Starting A Business is Easier Than You Think #512

the past couple of years. But if that wasn't you, if you didn't fall into that camp, we think that it's something that you're going to consider by the end of this episode, and they will be convinced because we are podcast hypnotists and we can actually, by the sound of our voices, make you think something that you don't currently think. Do you believe in hYP hypnotists? So my grandpa actually hypnotized me when I was because she was a psychologist. He did what he did, Yeah, except for

it didn't really work. Like I felt like I was. My eyes were kind of I kept like looking up as he is this is this what supposedly happening? Because I feel like I was supposed to be clucking like a chicken or something like that and it felt like it had no effect on me. But but I think actually some people are more susuffable to hypnotism than we've read.

We've talked about that, we read about that how there's some scammers and it would get folks on the line and kind of get them into this trains and before they knew it, they were you know, emptying out the contents of their their bank account, giving the you know, sharing their bank account numbers, all that kind of information. I find it incredibly fascinating. An actually my mind, my brain is like Fort Knox, It's impenetrable, so strong, there's

no way that was gonna happen. But no, we are going to talk about small businesses this episode real quick though, a quick follow up. So last week we talked about how low flow shower heads they obviously save you money, they save you water, but how I had taken my restrictor off of my shower head, and I'm thinking that it's going to allow me to maybe spend just as much money, but how they more enjoyable experience just a

shorter shower. And but listener arseny I reached out and he was like, hey, guys, why don't you a solution scientific method guys like check it out and measure your progress, like like put a plug in the bathtub and then see how much water is standing in the bathtub after you're done with your shower, both with and without the flow restrict which I loved that little bit of advice.

Definitely going to try that out. It's a sure fireway to figure out how much water are you're actually using unless you have a sense a shower like mine, which has no tub, it's one just one of those walking showers, I mean, same with mine. That I mean it's it's in the shower where it's not a tub without a stopper. But I'm gonna lay down like a piece of like seran wrap or like a zip blog bag just to actually stop the water up. Okay, alright, good luck with that.

I might instead do some sort of test where I hold up a gallon jug and I see how much water gets filled up after a minute of using the flow restricter and then a minute of not using it, just kind of see the difference just so I don't and then do some math flood my bathroom. Okay, there go and yeah, I'm seeing you. That's a that's just a great suggestion doing some testing to see whether we're actually able to save money or whether we're just spending

more in water. We're wasting water because of our desire to have a nicer shower, which you know, what it might be worth the trade off, Matt, it might be worth it, But I think it's a good idea to at least run the numbers and to say, oh, wait, now I know I can either take an eight minute shower without the restrictor or ten minute shower with it, and then make a decision based on that knowledge, as opposed to just winging it, which is what you and

I were doing, which, honestly, it points to the fact that maybe we're not interested in the truth. Maybe in our case, we have both decided, oh it's it's totally gonna be worth it in order to have a slightly more luxurious shower experience. But I'm willing to commit and see how much it's actually costing me. Yeah, this might be a saga that but let's introduced the beer that

we're enjoying this episode. It is let's get some f and French toast and that's a movie out and let's see if you remember we will tell you what movie this is from at the end of the episode. But this is a beer. This is an Imperial Stout with French toast, maple syrup, cinnamon, and this is by Bramari Brewing Company. We will share our thoughts on this one at the end of the episode. And it makes me

wonder bad. I think that movie is probably twenty years old now, so if somebody right off the bat, I'm impressed. But yeah, let's get to it. Let's get the topic of hand. We are talking about why starting a business is easier than you think, and Matt, there are I think a lot of things that we build up in our mind to be it's really difficult, even though in reality doing that thing isn't all that tough. And I know for myself it makes it easier to sit on

the couch. If I'm like, but that thing is really hard, I don't want I don't want to give it a try. It's just not possible. It's obviously really difficult, and I don't have the time if it's that hard to do it, So I'm just gonna sit here and do nothing. And I think I probably used that excuse a lot when it comes to learning how to cook, and it's something

I need to get better in every field. Yeah, I need to participate in the kitchen more in our house, be more helpful, and cook more meals for our family. And so it's something I'm kind of starting to come around on. But I think I'm not alone in that. I think there's a lot of folks who have said, you know what, cooking dinner is really difficult. I'm just gonna order out more. We're gonna get take out, We're gonna order pizza and pop that pre made lasagna into

the oven. Exactly what is it like an hour later? That's yeah, that's just sto first cheesy goodness. That's right. But when it comes down to it, so many wonderful meals can be created in just a few steps with just a few ingredients. You don't you don't have to go over the top of it, And something like having a recipe can make can make it so much easier to actually then follow through and do it, and and

just a little bit bit of meal planning. So yeah, when we're talking about starting a business, it certainly sounds on its face like it's gonna be really really hard. It's gonna be a slog and so I might as not, well, try same thing with cooking, but we think that both

are actually easier than you think. Although we're not gonna talk about cooking anymore in today, well I will say it does remind me in middle school it was like home met class and you do some cooking, and I remember making biscuits in class and a thought, what is this alchemy that we are participating because we just combined these three it's like three or four ingredients to make biscuits, and I swear that they were like the best biscuits

I had ever had in my entire life. But if it does feel like that where you think, oh no, it's a it's an impossibility to make biscuits, that you have to be a magician to do that, but in fact it is a lot easier than you think. I totally agree that you have to take like a baby home for the weekend too. Oh you know, I don't know if we ever did that. I don't remember doing that. I remember selling a football. That was one of the things, like we all got to pick a kit different colors.

