<p>If any of you own a small business and have built it from the ground up, what was your career path before starting the small business? Is there even a particular path that would be more helpful than others in gaining the practical knowledge needed to run the business? Upon graduation from college I know I won't have the necessary funds to start a small drink business, so was wondering how others who have found success went about starting this whole process? Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Go to work for a successful drink start -up company--the more famous and successful the better. Work there for four or five years.</p>
<p>Volunteer for a non-profit organization (your alma mater?) where your job will be asking people for money--the bigger the amount the better. Successful entreprenuers know how to ask people for money. They know what words make people write checks.</p>
<p>Wanna be really rich? Learn mandarin. Raise funds to move to China and start your company there. Investors will throw money at you. Says me.</p>
<p>I agree -- work for someone else, let them pay you to learn the business. You need experience in all the different areas from manufacturing to sales to marketing to human resources to accounting. You also need to be willing to literally sweep the floor and wash the windows.</p>
<p>I purchased a business five years ago. If Ihadn't had a lot of experience in other people's small companies -- it would have been a disaster. As the company owner, you are the one that needs to know how to use all the equipment (for example) from the fax machine to the computer to the manufacturing equipment. </p>
<p>It's not as easy as it sounds ... and it's a lot of hard work.</p>
<p>(As I said to one employee who didn't see his career path in my business -- the qualification to be the manager is to have worked for me more than six months, and the qualification to be the owner is to have a very large sum of cash and not need a weekly paycheck. Food for thought.)</p>
<p>Michael Dell started Dell Computers from his college dorm room (originally PC's Limited).</p>
<p>Getting experience certainly can't hurt... but it's also not the only path you can take. You need to examine your options, costs, etc. You may even be able to start the business on a casual basis (I assume you already have a product in mind or you wouldn't be asking such a specific question).</p>
<p>I started my business over 20 years ago with almost no investment other than my time. I hadn't yet finished my graduate work and had to become adept at marketing and many other things that weren't directly related to the product I created. I could never have obtained the experience I have now if I had been working for a large company.</p>
<p>With that in mind, if you do opt to work somewhere for experience, keep in mind that you may not get exposed to the myriad aspects (departments) of the business. Yet, as an entrepreneur, you will be forced to wear many different hats on a daily basis... at least until your business grows.</p>
<p>There are many different ways you can approach this. But -- as a small business owner -- you have many inexpensive options. For example, all you need is a PC, printer, paper and some good ideas to create sophisticated advertising. When I started my business, you needed to employ either an ad agency or a typsetter and printer -- even to generate a few flyers!</p>
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With that in mind, if you do opt to work somewhere for experience, keep in mind that you may not get exposed to the myriad aspects (departments) of the business. Yet, as an entrepreneur, you will be forced to wear many different hats on a daily basis... at least until your business grows.
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<p>MPN and I are saying similar things. If you want to be in the beverage business, working for Pepsi probably isn't going to help you learn how to start your own business. OTOH, if you'd gone to work for Sobe when they were headquartered in a tiny office in South Norwalk as one of three staffers -- you'd have gotten a lot of valuable experience.</p>
<p>I know a LOT of small businesses that got their start on EBay the last few years. It has very low fixed costs and a wide marketplace.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Determination matters more than smarts. I've known several bright people who failed in business, and other less than steller intellects that own thriving businesses. Having the guts to stick out the tough times is the key.</p></li>
<li><p>Figure out how much start-up capital you need, and then get at least twice that amount. You'll burn through large amounts of money if you do the start-up thing right. :)</p></li>
<li><p>Don't promise more than you can deliver. Promise what you can achieve, and then surprise your customer by delivering more.</p></li>
<li><p>Be proud of yourself. Small business is the backbone of American society.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>ADding..</p>
<p>1a. Determination is a derivative of passion and love. If you don't absolutely LOVE the business, you will not be able to manufacture the determination. If you LOVE it, you will put in 18 hour days without realziing where the time went. <em>cheers learned this lesson the hard way</em></p>
<p>great, thanks for all the replies !</p>
<p>read up on starting a business.. take a class in entrepreneurship.. look into business plans... etc</p>
<p>i worked for a small company during college that we just ran out of a one room office at somebodys house... they now have three offices in the house and probably sell about 8 million dollars of stuff per year. Talk about low overhead costs... :)</p>
<p>I would like to start a music store someday down the road, but the way the music industry is going i don't know about that anymore..</p>