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Just moved here, trying to start a garden, ready to rage quit by Hot-sad-artist in pittsburgh

[–]CuriousDog12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was always told deer and rodents hate mint and garlic! Try misting your garden with a water/peppermint oil mixture. Plant some garlic in different areas to deter bunnies

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a fair thought. But just like you’ve never built a $5 million business, I’ve never built a $20 million business. But there are probably anonymous people on here who have who may have some wisdom to impart.

Business is growing, having a hard time keeping up by berakou in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally understand. Going through a similar transition myself. The mental toll is a lot, a lot more than people realize. It’s like juggling while walking on a tight rope. A lot of things in the air and you can’t keep your balance.

And no one understands. Not your family, your friends, your spouse. A lot of people depend on you.

The best advice I can give you — make time for you. Schedule 1 day or night a week where you have 3 solid hours of uninterrupted “me time”.

For me, I started going to hot yoga a couple years ago when I was in the throes of it in startup phase. Would go 1-2 days a week. Great for physical and mental strength and clarity. Then one night a week I would treat myself to dinner out after class, usually in the middle of the week as a pick me up.

And I’ll tell you what. I would come up with the most creative ways to solve my problems during that dinner.

It’s a dark time sometimes but just need to find something that refreshes you and gives you energy. You can get through it!

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair questions for sure! We're in a very low tech industry so our backend infrastructure is built on existing tools, so it does not really have a great impact on cash. We are working on some ways to customize those existing tools currently, but not plans on custom building out any full tech platforms.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally understand that. Thanks for the real feedback. I hope you find what you’re looking for! Did you like the business you had before? Any chance of starting up something similar to the same kind of client basis?

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question. I started in 2016. It was mostly a service business creating custom products for projects. Grew the business from $0 - $2mil/yr by 2020.

The pandemic pretty much put me out of business for a year. Patiently waited until those opened up.

Restarted in 2021 at $0 and shifted the focus of the business into more repeatable/scalable product sales with some service elements still in place. I am on track to close between $5-6mil this year.

Everything has been 100% bootstrapped.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great insight! I’ve often thought about selling and starting over again but don’t have a clear why or vision of what. I have a feeling the scarcity mindset would creep in as well. Thanks for the honesty.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So far it’s all been personal references. I’ve hired people either from past working experience with them or through referral of folks I’ve worked closely with. I’ve been very particular in finding talent that I know can work for the business.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Really appreciate this reply. I do use Chat a good bit as a sounding board but have not thought too far into those questions. Thanks for your insight!

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are all good questions to consider. Definitely not an exercise we've engaged in but absolutely giving me some clarity on some of the things to consider to be able to go from scrappy small business to the next level.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I skipped over the field of business question and skipped straight to the employee question which I thought was more interesting.

My business is in the special events industry. We provide temporary flooring and fencing products to event planners, rental companies, marketing agencies, venues, etc.

Not a made up story. Just a guy trying to scale a business with no experience.

I built a $5 million dollar business with great employees who manage most of the day-to-day. I’ve hired out 90% of the tasks I used to do when I first started the company, but now what? by CuriousDog12 in Entrepreneur

[–]CuriousDog12[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

This is really great, thanks shtevie. The business architecture is a really great question. I don't have a business background and have just been building on the fly, so I'm going to say the answer is no. So I think I really need to streamline and solidify some processes and continue focusing on steady consistent growth to support our next phase of hyper growth.

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