But enough of my home met escapades. We're talking about starting businesses, and we have seen an uptick in folks who are interested in starting businesses over the past couple of years. It certainly seems to be appetizing to a wider range of folks, and I think the reason for this is that it can be hard to know just how to go about the process properly. The reason for this, I think is because entrepreneurship it just seems to be

this career path that is rarely taught these days. Of course, you can go and you can go get your m b A. But I'm just talking about this more like the encouragement, more of the mindset that it takes the belief that if you can creatively solve a problem that brings value to the lives of individuals, then they will reward you with another type of value, that being money. So simply put, I mean that is all a businesses.

But because a few schools or teaching kids how to do that, well, I think we see a lot of businesses fail. The stats they bear that out. Roughly twenty of businesses fail within the first year, and just about half of them go bust within the first five years. So how is it that you can start a business without failing in short order? That's a really good question.

We're gonna try to offer a wide variety of thoughts during this episode and just to help make sure that your business doesn't end up in this category of grim statistics. And some people, honestly, some of the most successful business owners have had one or two or three small businesses

fail before where they struck gold. And so even that should not be a turn off from I don't think starting a small business because sometimes that first uh, misadventure actually leads you to success in the end and ownership of your own business and and and making more money and creating more value out in the world than you're able to otherwise. And when you when you look at the graph of new business applications that the Census Bureau

puts out, it's startling. Because small business formation was up and was an even better year for small business formation, we're already seeing an even larger uptake this year. It looks like so COVID has clearly created both the need

and the desire to start your own thing. Plus stats show that only of traditional workers are engaged in their current roles at their current job say they are actively disengaged, which is just such a fast I don't even know what that means, except for I hate everything and I spend half of my time in the bath room. Like I'm not I'm not sure. It's just it just an attempt to avoid work. I think that's probably correct, right.

So if you consider yourself in the ladder camp, that actively disengaged portion of the work population, you're just not into your work at all. You're starting your own business could be the perfect solution. If you hate your job, why in the world would you not consider this? And even if you like your job, you probably want to

consider it too. And something that starting a business it doesn't have to involve finding millions of customers to serve seth Godin He talks about building a minimum viable audience. Sometimes your business can be supported just by a couple hundred folks, or maybe even fear folks. Maybe it doesn't even take hundreds of people. Maybe your business can succeed on a hundred great customers, or like ten really good customers.

But this is important to mention though, because in the same way that we attempt to demystify personal finances, we want you to understand that the same is true when it comes to starting your own business. It doesn't have to be this overly complicated path that you have to take. It doesn't have to require magic, or it doesn't require a special type of person. Uh, it is available to all. You don't need to have a pitch deck. You don't need to have the ability to go on Shark Tank

to convince investors to back your idea. You simply need the right product in front of the right audience. I think Shark Tank has both good and bad effects, right because the Shark Tank effectively agree it's cool because you get to see people who have succeeded, who have come with a cool idea, and they are at the point in their business building where they need the help of

some capital, capital investment. They have chosen yeah, types of businesses that involve backing, but yes, that's that's something that they can just you know, shoestring together. So on the on the positive side, I think it helps a lot of people see like, oh, the cool things that can be done by a couple of smart entrepreneurs working their

butts off. But on the flip side, there are so many much easier to start small businesses that never require some sort of massive influx of capital, and those businesses never get shown the people who have for their entire lives a small business of where they're completely just a solo preneurs, they work alone, where they have a really small team and they never have to and they never feel the pressure nor the desire to grow into some sort of behemoth monster. Um that that is the downside,

maybe a shark tank where people don't get that. Totally agree. Well, let's talk about the the personal benefits first, Matt, of starting a small business, because maybe it's smart to take a minute to convince you why you should at least consider starting your own business, because the benefits are so wonderful. Matt. You want to start maybe talking about what maybe one of your favorite things about us being business owners and

not having the answer to any other boss besides ourselves. Well, I mean obviously the flexibility, right, Like we were just talking about the summer beach trip that we are planning for coming up here in a couple of weeks. But this is one of the main key things that that makes working for yourself incredibly legit, Like forget working from home. You can do whatever it is that you want. Uh, of course, you still gotta get your work done. You

still got to pay the bills. But you know, if if you want some long, slow breakfast with your family, like that is something that you can do. Nobody's checking into it to see that you're at your desk or on your putter by nine am. Or maybe you're looking to take some three day weekends. You don't have to necessarily ask permission or make sure that your shift is going to be covered by someone else. If you and your own business, I think this is a top not

reason to to go start your own thing. Yeah, it makes me think. A while back, we were talking about tattle tattleware, which employers were checking in via the camera on computers from their employees of their employees working from home, and they were taking screenshots, are taking pictures to evidence to see whether those employees were actively working, were actively engaged on the job. They weren't taking their word for it, and they weren't necessarily judging by the results. They were

judging based on stupid tattleware. And if that's the kind of thing, whether or not you were sitting in front of your computer when it took the picture, yes, not sleeping, right, And so that's the kind of thing where if that doesn't make you want to get out of your job.

