Thinking about business

[stangstevers]

Chatting with the wife and we agreed to look into something, either buy a business or start one. We were going to buy a cottage but the return isn't very good.

But I'm thinking since I'm blessed with capabilities such as process engineering, business development, quality control, marketing, leadership, etc... I could run something I personally think is fun. I have a personal goal of reaching a certain salary working "for the man" but it's more around if I can achieve it or not. Lol I don't see myself being an office rat forever. I'm close to my goal now and it's not very rewarding as the government takes a lot of my money and its all really stupid - the office environment.

So businesses I have in mind include; trimwork/painting, landscaping, decks and fences and even a tire shop (but something a little different).

I don't know yet but it's all a dream for now. I do know that if I won the lotto, I'd move to the USA and start a company that converted muscle cars into electrics. Like 500hp+ style electrics that DRIVERS would love.

Just a rant while I poops.

[DinoZ]

Interesting topic and I wish you much success.

I am and have been in business for myself well over 30 years. From 18 to 30 i was lost, 2 young kids a mortgage and broke. One day someone said i should try sales. I had a friend who’s family had a neck tie manufacturing business and I offered to move around 100 ties within a week or so. I sold most of them, so what, but what I had learned is that I enjoyed meeting and listening to people and found quickly that if your honest with what you offer and listen carefully, people feel good about parting with their money.

Fast forward, I was selling building materials for projects as far as the Seychelles, Russia, Japan.

Today I handle US companies that wish to enter the Canadian market, set up distribution etc. My upbringing in Quebec is a blessing for the language.

My point in all this is we often hear, “Do what your passion is, happiness and money will follow”, while this may be true for many, many others have found success simply doing what they discovered are really good at, however boring it may be.

Good luck in your choices, you obviously are thinking about it which is a great start.

PS: trust you had a great poop

[hammerhead]

Very cool - not the poop part - i've been elf employed most of my working life always working alone - i tried the employee thing and it just bogged me down - didn't like it for many reasons. with that in mind there's only so many hours in a day if your work in the service industry your income is limited. The government doesn't go away. In fact i feel their presence is worse. There are some tax savings but accountants offset that and maybe lawyers if needed. But it is rewarding and everyday is different. I'm currently trying to steer myself into a new direction because i need to continue work but don't think i could every work for anyone. Back in the 80's being self employed was killer good at tax time cause the gov was really stupid and didn't have the quality computers they have today. I think my Cuoreur Des Bois heritage makes me the loner and government hater i am today..lol Maybe that's why Canadian heritage doesn't start until aft 1980. Their trying to push the rest of us Acadians out...lol best of luck.

[5.4MarkVIII]

there is a certain freedom working for yourself. but there is also a different level of stress when everything is your reasonability, some people strive with that, others struggle.

I personally don't by the do what you love, and you will never work. maybe it works for some, but I found that doing what I loved for work was still work, and it turns what you once loved into a job, removes the love when it involves the respectability, I believe in do what pays the bills so you can spend your free time doing what you love.

also if you hate paying the government then owning a business isn't going to fix that, because you pay the government tax on what the business makes then you pay your self and then pay the government tax again on what you make, you pay the government on what your employees make, you pay the government for the pleasure of regulation, and safety.ect ect ect


sometimes I think the government makes more money off my business than I do. actually come to think of it when you include HST they do make more money off my business than I do. fucking bastards

[Quicksilver]

I am "celebrating" my 40th year in business. I own a deck and fence company.
There are many parts of the job that are rewarding: the design, meeting and interacting with people, putting a large cheque in the bank.
there are also many parts of the job that are disagreeable. Time for example. I am working all day today as there is no one to pass the buck to. Responsibility for a dozen paychecks every 2 weeks. Bookkeeping. Government regulation compliance. Stress caused by outside forces: suppliers not delivering, either the right product of not on time; workers with little or no work ethic, and miserable customers. Contractors, in the eyes of the public, by definition are crooks. However, what the public does to us is far worse; and you often have little or no recourse.
Keep your paycheck and invest the money in something else.

[Screw]

Idk sometimes I think I should of jumped ship to hrly years ago , I’d miss my freedom though .

[Quicksilver]

Some people"get lucky" in business. Success is a combination of hard work, dedication, living and breathing your business 7 days a week, hiring the right people, and sheer, blind, dumb luck.
Having observed others in my own industry and in many other industries, frankly, I don't care how hard you work, luck is a huge factor. Landing that one big client, and finding the money to service them, is the key. The first one leads to the next and the next. But without that first one you will always struggle. If in your regular life, things mostly seem to go your way, then maybe give it a shot. But if things always seem to be just out of reach and just don't quite gell for you, it isn't likely to change.
You're welcome to invite me out for a drink and I'll tell you all about it.

[5.4MarkVIII]

Yep. Had this convo with the wife. Luck is huge

[stangstevers]

Some people"get lucky" in business. Success is a combination of hard work, dedication, living and breathing your business 7 days a week, hiring the right people, and sheer, blind, dumb luck.
Having observed others in my own industry and in many other industries, frankly, I don't care how hard you work, luck is a huge factor. Landing that one big client, and finding the money to service them, is the key. The first one leads to the next and the next. But without that first one you will always struggle. If in your regular life, things mostly seem to go your way, then maybe give it a shot. But if things always seem to be just out of reach and just don't quite gell for you, it isn't likely to change.
You're welcome to invite me out for a drink and I'll tell you all about it.

