4/30/12 Short and Sweet

The Micro Business Kid got 53 hits yesterday! Off to a great start.

I didn’t do much today because I got a wisdom tooth taken out earlier so I’m in pain and on pain killers. Not the best combination to get work done.

I was able to get a testimonial back and I created that page and put it up for the world to see 🙂

4/29/12 What Did I Do Today?

So this is what I did to get the ball rolling!

• Created a sub-account from my e-mail provider so you can actually communicate with me! Take a look around your e-mail provider’s homepage and you can do the same. You could also get a Google+ account here but I’m not too familiar with it so I decided to go another route. Make the e-mail address something that is related to your business. If you don’t have an idea, you can just use your name!
• Created this WordPress blog at http://www.wordpress.com. Use your new e-mail address to verify it and you’re good to go! Take a look and mess around a little. You can learn a lot by doing. If you need some help, check out WordPress’ support and forum.
• Asked for testimonials. I’ve already helped a couple of people with their businesses for free so I asked them if they would be willing to give me some testimonials so I can use them on this site to build my credibility. You should do the same.
• Looked through some themes to create the blog. That took the most amount of time today. I decided on the current one with a little help from my parents.
• Created my bio so you know a little more about me!
• Wrote my first blog post because I felt compelled to do so. “What’s the hardest thing about starting a business?” is a question that I’ve been asked a lot so I decided I should answer it. I’m also guilty of it so I can totally relate!

How much did it cost?

Zip, zero, nothing. All of these things didn’t cost me anything to do. I guess you could get technical and say that I had to pay for the e-mail address that is included with our internet service but you could set up a Google+ account if you want for free!

Hopefully this will help you see that not having “enough time” or money is a myth when it comes to starting a business.

The Hardest Part of Starting Any Business is Actually Starting

Seriously, it is. I’ve had this idea for about a year. I’ve enjoyed helping others with their businesses but always had some kind of excuse that I didn’t have any “time” to get this started. Some common excuses were that I had school, I had to work on the other business, I had to work out, I needed some time to be lazy, and the most detrimental one; everything had to be PERFECT.

As you probably know, there is no such thing as perfection; no matter how hard we try. A good friend of mine once told me, “it’s not about what you don’t have, its getting started with what you do have.” It took a while for that to sink in, but thankfully it finally has.

At the end of the day, I’ll include a list of what I did that day so you can see how much you can actually get accomplished in 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. This will also serve as a way for me to be accountable and so that I can go back and reflect on what worked and what didn’t so that we can all get more efficient in growing our location-independent micro businesses.

Who is the Micro Business Kid?

So just who exactly is the Micro Business Kid?

Well I’m a 22-year old first generation immigrant to the United States. In 2008, after my sophomore year at the University of South Florida, my dad quit his job and pursued his life-long dream of running his own vintage motorcycle shop. I didn’t have any prior business experience, a degree, or earlier connections; but I decided to drop out to help him with his dream and to pursue one of mine, which was to become a professional soccer player.

Fast-forward 4 years and the business has evolved a bit. It is now strictly an online store that offers vintage motorcycle apparel and our own branded clothing line to customers throughout the world.  Last year was our best year yet; we had $125,000 in sales basically selling shirts and sweat shirts. The best part is that we did this with only 2 employees from our family room with almost no overhead.

I’ve met some great people through the business and some of them have even asked for advice on how to improve theirs or even start their own. That is how my consulting “career” began. I’m really passionate about helping people with their quest to create something that helps them become independent from a job, adds value to the world, and creates a legacy for themselves.

Through working on our business, I’ve run into lots of roadblocks along the way. I’m an avid believer in learning by doing and continuous learning. I’ve read lots of business “how-to” books that tell you how “easy” it is to start a blog or a website but when I tried to do those things, there was a HUGE  learning curve. I didn’t know what to do first and that led to lots of frustration and procrastination.

Combine my struggles with those of others in actually starting a business and you have this blog. The purpose of it will be to give a blue print, encouragement, and support so anyone, anywhere can start and grow a location-independent micro business.

I’ve left the business to start another chapter in my life to move to Chicago to go to school on a soccer scholarship. I will be very busy going to school full-time and playing soccer full-time so I will show you that its possible to create a successful micro business in only 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I know that we are all pressed for time; whether we’re students, work full-time, are full-time parents, or a combination of the three.