. But, then I found my job to be monotonous and not as per my capabilities. Also, I wanted to setup my own firm and I was getting late each day. So, I decided to quit my job and start my firm. I also thinking of creating a product. I have got the idea too but I am doing feasibility analysis these days. Lets see how it goes.

I tried carrying out my business while still being at work but honestly I couldn`t do it. After the day`s work I didn`t had any physical & mental strength left to think about it. I kept on thinking that one day things might work out but they didn`t. I guess that really compelled me to take this risk to overcome my limitations.

All the best for your venture !!!

Regards,
Anurag

Welcome to the forum, Tarek :-)

Have you considered doing a drastic financial re-evaluation of your living expenses, then perhaps cutting back your hours on the full-time job? Could you go to part-time? If not, could you change jobs and work part-time with another employer?

I understand how after a full day of work, it`s hard to get geared up for the next job, especially when it isn`t producing money in the immediate timeframe. But if you could work, say, 5 hours at a job that just covered the expenses, you could maybe have more energy at the end of each day.

Hello Craig,

I did and it`s actually impossible since my wife stopped to work to take care of our baby until he reaches the age to go to kinder garden. And since our second baby is in BETA (in non geeky word, he`s on his way!), so she`s not going to back to work any time soon. She works in finances so she had a pretty good package.

Since she left working we`ve already cut on some of our expenses, like restaurants, holidays. We`ve a pretty regular type of life style and by no means a luxurious one ...

Changing employer would be risky at this stage since I`ve negotiated a very good package with this company, 3 years ago and I was unable to find a company to match my current salary requirements.

So with big recurring expenses such as mortgage repayment, it`s impossible for me to say no this monthly salary.

However one of my regret was that I`ve always been and avid money spender and I`ve had not any savings, but I`ve learned the lesson the hard way and I`ll try saving some money that my side business will generate.

Let`s says if in 18 months I generate enough revenue from my product to pay my monthly mortage, I would be happy.

Please note that today I`ve nothing, as we say in the software industry, it`s Vaporware, I`ve got the vision in my head but the hardest part will be the execution ...

I`ll keep you updated about my progress on the forums

Best Regards,

Tarek

 

The core business of the company I work for is WholeSale & Retail, however I work in the IT Department where the ERP is the  business application that handles everything for our core bussiness (From accounting, to Sales & Receivable, Puchase & Payables, Inventory, Warehouse). The headoffice is in France and we a few subsidaries using our system. My main roles there are project management & software development.

Prior to that I`ve worked for various consulting companies selling sofware engineering services.

I did work 7 years abroard :

5 years in the UK (with a few stints to the US)

2 years in Singapore

And now I`m back home in France ...

 

 

• Running a successful business from home
• Spend more time with my family & having a happy family life
• Share my success by paying back society, I`m already involve with not for profit organization, but I would like to do a lot more since I`ve often the feelings of having this egoist life while people are starving & dying all over the world
• Being more in control, as opposed as by being controlled (by my boss)
• Offer the best education money can buy for my kids
• Taking 3 months holidays if I wanted to ...
• Having enough money in savings to no longer worry about money

I don`t thing I would be the kind of person who will buy a Ferrari or a castle if one day I`ll become rich, I just want to have a humble & happy life

 

Hi Terek

• Running a successful business from home - can you define `successful`?
• Spend more time with my family & having a happy family life - how much more time and can you define `happy`?
• Share my success by paying back society, I`m already involve with not for profit organization, but I would like to do a lot more since I`ve often the feelings of having this egoist life while people are starving & dying all over the world - excellent dream - love it!
• Being more in control, as opposed as by being controlled (by my boss) - might have to expand on this one!!! Do you get on with your boss?
• Offer the best education money can buy for my kids
• Taking 3 months holidays if I wanted to ... - do you want to?
• Having enough money in savings to no longer worry about money - do you know how much money you would need?

So you have some great dreams - what are you going to do about them?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the feeback :

My (current) defintion of running a successful busines is at least 6 times my current salary every month

Right now I`ve a 3 hours train commute, this start to kills me, and once I get home there are times where I really don`t fell like playing with my baby,etc. By working from home I believe that I would be less tired (train commuting is a killer). I firmy believe that if I follow my passion and succeed, I will be more happy and ultimately the whole family will benetifs from it. If I can have breakfast, lunch and spend an hour with my kid every day I would be happy. Right now when I go to work, the baby is sleeping and I return from work he`s also sleeping. If I work from home I will be able to arrange my work schedule. I`m a late, person I do not mind working between 00h00 to 02h00 and waking up at 07h00

My boss is fine, however there`s no flexibility as far as work schedule is concerned, I did ask to work from home (telecommuter), it was refused by the company. There are days when you`re not in the flow and can`t get any thing constructive done, so you better  take a nap, relax, get some fresh air and get back to work later, in the cynycal corporate world they would rather have someone pretending that he has worked 8 hours, rather than some who worked 7 hours and took a nap (in a bed) for 1 hour. I just can no longer work in the corporate world (at least at my company). and I  need to escape the cubicle nation (www.escapefromcubiclenation.com)

Yes I would want to, I`ve been luck to have travelled extensively all over the world, however my wife did not had this chance, I promise to travel with her all over the world. The beauty of the internet is that you can still have a look at how your business is doing from virtually anywhere.

Yes I know approximatively how much savings I want : The equation is simple My Current Yearly Salary * 25 years = My desired savings. Do you believe I`am asking for too much ?

So you have some great dreams - what are you going to do about them?

• Ask God to guide me & help me succeed every day
• I`m going to formulate a Mantra for own life
• I will be setting milestones for each component of my business
• Get going
• Keep on coming back regulary on Startup Nation for being reenergized