I always found that the harder I worked, the "luckier" I got. My success and, at the same time, lack of more success is all due to my effort or lack thereof. I had a lot of "close calls" to major success in my life, missed opportunities like moving to the USA TWICE (Chrysler and then Amazon). I also created a "CRM" system designed for agencies but never thought about exploiting the web based system for other companies to use - such a stupid move on my part, this was the 90's before things like salesforce :( I ended up modding the system years later to cater to the used dealerships, got in a meeting with OMVIC to help support it but the guy was a dick and berated me on how "small" my company was that I could never support all his members if they came on board at once. Ok maybe he wasn't a dick and he was right but I could have tried harder to sell not the product but myself to him... oh well... lessons learned lol


Today I have some ideas I'm bouncing around, one is a prototype of a phone app I'm designing (on paper) that basically uses AI chat-bot that would allow you to send your spam call to and the chat bot will annoy the F out of them and suck up their resources. Or a wine-paring website that uses AI to match your personality type to your next fav. wine. Sorry that's my ADD kicking in as usual lol Probably just post-whore and do nothing about it.

Two things I'd love to DESTROY in my lifetime are cold-calls (like door to door) and stupid flyers being mailed.

[Quicksilver]

t

Two things I'd love to DESTROY in my lifetime are cold-calls (like door to door) and stupid flyers being mailed.

If you ever do go into business for yourself these two things are what will get you started. I HATE cold calling, but it can work!

[5.4MarkVIII]

There is ceasing opportunity and then there is just luck (being in the right place at the right time)
An example of this would be in my industry Sears was a big competitor for all dealers like us.

At our dealer counsel two weeks ago talking to other dealers when sears closed shop. Their local sears stores packed it in. The resulted in a 30 to 40 percent increase in sales for some of these other dealers.

In our case the local sears store saw the writing on the wall and a couple years before sears closed up shop she got out of her contracts pulled down the sears sign and put up a sign of her own

In terms of sales I got about a 3% growth which was on par regardless.

We were not lucky.

On the service side however I saw it coming and aggressively went after the repair side. Took on a contract for the company that was rumoured to be taking over the warranty work.

It worked and I got the calls. Until sears screwed their customers and canceled all their extended warranty.


As for flyers. It’s the best and most cost effective coverage and advertising we can do. Nothing else has brought in more customers besides word of mouth than our quarterly flyers

[92redragtop]

Or a wine-paring website that uses AI to match your personality type to your next fav. wine. Sorry that's my ADD kicking in as usual lol Probably just post-whore and do nothing about it.

This one entered my "to do" (ie. research what's out there, feasibility) list in 2018 and I'd like to put some time into it this year as I think there was an unserved segment there - I think there may be a couple apps in this stream no that I have to look into to see what their angle is.

[5.4MarkVIII]

I have an idea for a service app but have no idea how to make apps.

[stangstevers]

If you ever do go into business for yourself these two things are what will get you started. I HATE cold calling, but it can work!

I wonder how effective cold calls are today? Feels like throwing mud at the walls to me in this day and age. Although a team of "agents" from the Philippines is probably still cheaper than a proper adwords campaign lol I can't stand cold calls and it looks like the only ones using it in B-to-C are friggin duct cleaners from Scarborough. Even in B-to-B, I question those as well because it's such a disruption. I guess a combo of online list building campaigns and "cold-calls" would work best, the list you are building would have a higher conversion rate and it's probably more of a "Warm-call" than cold :D But it all really depends on the demographics I suppose.

[DinoZ]

What I find effective is to find the industry that your interested in and if you have a product or service for that industry find out the appropriate trade shows that apply to that industry.

I found spending money on these shows hits the target your after.

Might take a few shows.

[DinoZ]

Canadian citizens who work in the US will have US residency and will pay US taxes.

[92redragtop]

does anyone know how taxes work for Canadian citizens working in the US? Do you pay taxes in the US, in Canada, both?

You may have to pay taxes in both places depending on residency, etc but with the tax treaty there's no double taxation - you'll pay first in one jurisdiction then pay the balance/excess in the other (if applicable).

[92redragtop]

I think the form is 1040NR - see if that one fits what's you're looking at doing. I believe you file with IRS first, pay tax if applicable, then file in Canada and pay the difference based on your tax rate. Check with a professional of course.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040nr.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-nr

[stangstevers]

Trying to convince the wife to move to Texas... I have family there already. Got my gun rack just need my truck.

[hammerhead]

does anyone know how taxes work for Canadian citizens working in the US? Do you pay taxes in the US, in Canada, both?

Both and visa versa if our an american working in Canada

[hammerhead]

Just a bit of advice - understand HST thoroughly and remitting - finding a good accountant is Paramount and believe me that is not easy - get behind on HST and the mofo government is relentless and will make your life a misery - accountants are like contractors some call back some like to work some are good some are not so good some at expensive some are reasonable - also before making big changes always call your insurance company so you not surprised when you are dinged for changes down the road - yes get insurance also good idea to get a lawyer and incorporate separating business property from personal property