Re: IPO? Investor? Sell the business? or what?

"Rich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Mike Turco" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> > "Rich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > > "There is a big difference between being a business owner and being
self
> > > employed".
> > > I am convinced that I have a business - not a job. Yes, if I walked
away
> > for
> > > 60 days the business would still be running just fine. Now do I have a
> > > business or a job?
> >
> > Rich,
> >
> > If this is the case, you should walk away from your business and let it
> run
> > itself (with some monitoring by you, of course). Then you are free to
> start
> > another venture and at the same time, you have this $2 ~ 8k (or whatever
> it
> > is) flowing into your pocket from your existing business. By George --
> this
> > is the heart of entrepreneurship! Forget the investors. Forget the
> > programmers. If what you say is true, then your business is truly an
asset
> > in your portfolio: this is a rare and special gift! Don't change a
thing.
> >
> > > To my knowledge, most businesses start out small. Yes, I have a very
> SMALL
> > > business - but it is a business none the less.
> >
> > Really? OK, if you walked away today and the phone rang, who would
answer
> > it? If it was a service call, who would answer the technical questions?
If
> > it was a request for consulting or for the addition of a feature, who
> would
> > add that feature? Who will read the mail? Who will file your taxes? Who
> will
> > reconcile your checkbook? Who is going to sell to all of these word of
> mouth
> > customers, and who is going to keep that word of mouth business flow
> coming
> > in? More important, what systems do you have in place to do all of these
> > things?
> </snip>
>
> I'm just trying to understand what you are saying here.
> If the phones rang today at Microsoft and no one was there, the world
would
> be doomed. If Bill Gates was not there, who cares. I'm only using
Microsoft
> as an example. It could be any company. Bill Gates drops out of college to
> write a BASIC interpreter (or whatever). He and his friend are just two
> nerds and not a business at this point. They hit a deal to get their BASIC
> interpreter packaged with an Altair. They make about $50,000 (gotta crawl
> before you walk). They open an office next. Are they in business yet? I
> guess so, because if they walked away and started another venture, they
> would still be bringing in revenue from that first deal. But what if they
> had to support each copy of that software? What if they had to answer the
> telephone to help people load the BASIC interpreter into the Altair? (and
I
> think they had to do that - to the best of my knowledge, from day 1). They
> are suddenly *not* in business? Instead, Bill Gates and his partner are
> "self employed". Correct? Ok. So then for a while nothing happens and then
> Bill Gates makes another similar deal with IBM. Albeit a much larger deal,
> but the same structure. Bill's newly acquired MS-DOS gets shipped on all
new
> IBM PCs. He has to support the software. But this time he has enough cash
to
> hire tech support employees, and so he does. He brings on a few people so
he
> can focus more on business. It snowballs from there. Bill has a title..
CTO,
> CEO, whatever he will be, he now works *for* Microsoft. He is technically
> employed to this day. Is this the point where a self-employed person
> officially becomes a business owner? Or is he owned by the business? Does
it
> matter?
>
> Rich


I bought the e-myth audiobook from Audible.com a couple days ago and
listened to as much as I had time for. I fit in the "well balanced" area...
33.3% entrepreneur, 33.3% manager and 33.3% technician. I'm 99.9%
"balanced". No one voice is allowed to take over the entire show. It is
difficult, but I work hard just to keep them in balance. In fact, keeping
the three in balance is the most difficult aspect of my business. You have
to be on your toes because one WILL try to take over the whole show if you
aren't paying attention and in my case that spells Disaster with a capital
D. For example the entrepreneur will start dreaming up things that in
reality won't work out or maybe its not the right time. The technician is
the one I really have to keep an eye on, or he'll start working on projects
just for the fun of it and to look busy. The manager has a real tough time.
The manager is also the CFO, COO, CEO, etc. I'm well-balanced so far. I have
a good multiple personality thing going on. If and when I hit a big deal to
hire a real manager and technician.. it will be much better for my mental
health ;-)

Rich