I don't know what does. Because if I was working for an employer who felt the need to check in ont me like that, that they didn't trust me enough and trust the results that I was producing enough, but they had to actually, you know, checking on physically what I'm up to every minute of the day, that would be frustrating enough for me to say I'm out. But yeah, So flexibility is one key thing one key personal benefit of starting your own business. Another the other just like

major biggest thing is personal fulfillment. One of the main reasons folks start their own business is because they see a gap in the market that they can fill, which is great. That's a perfect reason to start a business. Or maybe I think another reason to talk about tattle

where is is the bureaucracy. Maybe that they feel at their place of work where it's just a fun Yeah, it sucks, not fun, and they're not able to have the impact that they know they can have because of the layers they have to go through to try to get anything done. And so yeah, both of those things are great reasons to piece out and starts your own thing. Both were true of me, Matt when it came to

starting how the Money. Sure, there are loads of personal finance podcasts out there, but it's still like, it still felt like it was important to add our voices into the mix. And then I also kind of got tired of seeing my creative ideas stymied in an atmosphere that just didn't value them very much. And it's not like I wasn't valued. I felt very valued, but it was like all these creative ways that I wanted to see improvements happen, those are kind of brushed aside. And I

wanted more creative influence over the finished product. And so it seemed like the only way to do that, The only way to have total control was to be my own boss, was to start my own thing. And so that's part of why we're here today doing what we do. Is is both of those reasons were equally important, I think in leading us to this point. And I mean, on the one hand, you could probably argue that maybe you truly did feel that you weren't being valued enough,

otherwise you would have gotten paid more. So there's a there's a legit art argument there, But aside from that, it's the ability to decide what it is that you want to work on. It's not necessarily the extent to what you're being valued, but just the ability for you to work on whatever it is that you want to

work on. Like to me, like, that's kind of the key to the personal fulfillment is like, yes, this is a personal finance show that that you you know that you were working on, but now you're able to do it in a way that on paper seems very very similar, but in reality is a whole lot different. So I agree, Yeah, deciding what it is that you want to work on is a huge benefit. But simultaneously, we've got to mention that starting your own business that it may not be

for everyone. I think it takes a certain mindset shift, It takes, it takes a disposition towards independence in order to succeed. We've got friends who were very successful and we're really good at what they did, but that doesn't always translate into doing the same excellent work when you're

out on your own. I think some folks just need that structure that often comes with a business that's already established, with maybe a little bit of that bureaucracy, a little bit of that corporate culture, in order to actually do their best work. I think it's easy to overly romanticize owning your own business, but let's let's be honest, it

may not be for everyone. That being said, given that most folks who listen to how the money that they're looking to proactively make changes in their lives, I think there's a good chance that you have what it takes to successfully start your a business, and that is why we're talking about this today. Yeah, I think you're right, man.

I think it definitely takes a certain mindset and and you have to have I think you have to feel some of that discontent, not just that office based level discontent where where like the look and just to bust

up some computers. Yeah, yeah, we're the word. You do feel that, maybe maybe you feel that rage inside, but but I think it's a different kind of discontent that makes for a great small business owner, where you're like, man, the business is fine, the I love the people, whatever it is, but there is just something that's missing, and I on my own could do a better job. Like

I I'm stymy creatively. And if you're feeling some of those things, I think then I think it makes you the perfect candidate to consider leaving and starting your own thing. But we've actually got to talk about that because you probably don't want to just like quit tomorrow and start right and we need to talk about some of the financial necessities and the financial benefits that come along with starting your own business. We'll talk more about that right

after this. We're talking about why starting a small business is easier than you think, Joel. This is how the money, of course, So we're gonna talk about the financial benefits of starting your own business. And I think the biggest thing is that when you lose one client or just one customer, you haven't lost all your income, right you don't have all your eggs one basket. But if you lose your job, you're going from one d to zero

pretty quickly over night. So I believe that there is actually a significantly higher level of financial stability when you own and when you run your own small business. I think there's a lot of folks who felt that being a W two employee, that that was the best position to be in. It felt secure and warm and cozy. But I think a lot of folks are realizing, especially after the past two years, that I don't think that there's anything further from the truth. You can get fired,

you can get let go. When you own your own business, you can't get fired. You're not gonna get like like, oh you can. You're not gonna get downsized when you work for yourself, which means it's not an all or nothing venture. Like like I previously mentioned those statistics about businesses failing, I will say they're they're sobering. There's a lot of businesses that do fail. But it is important

to remember that's staying at your current job. It's not nearly as safe of a proposition as you think it might be. Yeah, that's really important to mention, Matt. I think I was one of those people who were starting your own businesses is highly risky. That's how I thought of it. And working for having that nine having that W two income, that's a cake. That's not like stability,

that sounds stable and foundations. I've completely revolutionized the way I think about that, and I think that's actually that's the opposite view of what I have now. And it was interesting, like you and I are kind of opposite in that way because like I feel like very early on I kind of you know, hud my own shingle and didn't work for myself for a while. But then after I don't know, eight nine, ten years, I started thinking maybe maybe I just moved back to corporate America.

But for me, it was the thought of what life would look like having to go in to an office every day having that flexibility, not just the flexibility, but again, it kind of comes down to autonomy. It's not like when I think when when we talk about flexibility, people think, oh, I work from home, I've got flexibility, I've got control over my own hours. But it's more than that. It's it's the type of work you're doing. It's what it

is that you're doing. It's it's how you have to interact with your coworkers, or your customers, or or just whoever it is that you're serving within your line of work. There's something additional that that's more like soul crushing for me when I start to think through what life would look like if I was not living life on my

own terms. Yeah, well, I think it's important to mention that as a small business owner, oftentimes you can be a jack of all trades and you might have to do things that you don't want to do, but you actually find more joy in doing those things because it's your business and because you're doing if you respects your bottom line. And also, and we'll get to this in a little bit, there are software, there are other places you can turn for some of that help to do

maybe some of those tasks that you don't like. It's not like it was back like back in nineteen sixty. I think like one like a quarter of all people work from themselves, like back the fifties and sixties. But the world's change a whole lot since the fifties and sixties. There's a tremendous amount of technologies. Yes, yeah, absolutely, there's a tremendous amount of of tech and software and just different things out there that allow us to truly focus

on what it is that we want to focus on. Well, let's keep talking about financial benefits, because yeah, one of those things that you mentioned, it's not zero to one. You lose one client, you don't lose it all. You can keep pushing through and find more, find more clients, find more customers. Well, there are also tax benefits when you own your own business. And you know this is something where Matt and I were not tax experts, but we will recommend that you go back and listen to

episode seven with small business tax experts Shannon Weinstein. But there are so many deductions that you can take as a small business startup, and of course you're going to follow the law, the guidance of the I R. S. Course, but I won't only to say that if you can even think of an expense related to your business, then there's a good chance that it's tax deductible. So that's true. Car expenses related to the business, right, the cost of hosting and other software, even the cost of meals that

you can only deduct what the cost there. You know you'll pay the FICA and peril taxes of course, but then there are other ways that you can break out your income that actually minimize some of that. So it's worth looking into all of the tax details the tax benefits you can derive from starting a small business. But I think sometimes that is the reason they say er say no, I'm I'm cool, I'm gonna stay where I'm at.

It's better from a tax standpoint. But that's actually not the case, and small business owners can there's a lot of flexibility inside of the tax code for small business owners to do better. Ultimately, when it comes to their tax burden than W two employees. That's rights. Let's let's mention too, how small business retirement plans are going to be better than the ones that you often get from

an employer. Of course, if you're self employed, you're not gonna have a retirement plan that comes with a match where it feels like you're getting free money. But when you set up your own retirement plan, they are going

to come with higher limits. And so while it might definitely seem like a downside that you're not getting those employer contributions to a four one K, you ultimately have the ability to saw away a lot more money in vehicles like the Solo four one K. That's what we joel what you and I what we've got set up here at how the Money or accept IRA, which is

a simplified employee pension. But if you have a really successful business, this means that you have the potential to stash up to sixty one dollars this year into attack sheltered account, which ultimately is only going to speed you along to different goals of financial freedom or financial independence. The downside is that it's all down to you, but the upside is that there is the ability to save a ton more over the years. Yeah, and it makes

me think too, Matt. Another financial benefit is is you can make a lot more money. That the upside is basically unlimited. So when you talk about how much money you can stash away, well, if you get that cost of living raise with your current employer, and then and you're still contributing up to the match, well, the the extra amount you're gonna abill see in your retirement account that year, um, and your in your traditional job, it's just a little bit more, right, is it. It's a

tiny bit extra, which is which is great. Like that there's a little bit, a little bit, just just go, nothing wrong with it. And I was in that position for a lot of years where it's like every every year you're you're puting a little bit more aside your employers helping you out a little bit too. But yeah, even for right now, in this inflationary environment, our listeners might be able to negotiate something like a ten percent raise. And that's not even the average, I'd be above average,

but you might be able to negotiate that. That would likely be a pretty massive win in your book, to negotiate a ten percent raise overnight. But you might even be able to get let's say raise by switching jobs. That would be killer too, right, that's a lot more money, but it's much much harder to pull off something like a fifty two increasing your income. Here's the thing you can do that though, when starting your own small business.

This guy is kind of the limit. And it's not likely that your new business is going to become this highly valued publicly traded company where you become this CEO who's well known and your compensation package reaches the stratus here, that's not what we're talking about. But here's the thing. You're you're also not going to be limited by the industry average salary of someone who's in a similar role.

This is your business. And like a bunch of HR talk right right, yeah, exactly, Yeah, it's like, well, the industry average says that we can only give you a three point two percent raise because you're near the cap already. And those are the kind of conversations you don't have to have because it really is and eat what you

kill environment when you run your own small business. And this guy is a limit because you can work longer hours if you want to, because you can find more lucrative clients because you can pivot on a time when you are running your own business, and at your current employer, there are just a lot more limitations, that's right. So you've got almost unlimited potential a limited upside when it comes to investing within your retirement accounts. Also when it

comes to what you're earning every single year. But dude, it's it's worth mentioning that if you are starting your own business, that you're not guaranteed to make a ton more um and in fact, like I mean, you might even earn less, especially when you're just getting started. And this is going to fall outside of the realm of a financial benefit. But you know, can you adjust your lifestyle to a smaller income if it means that you're

going to be enjoying your work a lot more. This comes back to the personal fulfillment uh side of things. The ability to spend the most precious, the most valuable resource that you have, your time, and to spend your days doing work that you're excited about. Man, that's some fuel that could really get you through not only like a few hard days at work, but like years and

even decades of hard work. Is that the Nietzche quote where he says that a man who has a y can endure anyhow or something along trying I think I'm watching it. But basically, if you know what your goal is, you know what it is that you're striving after, you know how it is that this work is feeling this deeper desire within you, then those longer hours and the harder work isn't going to get between you and your happiness. Yeah.

I like that mat to balance You're thrown in there because it's certainly possible to earn a whole lot more than you're currently making in your day job by starting your own business, but it's also not guaranteed, and there it often takes a lot of hard work and diligence and time in order to get to that place. But and I think another thing on the finance side of starting a small business, it's really the important to mention is that for the most part, it's cheap to start

your own small business. And you know, one of the popular missings starting your own airline right or in a new car company like I'm gonna I'm gonna start the next Rivian or Tesla, and it's like, well, that's probably not gonna go over very well and more new restaurant that's true. Like, yeah, I feel like those, like the different restaurants stats that are out there probably skew the

small business failures. Uh two more failures the nut because restaurants are notorious for failing quickly and they're just it's a labor of love oftentimes for many people. But it's hard to make a sustainable restaurant that sticks around for a long period of time. But just when it comes to misconceptions about starting a business that you that you have to have some some big chunk of change to get things off the gre and you have to have tens of thousands of dollars like seed money. Back to

that Shark tank. Yeah, mentality, that's just not true, especially these days, right because stats show that six of new businesses that get started need less than five thousand dollars to get off the ground. Not a big deal. Yeah, that's approachable. It's real multainable for lots of folks, and with a little creativity, you can even barter for some

of the things that you need. You know, we'd encourage you to go back and listen to episode to forty seven where we talked with Alan Donnigan about starting a business for zero dollars, and he had some great tips like pre selling your product in order to help fund your business. You don't necessarily have to have the working product, uh from the get go in order to start making sales.

I thought that was brilliant, and he gave other great tips like bartering, how you can uh in exchange for maybe some of your wisdom or coaching abilities, maybe barter for for some office space. You know, it might seem impossible to start a business without a giant nest egg, but that's just a mental roadblock because contrary to popular belief, you don't have to go into debt in order to start a small business, and you don't have to have just tons of cash in the bank for most of

the kinds of businesses we're talking about totally Yeah. You also you don't have to go big or go home that you know that. Again, this is kind of going back to that mindset of of creating something that's viable to a small audience. But there's sometimes this belief that you need just this massive team of folks around you in order to get started, or that a business has to have like a quote unquote growth minded mindset or

whatever in order to succeed. Like you, you don't want to start a business that doesn't experience any growth, of course, but it's also important to realize that you don't have to create a business that has just this incredible moonshop potential. You can be the proud owner of just a simple micro business. Uh, those are are really flourishing right now. Yeah,

micro businesses are. I think we should talk about that because that is one of those terms that most people don't hear, and it's it's a solution really to this small business thing because usually when you give the term small business, we're lumping all these different kinds of businesses together, basically from one employee to five, and that's a big gap in in the kinds of businesses that are getting started.

So when we talk about micro businesses, those are those are typically businesses that have no more than five employees include the owner. So hey, guess what, how the money is a micro business? You know, we're not even a small business like we should be micro. I feel like if we were a brewery, we'd also be a micro course. Who would be exactly because they make the best beers typically, But Matt, it kind of makes me think of my

neighbor who is a baker. She's she's a micro baker. Yes, you can put micro in front of any word, so micro Okay, time out. Micro machines. Did you ever play with those as a kid. I did, but I'm trying to remember the teeny They're like like miniature teeny tiny little cars and you can collect them, and I think

they rolled. I don't think that anything special. My two year olds playing with my old hot wheels these days, so I see, But I don't think I had any micro machines left over at least, but I know I played with them. I don't think I know I played with them, but I think I just always went over to my friend's house and played with his hot wheels, his micro machines. I was always into like constructs and connects and all of the different things where you build stuff.

Engineering mindset. Perhaps geared to start my own business, but I think so. But okay, micro baker. Does she make tiny little cookies? No, no, normal sized bread cookies and they're actually delicious. But it's cool because this is kind of something that she could if she wanted to, She could scale it into something bigger. Take out a giant loan, yeah yeah, get a get an actual physical bakery space

in some sort of cool part of town. But having macro baker, Yeah, But she's got this great tiny business and it works for her lifestyle and it works for kind of what she's offering. So I think it's important to note that having a successful small business or micro business, it doesn't mean you don't have to rent some sort of office building, you don't have to manage a slew of employees. And by some estimates, I think micro businesses

are something like nine overall of small businesses. So most small businesses in our country are incredibly tiny, Like they're not getting huge, and they don't have a desire to get huge. And I think that's okay, Like, you don't have to get massive in order to be successful. You can choose to grow if that's a part of your model and if that's something that you want to do, if you want to do more managing versus say the

actual baking. But I doubt I think I'm guessing the reason she likes to bake is because she enjoys actually baking, right, She's experienced some of that magic of mixing ingredients together and making people really happy with the smells and the flavors that I wonder if purpose gates are better than your middle school home biscuits, I'm pretty sure nobody could top the first time that's a six sixth rader gets to taste something that they've made for the first time.

It truly is an impressionable moment. But I'm guessing she probably is really good, much better than me. But something that a question that's worth asking to I wanted to bring up is make sure that you're asking yourself what makes a good business idea. It's really important to have that answer before you launch a website, a product, or a service. Starting with a business that has a crappy

idea is going to be pretty dumb. It helps to know what's going on in the market before you make a split second decision to start, say, selling your homemade knit witter caps door to door in Florida right now in the month of May. The demand is probably incredibly low.

It's gonna be that that that market is going to be essentially non existent, and so knowing how much potential your idea has after you launch it, it's going to be crucial information you need to gather before you go and get the ball rolling, and certainly before you take larger steps in procuring a loan or something like that, things that most people think are necessary steps in order

to run a legitimate business. Yeah, knowing the market potential of your business and how you can meet the market need is a really important factor in this equation. So it's also important to yeah, look for opportunities in the market. Businesses that solve people's problems will almost always succeed. It makes me think of Scott's Cheap Flights. Matt he he didn't start out necessarily with this idea to have a thriving small business, and he started out as a micro business.

He didn't think he was going to employ sixty plus folks, you know, sending out flight deals regularly. What started out as just kind of an interest, it developed into an opportunity that was right for the picking because his coworkers were like, hey, Ca, you start sending me deals. I even pay for him if you find me a great flight deal, like you found the Milan And so, Yeah, going back to the winter cap example, maybe you live in Minnesota and you've been knitting hats for your friends,

and better, better spots uh knitting exactly. They rave about them, and then their friends start reaching out to you to see if you'll make one for them. Well, that sounds like the start of a business to me, because people are already knocking on your door asking for more of what you're already creating. That sounds like the idea of taking just like a hobby and maybe like turning the knob a couple of dials and now you've got a full fledged small business that is bringing in income. Totally. Yeah,

that there there's a legitimate opportunity there. And essentially what we're talking about here is getting inspiration from what you're currently interested in doing. And you know, it does not have to be related to what, say you got your degree in. Uh, you don't necessarily need prior experience working for a company in that same space. Those things don't hurt, but it might be even more helpful to look at

