Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve been up, and I`ve been down. Gotta tell ya....being up is sure a whole lot more fun! ;-) I think maybe Billie Holiday said that?

In the past couple of years, finally getting serious about starting a business, it`s been an amazing journey downward. There`s what you think you "need" when you start out, then there`s what you find out you really do need, when you have nothing.

Now, finally starting the slow spiral upward from the bottom, I have a huge amount of respect for just exactly how much most of us take for granted, and what we believe we really really need to have to be "just surviving."

I was at a party, one time, with a family. The oldest son was complaining that it was just impossible nowadays to find an affordable house. The economy was too hard, money too tight, prices too high, and so on. The grandmother asked how much he was looking to spend?

This guy said he couldn`t even see a listing for under $150,000. Grandma talked about how in her day, houses were $15,000, but they only earned a few dollars a day. The son told her that in today`s world, even with inflation, it was impossible.

So I asked why he didn`t look for a house in Wyoming, or Montana, or New Mexico? He said, "There`s no decent jobs in those places! The only place that`s worth working is around the Chicago area."

See the problem? How important is the house? Is it more important then where he works or what job he has? If ALL he wants is a house, he can still find one for well below the $150K. But that`s not "all he wants." He also wants to stay in an area where houses are well above that number.

You can`t have it both ways. How important is starting the business? You`d be surprised how little you can live on when you have nothing. You learn all about different ways to shop, to cook, to fix things, and so on---things you never thought you`d have to do, or knew how to do. :-)

And just as importantly: how important does your *wife* think this starting a business idea is?

Terek,

I assume you are using the 3 hours train journey to work on your business? That`s a lot of time everyday you can dedicate to your business or do you read the paper and chat?

Have you tried working from home for 1 day? Instead of asking to work from home all the time - what about a day a week/month? Or just say you have to be home one day - work from home and show your boss it can work!

I don`t think you are asking for too much. Maybe you do! Accept it - that is what you want so that is fine. Write the figure down on a piece of paper and read the figure everyday at least 10 times.

Might be best to start with a business plan.

Andrew

Oh, now there ya go...! Andrew`s got a brilliant suggestion with the telecommuting! I`m not sure if it`s the same in France, but here in the US, with gas prices, gridlock on the highways, not much of a public train system, it`s a big thing.

More enterprise organizations are finding they just can`t afford to keep all those cubicles and connections for everyone, particularly when so much of what many employees do is on the computer. Telecommuting from home, or "hotel-ling" where there`s a shared cubicle for people coming in to meetings is growing.

You could likely make a financial case to your boss, particularly since you`re in IT, and although you`d want to be honorable in your hours, you`d at least have no commute for that one day...or maybe more days.

Tarek - try Firefox 2 with spellchecker.

Nikole, no fair accosting someone using English as a second language on their spelling. ;-) We here in the States, rarely even know a second language at all. People in Europe routinely learn some amount of English (at least). I think its commendable, and so what if the spelling might not be perfect?

:-)

Andrew/Craig : Telecomutting is not an option for me, I could easily carry all my work remotely, but my company refuse having any telecommuters. They want evertbody to come at the office. In my previous company it was something that the HR department would allow if your direct boss agreed.

15 hours of train commute gives me plenty of time for brainstorming on my business, thinking about my product, reading books.

Nicole : I will check out Firefox 2