Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

    Hello Everyone....

Happy New Year to you all.

My name is Armond and I`m glad I found this website and forum....I only wish I`d found it earlier (i.e. some years ago).

A little about me.  I live in Los Angeles.  I`m a mechanical engineer by profession and special in 3D modeling and design of products.  I`ve worked in the automotive, aerospace, space, consumer product, and food and beverage industries design products and working projects at various times through my career.  I possess a master`s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and a bachelor`s degree from Cal Poly Pomona in aerospace engineering.

I`ve had a feeling and want to work for myself for a VERY VERY long time.  It`s long overdue for me.  Given my personality, I`ve come to realize I`m a people person, I`m very active, very hands-on....abit of a contradiction of personal traits when working with engineers (for whoever has will know what I`m talking about!).

I`ve tried my hand in a couple of ventures which one was good for a while and the other never took off (literally!).

My first venture was an online business selling imported Brazilian bikinis on Ebay Stores.  While it was good for a while, my supplier simply couldn`t get the items to me for a price that justified my resale prices (they were quite low for the quality and style...great bikinis).  I tried to get a new supplier but to no avail.

The second attempt was to try and purchase an already pre-existing business (which was 90% online, 10% store-front) that had ALOT of potential and a good customer base.  Without getting into too much detail at this point, I tried my best to sell the business to several banks...all of which claimed that they were NUMBER 1 in helping small businesses and so on.  Even with good numbers, and great business expansion plan that I wrote up, they treated me like dirt and basically stated "No House?  No Money..."

After that experiecne, I felt extremely let down and disappointed.  I think it`s fair to say that anyone in my position would have felt the same way. I had income comiing in from my work, the business showed BLACK and was positive, if not phenomenal, and my impression of "land of opportunity" is basically washed up.

Watching shows like "The Big Idea" by Donny Deusch where he brings people who`ve made it big with big money backing, lots of investors, and so on...and promotes them as being "dreamers" and "entrepreneurs of which YOU can be too", doesn`t help at all.

Well, I`m here to develop new networks and skills so that I can try again for the future. I have a great idea for a coffee shop but I want to learn how I can get different forms of financing and avoid banks, how to go about opening up such a store, where, etc...

I hope I can learn these things in the next few months so as to finally turn in that resignation letter and work for myself and really enjoy what I`m doing.

Thanks and I hope to talk to all of you on a regular basis.



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"It`s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt."

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Hi Erin,

Thanks for your reply and kind words.  It`s nice to see people who are supportive.

To answer your questions:

1) I do 3D design work for product development. I have done some animation and fly-bys for product presentation but my forte is designing a product and creating drawings and manufacuring prototypes for clients.  For example, let`s say you had a piece of furniture you had in mind...from your sketches, ideas, etc, I`d design the product via a 3D CAD package software, create working manufacturable drawings and have the product made for you for testing and ultimately production.

While this is what I do, I would like a change...in some form or another.  I am interested in your product if it`s something I can do independently or on a level of self-reliance close to being my own boss.

2) For the coffee shop, I`d love to get ideas for how to do the business but I`d prefer to go it alone once doing it.  I`ve had a few "potential" partners before and I`ve honestly come out feeling not so hot about the idea of partnering up.  My experiences have taught me that I can`t rely on anyone but myself.  The people I came across were either flakes, never followed through, and sent me in a wrong direction (which ultimately translates into wasted time).

But obtaining ideas and advice is invaluable to me.  My idea is very basic but I think could be super effective given it really hasn`t been done before (i.e. the concept).

I suppose we can discuss this in further detail later but I`ll start by doing some research on this forum and trying to see if I can find threads that can give me an idea of how to approach certain hurdles (i.e....where do I get funding?).



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"It`s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt."

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Sandra Pearson
The Mompreneur Next Door
www.themompreneurnextdoor.com
sandra@themompreneurnextdoor.com

I second Sandra`s sentiments.  There`s nothing wrong with wanting to build your dreams yourself without a partner.  You don`t ever have to have partners in a business but you cannot build a company without other people.  You will have to rely on others to help you in your success.  You may have had some poor experiences in the past but it isn`t always like that.  The right working relationships are positive for everyone!

Also, check out this recent thread.  Here`s a seasoned entrepreneur who is offering advice in the coffee business!  He or she might be the right person to ask your initial questions.

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Jamie Liu
President
J&R Capital Group
Meeting all the financial needs for start-ups & established Businesses.
www.jrcapgroup.com

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for your reply!

I totally agree with you regarding building a company you`ll need more than one person...no doubt about that.  I`m  not quite at that phase yet with any of the projects/ideas I have so far.  For example, the business I was planning on buying out a few years ago would have been easily manageable by myself since it was pretty much all internet based.  The time I`d have to remain at the store was minimal and could have been coupled with the internet sales while at the store.  I agree...that is a rarity!





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"It`s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt."

Hi CampSteve,

Thanks for the advice...I`ll definitely look into that thread and start poking people with ideas!


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"It`s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt."

Hi Jamie,

Where are you based?  What you are offering definitely sounds appealing...how can I learn more about your product?


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"It`s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one`s mouth and remove all doubt."

-------------------------

Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals