Why Bother?

A while back, I was talking to a friend of mine, whose hubby happens to own his own business and she said that 'incorporated businesses are a joke'....then.....Just the other day, I had another sweet friend drop by my office for a quick chat.  During the course of our chit-chat, she said "...since she's (meaning her niece) only worked for herself, she doesn't know what the real world is about....she doesn't know what real work is..."  I was completely dumbfounded!!!! 

Not 1 - but 2 people had something negative to say about the exact thing I'm striving for!  Now, to be fair - neither of these friends know that we're trying to start our own business, or that we're going to be an incorporated business at that.  I know, I know!  How can I call them friends if I don't let them in on what's happening - well, both J and I work at a place that gossip spreads faster and gets wilder than any bush fire ever!  Not that they would spread the news around, but no matter how close a friend is, sometimes things are said without thinking.  And we know that if word got around, our bosses would all of a sudden start looking for reasons to pick on us.  (yes, that's how petty people are around here)

To this day, I'm still not sure what to make of the 'incorporated businesses are a joke' statement - that just blew my mind.  What's to joke about it?  It offers asset protection, possible selling of shares for investment purposes, gives you the ability to run like a corporation, unlimited growth (you're only limited by yourself and your ideas/wants)....I just don't see how it's any more or less than a joke, than if you were to talk about an LLC, LLP, S Corp, Sole Proprietorship, etc.  I think that if you truly believe that type of business would work - then go for it.  But maybe, since that's not the type of business her husband is in, she thinks negatively of it.  What do you think of incorporated businesses? 

Now, as for the whole not knowing the real world or real work all because someone works for themselves.  I can honestly say that's a load of crock - at least for me and mine.  Like I said in a previous post, 3 out of our 4 parents have owned their own businesses.  Why?  Because they have worked for others, and geniunely liked being their own boss.  There's no assinine office politics, no breathing down your neck, any mistakes are yours and yours alone - there's no one blaming their crap on you.  You simply don't take anyone else's crap...the power is in your hands (so to speak).  But, most importantly - it can (if you truly want it) make you happy.  Some people are as happy as they can be to follow, while others - are happier when they lead. 

I think that any one that has ever worked for themselves, knows just how hard it truly is out there.  They know that if they don't want to put in 210%, work long and hard - they simply won't get a paycheck.  When you work for yourself - you are CEO, CFO, chairman, department administrator, office manager, sales rep, secretary - all in one.  You are it, the buck stops and starts with you.

*whew!*  Now, I shall step off of my soap box.  Have you ever had anyone say anything similar in regards to self employed people?  Or types of businesses?  Do you feel as protective of your job as I do about this?

Business Plan

We are attempting to write our first business plan.  And so far, we can see why people say it takes time - and boy can it be a pain if you're not entirely sure of what you're doing!  Neither of us majored in business (or even minored)...and boy, is it testing our brain power!  However, it is forcing us to think about all aspects of the business - from all points of view.  We are lucky in that out of our 4 parents, 3 of them have previously owned their own businesses, so we can get help.  But...we are head strong (perhaps hard headed is a better term) and want to do at least the rough (very rough) draft first, by ourselves, before we show it to anyone.  This way, it shows that we are indeed very serious about it, and that we have given a lot of thought to this.


We have contemplated several different types of business ideas, but this is the one that stuck.  The plan is, to start with an online store (currently we're set up with Ebay @ JnS's Coins and Collectibles, but want our own site soon), then move on to a true, brick-n-mortar shop.  Yes, we realize that we're probably going somewhat backwards on this - but we think it might actually work.  We think that if we can market and make a profit from the online store, we can use those profits to help start the physical shop, and then we can run both at the same time - using our online store as an extension of our physical shop.  Does this make sense to anyone else out there?  Or are we just totally wrong on our way of thinking?

The other reasons we're wanting to start out that way is because this is going to have to be a part time thing in the beginning for us.  We are hoping that it will go from being a part time gig to being full time for at least 1 of us, then being full time for the both of us.  Also, if we start out with an online store and work up from there, it will hopefully save us from having to exhaust our credit!  As naive as it may be, we want to be as debt free as possible, both in life and business.

So - have you ever written a business plan?  Do you have any tips or tricks?  Do you own your own business (physical or internet)?  What do you think about people that work for themselves?

Yes - We have made some changes!!

As I'm sure you've noticed - we've changed our names, our description, our picture - and we've also somewhat changed our mentality.  We've been getting more and more serious about working for ourselves - and we realized that we've left you completely out of the loop!  *our bad!*

We have decided to start with a online coin shop and from there, work up towards having the cahoona's to open a true n' blue, brick-n-mortar store.  We still have our Ebay store ** J n S's Coins and Collectibles**, but hope to use this blog, word of mouth and our Ebay store to help drive traffic to our own website. 

However, before we crank up our own website - we decided that we want to be totally legit about it.  Get the proper licenses, permits, etc. so when it is time to move into a real store - we'll already know the players and the game.

Do any of you have your own store or web-store?  Any suggestions or advice??  Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Trying to Start...

-----> J n S Coins and Collectibles <------  That's us!!!

We're trying to get our business up and off of the ground, by trying out an Ebay store 1st.  That way we can better learn what we're doing, and try to get some of the kinks worked out.  It also provides us with a chance to earn a little bit so we can save towards getting a real brick-and-mortar store. 

So, we're reading the books, joining the necessary associations, trying to learn as much as we can whenever/however we can - but there are times where it feels like it's just......not.....going......anywhere.

I'm sure everyone feels this way (sort of down in the dumps) at some point in time during their lives, whether it be related to their professional or personal lives.  And while it's way easier to let our heads hang down - we're going to make a pledge to you.  We're going to work on it the shop/learning our trade, every single day.  You hold us to it now!

Do you have your own business of some sort?  Do you have any suggestions or comments that might help us along?  What do you think of our online store (keep in mind it's still a work in progress)?  What kind of collectibles would you be interested in us carrying?  We're always listening!

Our Business

As you may have previously read, one of our new years resolutions is to work on getting our business up and off of the ground.  Well, so far (even though it's only month 2 out of 12) we've been true to our word! 

We started out by selling bits and pieces of our (primarily his) coin collection on Ebay, but now - we have moved up to having an Ebay store!  *woo hoo* - no really, say it with me - *woo hoo*.  That's right - we're excited about it.  It doesn't sound like much, but to us - it's a lot.  Both of us work full time jobs, which require us to get up at 4:30am, and we don't get back home until 5pm or later, so we don't have too much time in the evenings to getting much work done on the business.  However, this year, we've decided that we're going to make this a good year! 

Here's (part of) how we do it: JB and I split up the work.  If he's working on the store, I'll do the laundry, cooking, feeding the pups, etc.  If I'm working on it, then he'll do the household stuff.  So far, it's working out pretty well.  And, we're learning that we're pretty good at motivating (annoying) each other to get the work done!  

Now, when you go to our store - please keep in mind that we're not as technologically savvy as some (most) of you out there, but we're trying!  We plan on continually working on it make it look better, have a wider selection of inventory, etc.

So, without further ado, here's the link to our store:  J n S's Coins and Collectibles

We'll be sure to go more in depth about what started the love affair with coins, tidbits here and there on coins, what all we're experiencing in this adventure!  But here's something we want from you!!  Any tips, advice, suggestions, comments, etc. that you have to helps us - we would greatly appreciate!  So, if you have the time, please leave us your thoughts, we'd love to hear them!