your interests as opposed to your experiences. And you know, I say all this while simultaneously saying that I'm not saying that you should just follow your path and uh, don't just focus on stuff that you have funding, but we want you to just think instead about the things that you care about. We want you to dig a level deeper than just focusing on something that you enjoy doing. And there's a lot of talk around the term passion, like follow your passion, but it is not necessarily a

well that you can continually draw from. And simultaneously, we think that passion can always be developed. It's something that you can learn, is something that you can realize not only about yourself, but about the world around you. The things that we love in our twenties, like, they may not necessarily be what we love in our thirties or

in our forties. We humans, like we tend to live a few different lives in the course of our decades here on earth, and so we want you to kind of pay attention, like we're we're trying to marry some of these deeper desires and motives that you might have and find a way to kind of link some of those desires to what it is that you can do as a career, you know, to the things that you can make a business out of. There's almost like this

middle ground that people call their passion. It's like a little bit more than an interest, but is not necessarily tied to sort of the things that matter the most to them. So I say that because I want you to do more than just the trope follow your passions. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think when you boil it down, Matt, you want to marry an interest with an opportunity in a market. If you have all three of those things combine,

it kind of makes for a potentially great business. And that's the kind of thing that a whole lot of our listeners can find. And it doesn't have to be that old trope of follow your passion. You can follow that interest, opportunity and market all those three things together. If you have them, you've got a recipe for success, and then simultaneously figure out what it is about that

that resonates with you at a very deep level. That will always be true, Yes, and and and even if you do something that you love and enjoy, it doesn't mean that every single part, every single facet of that job that you're going to absolutely be thrilled with every single day of the week or or of the year. And the same is true of what we do. We love what we do. It doesn't mean that every day is easy or that there are no headaches involved, that

every day we feel deeply connected to our mission. I think overall we do and we get to talk about it a whole lot, and it is very fulfilling. But it doesn't mean that every single day, every single minute,

has elements of that. Sure, yeah, I love it. I feel like with what we do here at the show, like the core level of what it is that we talked about here, Like, yes, we talk about craft beer a lot of episodes, Yes we talk about finances and the news, but at a very deep core level, what we're talking about doing here is helping people, and that, like that is a core mission. I think that you can take to almost almost any profession, almost any product

out there. Does this help the individual? That is what we're trying to do here through the application of your personal finances. But we we I feel like we've made a really good case for starting your own business. We've got several practical takeaways steps that we think you should take to help you to launch a successful business, and so we'll get to those right after the break. All right, let's keep going, Let's keep talking about small business creation.

We really do think that it is a reality, a possibility for a whole lot more people than maybe currently think it's possible, and it's good to see. Actually, this transformation in the economy towards more micro business is happening right as we speak, and we think more how the

money listeners can and should get involved in that. Well, maybe one of the easiest ways to get started is to do it with a side hustle, right to to to start your small business, really small, and to do it just on the side while you have a day job. Because it's important to note that this can be a really gradual process. You don't even have to quit your

day job in order to get started. Side hustling is is just a great way to kind of get the ball rolling and money from your main gig cannot only pay your bills, but it can also help you fund the business you're trying to get off the ground if it requires some seed funds. And it's important to mention that you know, side hustle is different from gig work in our minds. Gig work is a way to trade some of your time for money. Right, you can drive uber you can make some cash on the side, but

specifically via an app access that access that intermediary. Yeah, and and maybe it could be that through an app you you're able to start your own small business if you through fiber or through Etsy or something like that, get your business off the ground. But that's slightly different than gig work in my mind. And and so yeah, the side hustle, it's important to note it might not even make you money out of the gate. What you're doing is you're kind of testing to see whether this

business is viable, whether you can turn it into something great. Basically, you want to know whether it has the potential to turn into something that you can pursue full time. And that's why, Yeah, side hustling something is kind of the perfect way to give it a to give it a chance,

and to see what happens. Yeah, but simultaneously, you want to be careful that you're not to behold into a specific platform where you have virtually no sway like it makes me think of Airbnb and how certain cities of banned short term occupancy rentals, or it makes me think about how people have built their businesses solely around Instagram

or some of the other social media platforms. Essentially, you're renting digital space from another company who can change the rules of the game or the algorithm at any time. And so this is not a good plan if you are solely dependent on a specific company for the success

of your business. We like that there are different businesses and different providers who we can partner with, but it puts you in a really weak position if they have the upper hand, if they have all the say uh, and you don't have uh, you know, a seat at the table at all. Yeah. It makes me think of Etsy, who recently said they were going to raise the fees

of what they charge sellers on the site. And there are people who have made their living through by selling things on Etsy and they just got a notice that, hey, guess what what you make is going to be cut in a meaningful way in short in short order. And so those are the kind of things where Etsy is great.

It's a great platform to find customers and to reach people with your product, but it doesn't mean that that is the only avenue you should use, because if you're literally dependent on one website or one social media algorithm, it can give you a whole lot, and then it can take away uh just as much very quickly. And Matt Let's mention another another tip that we have for getting started with a small business. It's it's getting outside help.

It's so crucial when it comes to getting started. And one thing we would suggest is consider getting a mentor, because, yeah, going this alone it can make your journey into small business ownership more difficult. It's always helpful to have someone who can encourage you, who also has more knowledge than you when it comes to being a successful business owner.

