Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Share your story, and inspire others!
How has SUN helped you?
-Met a new business partner?
-Found funding you needed?
-Changed your website because of advice?

The list should go on and on. I want to know how directly or indirectly you have been helped. Share your story.

I`ll start. When I first found the site, it was through the book I checked out at the library. I learned to make a life plan before I did a business plan. So elementary, but easy to overlook.  I am grounded on what I want for my family and myself, the rest is to follow. I am now probing this site and other resources to prepare my march to the bank and get funding for my business.

My oldest son has Autism and we have had to choose a lifestyle that is not very flashy because of this. I have to search real hard to find the balance of work and home life because of his unique needs. My wife has chosen the medical field and has a very rigid schedule. By using the life plan first I have setup what I can realistically do for work, and what needs to be done at home.

My plan will be to have a business my son can help with, and teach him skills that will help his future, and at the same time maybe one day open my doors to other families of like situations. So, this is how I have benefited. I have focused in on what I want, and am leaning on others for what I don`t know yet to be successful at pulling this off.

Thanks everyone.
Mike

I think SUN has helped me take a hard look at what I was doing and mix things up for the better.

Also, reading other peoples questions gives me ideas. The podcasts and such are good for sparking me ... and reminding me to keep an open mind!

And sometimes it`s just good for a much-needed laugh.

I have "met" some very interesting people and made some good contacts that have taken me in new directions.

And I won some dips.

I`ve learned that what I consider self-evident is more often a result of living over time, and experience. I`ve had to realize that at 55, I`m not 17...even though in my head I don`t notice much of a difference. The result is that what I never used to bother talking about turns out to be "new" information to younger folks.

My father seemed like a genius in many ways, as I grew older and appreciated the world more. I asked him about it once, asking where he bought his brain, and did I get something similar when he was shopping for kids. He told me it wasn`t anything special, but that there isn`t all that much really new in the world. It just looks a little different each time it comes around.

So I`ve come to see that in the reviving cottage industry realm, people haven`t had the time to reflect on what`s already happened before. They haven`t got a way to easily get summary references to the past, as a way to avoid making mistakes others have made before them.

I`ve learned different ways to write, and how to put some "analytics," for want of a better word into my writing. All that helps me figure out how to be a better writer....a "gooder" writer, for BarbR. :-)