Finance Dave
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 1,864
I thought it might also be helpful to describe the types of businesses many of my friends own. I would consider most of them "micro" businesses, as you'll see below. How is it that I know most of these "friends"? We have a common car interest, and met via our cars. We all enjoy high-performance musclecars. Why do I mention this? Because it shows that all these business people are successful...they make enough money to buy multiple cars that cost over $60k each and operate/maintain them. I've either been to, or seen, all their homes, and they are not "car rich, house poor" people. Whether they save a lot for retirement and plan to ER I don't know...but certainly they could.
1) Guy 1 owns a business renovating movie theaters. They replace curtains on the walls, the seating, carpets, aisle lighting, etc. They do this all over the country. He has about 5-6 employees. They own 2 large vans to carry the team along with tools. For local jobs, they come home each night. Other times they book 4-5 jobs on the other side of the country, drive out there, live on the road for 3-4 weeks, and return home to a 2-week "vacation".
2) Guy 2 owns a business repairing car interiors for used car dealers. They get a used car in trade, and there is a tear in the seat or dash, or cigarette burn, or etc. He drives a van with a small specialty toolkit, and goes to the dealers to fix these issues...maybe he'll go to dealer A on Mondays, dealer B on Tuesdays, etc. His capital investment was very small...a van and maybe $2,000 worth of specialty tools. He did have to attend a 2-week course to learn how to fix and color-match vinyl, grains on leather and so on.
3) Guy 3 owns a small construction company in the Chicago area. For many years they did extremely well. The past 3 years have been very difficult for them...although luckily all their employees are sub-contractors...so their fixed costs are very low. When times are good they may have 8-10 crews working on various residential houses
4) Guy 4 retired in his mid '40s from the navy, and now advises the DOD on naval ship maintenance. He started his own company for this, so he's the only employee. He makes a modest amount of money but only works half-time.
5) Guy 5 sells car detailing items, such as waxes, polishes, cleaning supplies, etc. His biggest capital outlay is inventory....he needs to have things in stock so he can ship fast. He makes a decent living.
6) Guy 7 is an engineer and designs underground drilling head blade inserts. You know, like when they tunnel under the streets of NYC to build subways, they have these 20' diameter drills that cut through the rock and dirt? He designs the small cutting inserts on those..most of them are diamond. He works out of his home, has an office with an expensive CAD station, and has one employee. Again, he's very successful.
7) Guy 8 owns a company that supplies cardboard boxes that are made of recycled materials to local produce vendors. He's relatively new to this, and is struggling a bit due to the economy.
Just thought I'd give you some ideas...all businesses aren't restaurants, car washes, and tax-preparation services.
1) Guy 1 owns a business renovating movie theaters. They replace curtains on the walls, the seating, carpets, aisle lighting, etc. They do this all over the country. He has about 5-6 employees. They own 2 large vans to carry the team along with tools. For local jobs, they come home each night. Other times they book 4-5 jobs on the other side of the country, drive out there, live on the road for 3-4 weeks, and return home to a 2-week "vacation".
2) Guy 2 owns a business repairing car interiors for used car dealers. They get a used car in trade, and there is a tear in the seat or dash, or cigarette burn, or etc. He drives a van with a small specialty toolkit, and goes to the dealers to fix these issues...maybe he'll go to dealer A on Mondays, dealer B on Tuesdays, etc. His capital investment was very small...a van and maybe $2,000 worth of specialty tools. He did have to attend a 2-week course to learn how to fix and color-match vinyl, grains on leather and so on.
3) Guy 3 owns a small construction company in the Chicago area. For many years they did extremely well. The past 3 years have been very difficult for them...although luckily all their employees are sub-contractors...so their fixed costs are very low. When times are good they may have 8-10 crews working on various residential houses
4) Guy 4 retired in his mid '40s from the navy, and now advises the DOD on naval ship maintenance. He started his own company for this, so he's the only employee. He makes a modest amount of money but only works half-time.
5) Guy 5 sells car detailing items, such as waxes, polishes, cleaning supplies, etc. His biggest capital outlay is inventory....he needs to have things in stock so he can ship fast. He makes a decent living.
6) Guy 7 is an engineer and designs underground drilling head blade inserts. You know, like when they tunnel under the streets of NYC to build subways, they have these 20' diameter drills that cut through the rock and dirt? He designs the small cutting inserts on those..most of them are diamond. He works out of his home, has an office with an expensive CAD station, and has one employee. Again, he's very successful.
7) Guy 8 owns a company that supplies cardboard boxes that are made of recycled materials to local produce vendors. He's relatively new to this, and is struggling a bit due to the economy.
Just thought I'd give you some ideas...all businesses aren't restaurants, car washes, and tax-preparation services.