And SCORE is an excellent place to turn. It stands for Service Core of Retired Executives and there are more than two hundred and fifty local chapters across the nation. And mentorship is a free service that they offer, So yeah, we suggest turning their. Score offers other free resources too, But this is an organization that lots of helpful smallusiness owners are gonna want to consider taking advantage of The website is score dot org. Will link to it in

our show notes. But yeah, having that help from someone who's been down the road aways. Let's say, like Matt equated to marriage trouble. Right if you're having difficulty with your partner right now, talking to someone who knows, whether it's a couple in your neighborhood or at your church who's been married twenty years longer than you, how helpful. Can that be in navigating those waters or going to see you know, a license therapist like those those are

great routes to take. I think the same thing can be true if you're daunted by the idea of starting your small business. You you have a passion, you want to do it, but you're like, I don't even know how to get the ball rolling and I don't even know whether to know if my idea has legs. Well, I think talking to a mentor finding someone at score

can be like the best way to get started. Yeah, and generally speaking, I'll say too as far as ways that uh, starting a small business has become less daunting than ever is just the general advancement of technology. Just think about all the businesses that exist now that couldn't

have existed just even twenty years ago. One of my favorite podcasters was just saying the other day that he hasn't had a real job that wasn't Internet based, Like, just the Internet alone has allowed for so many industries to exist, And I don't think he's alone that that experience is becoming more and more common. It is so much easier to to find your niche than ever before. Whether you're talking about reselling thrift store goods within your vintage eBay store, or writing a blog or writing a

sub stack that helps people. The barriers to getting that business started have been almost completely removed. Not that it's a complete walk in the park, because starting a small business it's not as easy as social media and you know, the hashtags make it seem, but technology has has made it far less difficult to do the things that we want to do. Yeah. Man, I'm always amazed at the

ways my friends make money on the Internet. I feel like every every couple of weeks, I'm finding out a different way that someone makes money and I'm just like,

I didn't know that was possible. Inspiration, It is like congratulations, And it just makes me think that there are so many opportunities out there for people who desperately want to get out of the five um by side us link to start to get started, to get the ball rolling and find your Internet niche and pursue it with reckless abandoned because that could easily turn out to be a

lucrative day job. And uh yeah, when you're talking about technology advancements, Matt, those have clearly help facilitate the creation of new businesses. Let's talk about maybe some specific ones that are changing the game. And even just something as simple as website creation has gotten a million times easier in the last ten years, like Wicks, Squarespace, and WordPress have made that a whole lot easier and cheaper in

recent years. And then when you're talking about something like accounting, well that's got a lot easier thanks to software improvements to like quick Books and zero are two that we would mention and mentioned And in zero is x c R. Oh by the way, like like xerox, but zero right away. Yeah, you don't have to be an accountant or have an accountant on board in order to run your books. Yeah, and you Matt handle a lot of that stuff on our behalf. We don't use one of those software programs.

But I'm also a total nerd. You are a complete nerd, and most people would and easy I can myself, and most people should chill out a little bit and just get the software to do it on their behalf. Um, there's like a great uh site and platform called Gusto that makes it easier to manage the benefits for employees. If you get to that point. There's calendarly for scheduling stuff easily, something as simple as newsletters to stay in

touch with customers. That's never been easier thanks to mail Champ and be Hive and companies like that Asano and trell Oh to help you manage projects. And then you know, we talked about contributing to your retirement accounts earlier, that's never been easier than ever before either like Fidelity, Schwab, Bangard, they're all there to help you do that as well. Like in all these ways, you don't have to have a guy or a girl like somebody who you go

to and have relationship. These are simple platforms where you can log in literally right now as you're listening to this, or create an account and get started. And it does not have to be this overly time consuming thing or this this thing that requires this massive team of folks who actually are sitting there in the office with you. Right it's like having five or six folks, but not actually haven't been paying those five or six folks. It's so much cheaper, and they're running the ship on some

of these more technical things on your behalf. There's just so much technology that's in your corner now to help you kick butt at whatever it is that you want to do, spend less time on the stuff that's maybe boring or that you feel like you know nothing or little to nothing about, and being able to focus more on the stuff that you're actually passionate about. And not only is there a lot of technology, but there are specific banks out there who are on our side as well.

Like it makes me think back to when we first started had money, there were only a couple of free online checking account options available to us, one of which we we still use today, and I've got to say they leave a lot to be desired. Not only is the unit user interface pretty terrible, but we're not earning

any interest. Can you believe that this is something where we've gotten used to the days when we thought that being able to avoid paying any fees that that was what said a great online business checking account apart from the others. But now banks are paying around one and a half percent, and that's amazing. So we would recommend the checkouts and folks like Blue Vine or Novo, even American Express. These are all different options available to us

that literally weren't even available a few years ago. Uh. The small business space is constantly evolving and the same is true when it comes to the financial services that are being offered to small businesses as well. Yeah, how in the world did bank accounts go from being worse on the small business side to better? Like literally you used to have to pay so like show up and

now they're paying you to show. It's impressive. It's incredible that some of these offerings have gotten just superior to everyday consumer checking and saving these accounts business side, right, that's so legit, that's impressive in today's today's given today Uh huh. Well, I just want to mention to one

thing that you don't need is fancy business cards. I think sometimes that's I think that people want most of all is to go get like a dope low go and they wanted on something physical that they can hand out to people. And that's fine, Like you can do that if you want to get the desire, especially in the digital age that we live, and sometimes folks want to have something that feels tangible exactly, but it's mostly

unnecessary depending on what business you're in. And then and then even when we're talking about some sort of fancy website, sometimes that's what you want, is you're you're like, I want this slick, delightful website that's gonna cost me maybe thousands of dollars to create from scratch. But we would say, like, at least not in the beginning when we're talking about how much money you have to put down to start

a small business. We want you to wait for some of those newer, shinier objects until you've gotten some of those base fundamentals down, until you've kind of worked out the fact that you have a formula that can lead to profit. And if that's the case, if you get to that point, then you can kind of start to dial in some of those specifics. But there's no reason to start spending money on some of these ancillary items until you've kind of figured that out. That's right and short.

