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Mondak · 07-17-2005, 03:17 PM

I am on my second try and it seems that this time I remembered how to make money! 4 years ago I was making about $250k a year at a software company that I closed the biggest deals in their history (still to this day). Their average selling price was under $5000 and the sales I was making were all between $250k and $1.5M. Really changed the place. I had 6 bosses in 5 years there and finally they promoted a peer over me whom I used to share an office. I was never interested in management and like to sell. He couldn't sell, but he was good with the politics. He fired me 6 months later.

I started my company and had 4 employees and was doing okay. The company worked on a health insurance mandate called HIPAA that I was familiar with and provided related technology and training services. I could pay all the company expenses and all my employees, but I didn't take a paycheck for 2 years. My wife was working on her Masters and not making much and we came pretty close to me bankrupting us. I had to fire all my employees which was brutal. They would have taken a bullet for me and I knew it. They all came to me and told me they would work for free so I could pay myself, but I just couldn't take the responsibility. I felt beaten. I placed each one of them in jobs they are in still today that paid double what I was paying them which was already very good. My wife - who only really knew me as someone who was making money up until that point never once questioned me. She was supportive and constructive as all hell. If she had been on me, no way I would have come out in one piece.

I went back to corporate America with a 6 figure sales job with a bunch of people I hated (most of them hated me as well) and continued to eat dogfood the whole time spending very little. We were $40k in credit card debt and 1.5 years later, I paid that off, saved some money and gave it another shot. In January I hung the shingle again and I am doing great. I have closed some huge shit and better yet, I am having a blast. I am working on all kinds of projects and really have been able to stay very broad in nature. I suppose I am a professional problem solver in some ways. I really can't see having another employee until I have $500k in personal income I swear - the government makes it too hard to keep up with all the taxes and paperwork and the focus gets lost for me. It is punitive to hire people and offer gainful employment and it is getting worse. I need to completly outsource the employee / paperwork part to a bulletproof source that won't eff it up.

As far the thing you hinted at- it is tough when the folks who are working for you are cleaning up and you are just getting by. The thing that they will have trouble understanding and you should never waiver from is the concept of risk and return. You have taken the risk and continue to do so while that person has the ability to make a living. When it comes to a day when the company is for sale or they want a slice, don't let their "hard work" sway you from the fact that their hard work was rewarded when it was delivered. They never had any risk in the game.

Good luck everyone. Please PM me anytime and I will give you my email address. I would be happy to network with others like myself anytime and check in to see how everyone is doing.

07-17-2005, 03:17 PM	#4 (permalink)
Mondak Industrialist Location: Southern California	I am on my second try and it seems that this time I remembered how to make money! 4 years ago I was making about $250k a year at a software company that I closed the biggest deals in their history (still to this day). Their average selling price was under $5000 and the sales I was making were all between $250k and $1.5M. Really changed the place. I had 6 bosses in 5 years there and finally they promoted a peer over me whom I used to share an office. I was never interested in management and like to sell. He couldn't sell, but he was good with the politics. He fired me 6 months later. I started my company and had 4 employees and was doing okay. The company worked on a health insurance mandate called HIPAA that I was familiar with and provided related technology and training services. I could pay all the company expenses and all my employees, but I didn't take a paycheck for 2 years. My wife was working on her Masters and not making much and we came pretty close to me bankrupting us. I had to fire all my employees which was brutal. They would have taken a bullet for me and I knew it. They all came to me and told me they would work for free so I could pay myself, but I just couldn't take the responsibility. I felt beaten. I placed each one of them in jobs they are in still today that paid double what I was paying them which was already very good. My wife - who only really knew me as someone who was making money up until that point never once questioned me. She was supportive and constructive as all hell. If she had been on me, no way I would have come out in one piece. I went back to corporate America with a 6 figure sales job with a bunch of people I hated (most of them hated me as well) and continued to eat dogfood the whole time spending very little. We were $40k in credit card debt and 1.5 years later, I paid that off, saved some money and gave it another shot. In January I hung the shingle again and I am doing great. I have closed some huge shit and better yet, I am having a blast. I am working on all kinds of projects and really have been able to stay very broad in nature. I suppose I am a professional problem solver in some ways. I really can't see having another employee until I have $500k in personal income I swear - the government makes it too hard to keep up with all the taxes and paperwork and the focus gets lost for me. It is punitive to hire people and offer gainful employment and it is getting worse. I need to completly outsource the employee / paperwork part to a bulletproof source that won't eff it up. As far the thing you hinted at- it is tough when the folks who are working for you are cleaning up and you are just getting by. The thing that they will have trouble understanding and you should never waiver from is the concept of risk and return. You have taken the risk and continue to do so while that person has the ability to make a living. When it comes to a day when the company is for sale or they want a slice, don't let their "hard work" sway you from the fact that their hard work was rewarded when it was delivered. They never had any risk in the game. Good luck everyone. Please PM me anytime and I will give you my email address. I would be happy to network with others like myself anytime and check in to see how everyone is doing. __________________ All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed Second, it is violently opposed and Third, it is accepted as self-evident. ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860) Last edited by Mondak; 07-17-2005 at 08:02 PM..