The Gold Mine

We are small business owners.

It seems like this should be an inconsequential part of my life. After all I am not the one at the shop working for our food, clothes and shelter. In fact, I'm not even an owner anymore since our incorporation in January. But when I am not thinking about the kids, I am usually thinking about the business. It really is our oldest and most needy child.

Is anyone out there writing blogs about small business?

I'm not talking about the "how too"s - I'm talking about the nitty gritty day to day hysterical results of trying to make more money than you spend. This must be a challenging subject. Because you want your business to appear successful - even if it's not - especially to clients and banks. And the humor most definitely would be found in the mishaps. And really - what small business owner experiencing mishaps has time to record the mishaps?

Like yesterday when Geoff called me fuming wondering if he should fire our employee who is getting married this weekend because he again failed to come to work. (The employee finally showed up, Geoff cooled off, and gave him another chance...)

Or like last month when the forklift somehow broke and sprayed hydraulic fluid all over a completed light fixture that was supposed to be delivered to Aspen on Monday but couldn't because the highway was closed due to a landslide. I mean, you can't make up stories like this!

Or several years ago when our portfolio mysteriously disappeared on the day Oscar was born because someone assumed Geoff wouldn't be in to work since he had just had a new baby. Silly assumption.

Or a long time ago when the alarm system continually called us on a Saturday morning as we lay in bed trying to sleep, and when Geoff finally gave in and went to the shop, found the block partitioned off and half our shop burned down.

It has taken me ten years to realize that we are panning for gold.

We hope it is a mine with some gold in it. If we keep digging, maybe we'll find the gold? But maybe not. Maybe in the end we end up with some interesting stories and a lot of - dirt.

And I know we are not alone. I have been taking on some bookkeeping. I have been looking at the financial statements of other small businesses. We are definitely not alone.

The roaring nineties featured the beginnings of many business rags to riches stories. Those in technology on the cutting edge must know that they are working in a gold mine. But in custom, architectural metal work? I have always taken the Horacio Alger work hard, have success stories to heart.

We are the slow and steady tortoise. Eventually we will either stop in exhaustion, collapse from lack of fuel, or hit the jackpot - the jackpot in our case a combination of a perfect economic climate plus a great product plus great systems plus great employees.

Did you know that small business in the U.S. private workforce employs 50% of the population either through direct ownership or as an employee? And I'm sure you've heard only about 50% of small business survive the first five years. (SCORE - Counselors to America's small business)

What advice would I give someone starting up a small business? How to stack the cards for your own gold mine?

• Don't quit your day job. Start small and build. Save as much as you can going into full-time small business ownership.

• Start a business that you can operate out of your home. Especially in the beginning. Preferably one that does not require much equipment. Those overhead costs are a killer.


• Register as a sole proprietor. I've always heard from everyone that a business should be incorporated, and if you are trying to build a business to sell or if you are making a lot of money this is probably true. But for small business purposes, being a sole proprietor is simpler. And the rumor I have heard is that incorporation does not shelter the individual from liability financially or otherwise. That is the purpose of insurance.

• Nurture your relationships - even your competition. Your industry should be big enough to support all of you and helping each other out will pay you back. Think of the apprenticeships of years past.

• Read the E-myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. And believe it. Just because you enjoy making a product or performing a service, does not mean you will enjoy selling this product or service.

• Do not have children. I heard Oprah say years ago that she didn't think it was fair to have a child when she was so busy running her empire. I found it appalling at the time. Now I nod at the wisdom of it. At the least have your kids several after your company has stabilized.

• Expect to work very long hours. And then to work even more long hours. And then to go back to work even more long hours. I've heard business advice that new business owners must work at least 60 hours a week. For us that has been a minimum.

• Set business goals, but more importantly - limits. Need I say more?

• Love what you do. Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. Because this will be your life.