All Forum Posts by: Amy Vasquez

Thats an easy one. My biggest frustration in starting out is STARTING. I have not done it yet, really. I have become paralized over the fear of talking to people, of addressing my lifelong inadequacies and problems which need addressed so I CAN be successful. :violin:

I carry a Kel-Tec .380. It is one of the smallest (if not the smallest) semi-auto gun around. Only holds 7 rounds though. There is an option for extended clip but that makes it less concealable. I keep 7 in the clip and one in the changer due to this gun is very tough to "rack". The trigger pull is stiff and I do not worry about it accidentally going off. I keep it in a holster. It can be completely concealed inside my waistband. Very hideable! I chose it purposefully for concealment. Do not like target shooting with it much though, gives a snap kick for such a small gun.

Not factoring in concealability, I LOVED my Sig Sauer .40. Fit my hand perfectly (until my house was burglarized and it was stolen)

Bottom line, best gun is one you are comfortable with, one you know well, and one you can draw quickly (without shooting yourself). The sig .40 fit me like a glove but may not fit well at all for you. Pick your best gun (with a large caliber, try 9mm and up) Ammo for 9mm is much cheaper than for the .40 but I still like the .40 better.

Even in good areas, you never know what crazy situations will come up

Jeez, all this is making me want to go out shooting!

You are in my face! Thanks, I love it! You're DOING exactly what I am making excuses about why I can't do it. I help my husband with his business all day, and how can I possibly answer the phone. True, some times are really am too frigging busy with that urgent next day shipment, but also true, there usually is multiple 5 minute segments (even though mine screams bloody murder if I lock her out while I sneak into the garage) Still, there ARE times to return those calls, even if I don't break your 10 min call back "barrier" My husbands buisness is great and he is doing real well, but mine would be better, make more, and require less time than his. I'd love to pay our personal bills in full with MY thing! Ok, gotta go, hubbys awake and its been so long I have been wanting to do this I don't even talk about it to hubby anymore. Don't want to be all talk no action. Either I do it or I dont but I'm not going to let him know what I am thinking about. Thanks again for whacking me upside the head and CONGRATS on your tenacity to get it freaking done with 2 kids at home!

I don't think most folks realize it IS a sale.

rhd1707 - I'm going to read that over and over. 5 kids, home daycare, you work, and rehabs. WOW. That's what I wanted... to hear other people having it tougher than me and doing it. Oh, and I do have Think and Grow Rich... haven't made it all the way through it. I'll pick it back up and give it another shot.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I like that I couldn't muster even a little slack break or a yeah you do have it hard. Thanks for being tough.

My situation is a legit reason that things are harder, yes, but I do know it is not an excuse for not doing it. And I know everyone has their problems. Again with... "where theres a will, theres a way." but its so true... and I know it... and its killing me that I am just standing here (ok sitting, its late)

My main problem is I am so scared to pick up the phone. It's stupid really. I had a business where I knew nothing about the product, no sales experience, and I did very well. SO that tells me I can "sell" or at least be personable enough for people to want to do business with me. I even made ONE RE call and the lady was interested!, albeit, she was interested in full price and I do all the work but still, interested. All her multitude of questions (which I did pretty well answering) and her interest just scared the hell out of me. Not sure why.

Maybe it seemed too easy (with the lady showing such interest) I have this "gotta work hard for your money" thing going on and this was too easy. Maybe that is it.

I do appreciate your post. Got me to thinking about the "self fulfilling prophecy" I believe in that, and I have never felt like a loser in my life, until recently.... because I haven't done THE thing that can make my life the way I want it to be. I have been searching for the "perfect" next business. This is it for me. There's no inventory to hold, no overhead really, and I BELIEVE in the product for me and my customer. So why am I turning on this FU self fulfilling prophecy. It's like I want to fail. I can see that this fall and now are a great time to get in. Maybe I want to wait till things are really freaking hard to start.

Gotta get rid of that paradigm, and many others

Glad to hear you're making a go of it. I am wanting to hear from people in my situation that are doing it so I can be even harder on myself so I freaking snap out of it (or just plain snap) and do it!

Thanks for your input, It gave me some good thinking to do, even though I may not have expressed it here.

Thanks!

I worked a regular job, ran a business of my own, then became a stay at home mom.

I have a 3 year old and I take care of her at home all day. Taking business calls would rarely be possible without my child yelling/playing loudly in the background (very unprofessional and distracting)

Anyone out there in this situation able to invest?

Daycare not an option at this point (not potty trained, and very shy around other kids) AND, my hubby has a new buisness. I do all the books, billing, sourcing parts, ETC.

I am a firm believer in "where there is a will there is a way" and that I "make my own life" etc, but this is pretty rediculously tough.

That, and I'm a chicken s**t

wow, the replies should be interesting :)

:violin:

If the fees are low, just form your LLC right now! THEN learn about investing while your company "seasons" Even if you decide not to do investing and do something totally different, you will have that company waiting for you.

BTW, California yearly LLC "fees" are $800 (or they were 4 years) Arizona yearly fees. $30 max.

AND, of course, they look at HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE ALREADY IN THE BANK!

Regardless of age, with a brand new business you're not going to get 100k at any kind of reasonable terms unless your credit score is 800+ AND you have some collateral (like a house) Sorry for the bad news but its just the truth.

By the way, I started an LLC the magical 2 years ago (Feb 1, 2006). After a while I stopped selling what I was selling and just let the LLC kind of sit there with no sales. When I wanted to start a different type of company, I just used that existing LLC (just changed names) BTW, you can't always do that.

When it came time to test the magical 2 years theory, I went to the bank to get a line of credit. Even though the company was doing well (only 6 months old ...for real) they weren't looking at it as a 6 month old company. They thought it had been in biz for 2 years. THAT doesn't look too great! If I had really been in biz for 2 years, my income would have been way up and I could have qualified for more.

The magical 2 years DOES help. You are NOT going to get a line of credit UNLESS you have AT LEAST been in business 2 years. So it is good but not the magic formula everyone acts like it is.

FYI, Our buddy in the same industry also just got a line of credit. He got 100k line of credit from Chase. His fees were 250 per year for the privelege. He has been in business (for real, not a shelf corp) 3 years and has a much higher yearly income. He also has a credit score of 780! In contrast, we could only get a line at 25k. Our fees are 150 per year PLUS a one time fee of 400! (thats 550!) OUCH!

Another thing. Chase changed their lending guidelines a couple days after I applied for the line. All the lenders seem to be getting stricter. The loan officer (and I believe her) says I probably wouldn't qualify under the new guidelines but would be grandfathered in since I applied before the change.

We are considering accepting the line of credit even with the huge fees because 1. It gives us capital 2. It is in the business name and can build that all important business credit and 3. We just might not qualify at the new lending guidelines in the future!

Oh, and also, make it an LLC or Corporation from the start. Lenders will look at a sole proprietorship/partnership that converted into an LLC and if it has only been in business 2 years, they really only give the weight to the time it was an LLC/Corp! Retarded but true.

Banks also look at your gross vs. net. They want net to be at least 25% of gross (ie, gross 100k, you need to take home 25k after all expenses)

They also look at your personal debt.

THey ask a LOT of questions (45 min worth) about how you recieve payments, what sort of invoices you are waiting for payment on, how you pay your vendors, they want to see credit with vendors, especially ongoing obligations to show your payment history. They want to know who does the books, what forms you use on taxes, etc. I know it sounds like I was grilled, I really was not. It was just a LOT of questions!