Tell Me Your Success Story - Self Employed or Business Owners

My husband and I started our own business 2 years ago. We are general contractors, and we specialize in commercial (retail/restaurant) tenant improvements. Basically what that means is that we do not build from the ground up, we build inside existing buildings, in order to take it from an empty shell into a restaurant or retail store. We also do projects and repairs of all sizes for businesses. We do residential on occasion, usually house flips when we find deals that are too good to pass up. Generally we do not do residential remodels or repairs for homeowners.

My husband grew up in a construction family - his dad was a master carpenter, so my husband has been on jobsites since he was old enough to walk. I started working at a construction company after college as a document translator (the company I worked for was building Gap stores in France, and I was a French major in college). I discovered I loved reading blueprints, estimating costs, walking job sites, and the whole process of commercial construction. I worked my way up to project manager, and then spent many years on the client side (working in the corporate offices of several large retail and restaurant chains, as a construction/facilities project manager). After 15 years of that, I was ready to be my own boss.

We took our life savings (in the low 6-figures), formed an S-corp, and took the licensing exam to become General Contractors. We are licensed in general construction, electrical and plumbing. Fortunately, I have many friends on the client side of this industry, and they've all been wonderfully supportive, so we started out with several great clients and have built upon that. I handle most of the client interactions, update the various software systems they want us to keep updated, estimating projects and putting together bid documents, I handle all of the payroll, health insurance, accounts payable and receivable... basically all of the office details. My husband is usually out in the field either working on projects himself, or supervising them.

It's a challenge, but I would still say it's a thousand times easier than working for someone else. I love that my schedule is flexible, so if I need to take the kids to the dentist, or if I want to go take yoga at 9am, I can do that. If I want to do all my work in the middle of the night, I can do that too. As long as the work gets done by the due date, it's all good. Sure, it's scary to throw your life savings into a business, but when you know the business like the back of your hand, and have good contacts in the industry, it's easy to have confidence. I've always tried to conduct myself, whether working for someone else or working for myself, in a courteous and professional manner. I'm nobody's pushover, but in my industry, I'm well-respected for being fair and honest. That goes a LONG way in this industry.

Anyhow, when we started the business, we expected to lose money for the first 2 years, but we broke even the first year, and will show a net profit this year. Life is good.

Yes we own our own company. We work from home and we have warehousing in Dallas and Houston. We work will several carriers who take care of our transportation needs and have several suppliers.

We are in the raw materials industry and we sell to manufacturers who make things with plastics.... trash bags, diapers, plastic packaging, car bumpers, you name it. We also recycle plastic by buying scrap and selling it to people who make items from recycled plastic. I am not talking about general home use items (bottles, etc) I am talking about industrial items. We are at the beginning of the chain when it comes to manufacturing. We also sell additives that will help plastic break down with sun exposure, etc.

Resources.... hubby has been in this industry over 20 yrs as a sales rep for companies doing the same thing we are doing. Since he was on the road a lot, I acted as his customer support since I was at home with our daughter. I managed all his travel plans, and I would talk to customers when they called our home office looking for him. They knew I knew where he was much more than the company HQ did.

About 4 yrs ago, an opportunity kindof fell into our lap and we decided go do it full time together. We have a high powered CPA, legal counsel and investment counselor. We all work closely together. I am the CFO and I manage all the financials, with invoicing, accounts payable, IRS, etc anything to do with financials plus all the travel etc.

I answered your last question regarding funding. Bottom line, we self funded because we prefer to have all of the control of what we do, when and how. If you are with a bank or private equity company, they have a say in what you do because they gave you the $$ to do it.

We are on the road to success. From start up 4 years ago, $0 sales and $0 salary.... we now average monthly sales anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 depending on the market and manufacturing. Our employees consist of hubby, daughter and myself. Our daughter is a senior in high school and she shadows me on the financials to get a better understanding of business. The business is well on track for gaining equity and it sustains our lifestyle quite well. We've been approached by private equity firms to sell it and that is something we might entertain in a couple of years.

What about you?

I own 4 franchises on the internet. I love it. It allows me to be there when my family needs me but it also allows me to get out of the house and be me. I have an identity other than mom and wife and maid and chef. LOL.
Not that I don't love all those things but it feels so good to also be a successful business owner.
What are you opening L.? Looks like you have something exciting going on as well. :)