Challenges in Building

I think the biggest challenge- for me- of Mr. A trying to build a business are his expectations.

He expects income just because someone said they were sending it, and expects people to be instantly receptive to his business proposals. These are things I didn't think to prepare him for because after some years of dealing with it, it has become natural to me. I don't expect the check to come when the person says. The larger the client the more likely it is to be late. I think his expectations are the remnants of working in business for so long.

Mr. A left his job in November 2006. We spent quite a few months just enjoying the freedom and enjoying life without the fetters of a 9 to 5. Then Mr. A got involved volunteering for a high school football team. That time commitment was major and I believe that is a challenge to pursuing self-employment, especially in these incubator stages.

When I started working for myself as an adult, I was subbing and then working to build my business, not enjoying the freedom to exercise my passions. My hobbies had to get enjoyed after 7 p.m. Part of the reason I subbed- beyond income- was to have something and somewhere to go to every morning. I enjoyed subbing but not enough to want teaching to be my career. Being there always reminded me of my goal. I looked forward to letting my credential lapse and not returning.

Football doesn't pay Mr. A, and he loves coaching those kids. Unlike me while he is there, he probably isn't thinking about building a business so he can get away. He would love to do coaching or something to help kids on a full time, everyday basis. You would think he'd want to adopt but he doesn't. I've actually been encouraging him to get some of these rich kids and coach them. Parents are paying for that type of thing because they want their kids to be very well-rounded on college applications.

When we first began in earnest to build our joint business, Mr. A notified everyone and described what we did. We got our first client fairly quick. My cousin here in L.A. retired from nursing and she and some of her colleagues opened a nursing school. They hired us. Then Mr. A went deep sea fishing with his childhood friend's family and got a new client. The friend's father owns a lot of fast food franchises in L.A. and surrounding cities, so he hired Mr. A to make his business more efficient. Mr. A created a program onto the locations computers and trains the store managers how to use it. He has saved everyone from top to bottom hours a day.

Mr. A is still working on that project and has acquired other jobs. All of this occurred by word of mouth and networking.

In the meantime Mr. A continued to submit bids and proposals for government contracting. I know its "our" business but he is the one who works at it. I act as a second pair of eyes on the proposals.

Mr. A's degrees are in engineering management and civil engineering. Engineering management is a degree that enables engineers to operate in the business environment. His post college/post military job was in management at a division of Pepsi Co where part of his duties were to develop processes for the company to become more efficient (save money and time) each year. Mr A was probably 23 when he entered his career in corporate management, so with his military background and his entire career spent in management he has a huge amount of skills.

This skill in helping business and government agencies, develop standards and track systems to become more efficient seems to be the one that is sought after. This is the skill that has large firms contacting him asking him to work as sub consultant.

It's been year or so and we are just now getting the foot into the door we'd been trying to get open for some time. It all happens in stages and we've been patient and steady. Soon enough we'll be the prime and hiring sub-consultants. I don't expect the challenges to end, but I do expect they will change as we grow.

This has taken time, it has required strategy and sacrifice. But its all worth it to us. I think the sacrifice has been more of a struggle for Mr. A. He isn't used to depriving himself. I guess going from a salary that is comfortable in L.A. to having to budget diligently- but still in L.A.- is tough.

The thing that is super confusing is Mr. A can help business track their efficiency and figure out ways to help them save money but when left to manage our household finances, I have to pray for the strength not to attack him.

Soon I will blog about what a business owner does when you had at least a 5 month expense cushion and the bulk of it gets spent in under 2 months but no bills are paid. How to recover financially and build again without cutting the person who was in charge of the management. Then I will write about why it is of major importance to maintain a financial cushion when self-employed.