What we're saying here is that starting your own small business is way easier than you think it's going to be, while simultaneously it could be much more laborious than you're expecting. There's this old saying that entrepreneurs are willing to work eighty hours a week in order to avoid working forty. That definitely has some truth to it. Especially in the beginning getting your idea off the ground, it might require some long nights, uh, some weekends working. This isn't gonna

be for everyone. And some folks do have a natural propensity for doing their own thing. Uh. Some personalities are just more suited to the higher risk, the higher reward life of business ownership. But keep that in mind. Not only is it a higher reward from the standpoint of the money that you could potentially make, but also just the personal fulfillments and the joy that you would get from doing work that aligns uh, and that you're able to link to some of the core things that you

care about. Yeah, Matt, it's so encouraging. I would say to see a small business renaissance of sorts like small business formation had kind of plateaued to a certain extent, and the pandemic gave it this nut, and so many folks are deciding to push themselves towards work that they have more control over, working for themselves. And we think that starting a small business or a micro business is

a great idea for lots of people. Like you said, it's not necessarily for everyone, but more people should at least consider it. And you know, one of the things that we love is that small businesses actually lead to a more resilient economy overall, because new businesses lead to more job growth, they create more a more dynamic and responsive economy, because we we all know this from doing

business with some of the biggest companies. The larger they get, the less nimble they become, the less responsive they are to their customers needs. Most of the time, you know your small business can adapt to the changing work environment a whole lot faster than the big the big guys can. It's like turning a speedboat versus turning a giant cruise ship. You you obviously you don't have to and you likely shouldn't quit your day job tomorrow unless you're already weigh

down this path. But hopefully you'll start legitimately considering the idea of starting your own small business. You'll start to maybe u daydream about the things that you could create. You'll start to pursue some of those interests, maybe with a little more vigor, realizing that it could lead to something successful in the long term. And hopefully just this episode helps you realize that it's it's not as difficult as maybe it might seem on its face. There's a

good chance that it's easier than you think. It's going to be, but sometimes you just gotta get started in order to realize that that's right. All right, let's go ahead and get back to the beer that we enjoyed this episode, and this one is I'll say it's a Leslie Man quote another hint, but it's let's get some effing French toast, uh, and you pronounce it French toast. But like I said, this was an Imperial style with French toast, maple syrup, cinnamon actually, and with lactose in vanilla.

What were your thoughts on this one? This is actually not too terribly dissimilar from the beer from Bramari that we had last Wednesday. No, it's not. Was that one bumble stick it was like a cinnamon cinnamon brown ale, and this is like that. It's like a cinnamon style. This one is definitely packing more of a punch. It's bigger, it's beastlier because it's this giant stout. And while the cinnamon stands out in this one, it's not kind of the main note. It's just kind of one in the

symphony of notes. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. It's it's less of a cinnamon solo more of a choir that the cinnamon happens to be a part of exactly. And so this I really like this one because I like French toast, and so like every every time my kids stay the night at my parents house, my dad always makes French toast one and it's it's uh all,

French toast is delicious. It's something I don't I don't cook enough, but he doesn't at home, but doesn't do it for you, doesn't the kids get to enjoy it, but you're stuck at home. Just what it tells me all about it the next day or whatever, and then I just salivate in jealousy. That's so funny. I wonder if that's just one of those meals that so as a father, that is a go to breakfast that when

I'm in charge, that I like to go to. It's something that Kate, So Kate handles almost all of the cooking, but it's like, you know, I like to get in the kitchen a little bit too. It's funny because we're talking about cooking at the beginning of this episode, but French toast is something that whenever I make, it's a special kind of occasion. It's like one of those dad things where you get to kind of step in a little bit, do something a little extra special. I just

don't think Kate enjoys French toast. I love it. What's not to love about beautifully brown French toast. That's this like egg, kind of fluffy, yokie syrup on it, some maple syrup on top. I love French toast, um, So it shouldn't be any surprise that I love this beer. Certainly had a higher degree of sweetness than the brown ale, a lot more of those Saturday morning breakfast flavors going on in this beer. But I'm glad that you were able to pick this one up, that we enjoyed it today.

It makes me wish I had a cup of coffee right next to it while I'm drinking this. Oh my gosh, being perfect pairing. Really, you want a cup of coffee with your actual French toast. You don't want to have coffee next to this beer and a cold liquid at the same time. By the way, the movie quote this is from fourty year Old Virgin, which is one of those classics with Steve Carrell. They don't make comedies like

they used to. There was like a Golden era of Yeah, some of those Turn of the Center three comedies that were amazing, but if you haven't watched that one, it might be worth checking out in addition to this beer, Yeah exactly, all right, that's gonna do it for this episode. Best of lux. Starting your small business and let us know how it goes for real, let us know. We'd

love to hear from you. Yes, if you've created something from scratch that's amazing and wowing your community, or you've created some sort of internet business that is incredible and has led you away from your day job, like, drop us a line How the Money Pod at gmail dot com. We would love to kind of hear what you've been up to, how you made it happen, and yeah, your successes, those are fun to hear from or posted in our Facebook group. Just go to Facebook dot com type and

how the Money. You'll find our group and there's a bunch of people there that love to hear great ideas so they can replicate in their own lives. That's right, And if you have not yet sign up for our newsletter, head to How the Money dot com forward slash newsletter. You can sign up there or just scroll down to the bottom of the homepage. You'll see the sign up there. You will receive some encouraging financial goodness every Tuesday morning.

But Joel, that's gonna be at this episode, Buddy, until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,