I started my first corporation, Actaeon West, Inc., when I was 18. We just celebrated its first birthday a month ago. The first thing I've learned is DON'T START WITHOUT ENOUGH MONEY. Project how much money you'll need, project it again, considering the worst case scenario, then double it and add 10%. Don't begin until you have that money. The money is out there, but if you have to spend time actually running your business and ALSO finding the seed money you should have had from the beginnning, you'll fail. This cannot be overemphasized. Give yourself a big cushion. The other thing worth emphasizing is that if you're small, use it to your advantage. Be prepared to change your business model. My company started out as an ISP, for example; now I'm looking to sell off my ISP customers to grow the other technologies we created while working as an ISP. Email me if you'd like to talk further; this could be interesting. I'm michael at actaeon.net.
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I started my first corporation, Actaeon West, Inc., when I was 18. We just celebrated its first birthday a month ago. The first thing I've learned is DON'T START WITHOUT ENOUGH MONEY. Project how much money you'll need, project it again, considering the worst case scenario, then double it and add 10%. Don't begin until you have that money. The money is out there, but if you have to spend time actually running your business and ALSO finding the seed money you should have had from the beginnning, you'll fail. This cannot be overemphasized. Give yourself a big cushion. The other thing worth emphasizing is that if you're small, use it to your advantage. Be prepared to change your business model. My company started out as an ISP, for example; now I'm looking to sell off my ISP customers to grow the other technologies we created while working as an ISP. Email me if you'd like to talk further; this could be interesting. I'm michael at actaeon.net.