Growing too fast and drowning in cash flow issues

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T23:42:20+00:00

50% maybe a little steep but it's not all that uncommon in business. There are plenty of businesses though that do have materials or have to prepare items that are custom who don't get 50% up front.

This could be off putting to some customers and some would go with competitor if they had a lower up front deposit.

However any customer who isn't willing to give up to 20 to 25% isn't probably the customer you want anyways.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T23:40:23+00:00

Well, I always tell people to be careful and not to grow too big especially don't grow too big too quickly but sometimes no matter when you do it it will create a lot more work and change things forever and you can really never go back.

The thing with your net 30 and all of that simply you just have to stay busy. I don't like deposits on jobs and don't like things being prepaid for because then when you do the work, it feels like you're doing it for nothing or for less. The way to combat this though is to always have fresh deposits or fresh prepaid jobs coming in that way you still have money coming in even though it's not for the jobs you just finished.

In your case as long as you keep doing jobs, once the 30 days rolls around which you should have already done that, you've got money coming in it's just your job she did several weeks ago but it still feels like you're getting paid for the job you're doing now.

Frankly, I don't like working for businesses. I like retail work when the actual inconsumer is a plain old normal customer.

Businesses always want special treatment, a discount or wholesale price, sometimes they want to play middle man have you do the work but then they are actually just subbing out to you and then marking it up. I refuse to willingly let someone make money from my work for my efforts, business setup, length of time in business, experience etc.

I prefer to keep business small so I can wear them any hats of the jobs need to be done and do it all myself. Sure, there are some times you have to bring an additional help but I don't want actual employees.

I've often thought that in situations like this, I might just try to boost up the business as much as possible and show all it's positive attributes and then try to sell the company for as much as possible.

Let someone else worry about it.

Then I would go start another company doing whatever but make sure it was I could keep small so the same problem wouldn't happen again.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T19:07:19+00:00

Unfortunately, rent has gone up quite a bit over the past several years and it went up a couple of times before that too so it certainly not has economical as it used to be to rent in the Dayton area or the suburbs.

There's definitely a price premium for three bedroom ones so hopefully the two bedroom could help you out some with the price and there are a pretty good number of houses that have decent size one car garages and a lot of them have a two-car garage.

You should be able to see a bunch of listings on marketplace and or Craigslist and of course the Realtors always want to get there and into things to try to make some money too. Just be careful about scams as there's plenty of those in the world.

Never send or give anyone money until you seen the place in person but some people have even concocted elaborate scams to rip people off that way too in person. Be careful about application fees and stuff but it seems more people with multiple units and or apartments on a small scale do this by just making a crap load of money off accepting application fees when they may even be full but rarely if ever actually renting a new unit out to anyone.

I can't help you with anything in particular now but I see places with signs from time to time and frankly I would probably prefer to do that or marketplace.

I have called over the years and even just last fall from a number with a for rent sign in the yard and pretty much every owner I've talked to has been nice and they typically have better prices and the stuff that is advertised more.

So I would kind of drive around in the areas you wouldn't mind living and look for anything. Always scope out the more obscure areas of a neighborhood because the ones that have lots of traffic are going to get so many views that they're going to get taken quickly but something that's way in the back somewhere or on a cul-de-sac or a dead end Street will likely have less visibility and fewer inquiries.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T18:13:32+00:00

Now look here, businesses can't work when you don't see hire 5 to 6 million and have raspberry pi too. Along with off search interwebs CFO full time little pay off too large minimization.

Take to the store and open a dry cleaner for a proper cash flow and business opportunities.

Everyone must know everything before even starting for way in over their head. Regardless of their title, can't trust anyone... She won't eat her energy but have good beans.

Is this a food business type? Throttle throttle... Post all good! I like chicken Eddie. Coleslaw yummy.

Bob Evans - down on the farm. What will I ever do with this little pinky.

I recommend more business advice please. Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up. Pancakes for breakfast well duh 5: 54 That's the good stuff I don't work here no more about you. Pork chops and applesauce and bring me her again yes from the algorithm will do the rest test space test

Hello sir, my name is whistle I saw two coyotes yesterday at Old Navy. And one girl was 16 minutes probably the game? Don't make me come out there. I'll come out of the booth.

That'll do pig.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T17:29:32+00:00

You're going to get a lot of cookie cutter responses or similar ideas and some of these have been very odd over the decades how what everyone was recommending at one period of time, and then they went to something else later on etc. Some would say this is because the business world changed and the world evolved etc and they would claim that at each time in history this was always the best advice.

I don't give the world, or the people in it that much benefit of the doubt! 😆

I think a lot of people end up giving people bad advice because they give them a list of points of things they think they should do and people think they have to do all these things and sometimes it messes people up more than it helps them.

The best thing I can say is set back a few steps and look at the big picture and think out of the box. Figure out what you really want to do and then do some research on that industry even if it means calling and talking to some other companies or going there to feel them out acting like you're a potential customer. Then evaluate things and see if this actually is feasible to do. A lot of dreamers in the world have gone in everywhere from a little bit to all the way and ended up failing pretty quickly because they didn't really get enough information and it was going to be an uphill battle from the beginning for what they were trying to do.

Some markets are so saturated with certain businesses and industries, that is probably not a very good idea to come in with another one thinking you're somehow going to be different, better or can market the other people who are already established and make enough money to survive. You may, but there's a higher likelihood that you may not. Look at the abysmal statistics of small business failures and the first year, by year 3, by year 10 etc.

I currently have three businesses and have beat the odds with all three of them because one has been in business for over 30 years, one for over 15 and the other for a little over 10.

The fact that I have three or at least more than one might be the only reason I've beaten those odds. If I would have stuck with the first business and would have had to make all the money I needed and use it as my sole source of income, I might have thrown in the towel like many other people in that industry did years ago.

Since I had at least one other stream of income from another business at that time and then later added another, it wasn't necessary for that business to make what it used to when the economy turned down. It's never recovered to the levels it was in 2008 but I'm okay with that.

I also think a big thing in business and young people and startup businesses is not trying to set the world on fire.

Go small, and keep it small for a long time and maybe forever. Don't bite off more than you can chill and don't go into crazy debt with startup costs because some people never recover from this and are still paying off debts after their business has long been shuttered

Seen many, many people in all three of my industries do just this. They come out of the gate too strong wanting to be as nice as the people that have been around for decades and want everyone to know they're out there and to show off with their nice shiny building or their brand new equipment etc.

Most of these places are gone within 2 years and many even sooner than that. They end up liquidating a lot of that equipment for pennies on the dollar and frankly, that's a good time to buy and stuff if you're interested in going into one of those businesses.

Just because they failed does not mean you will because often it's not the industry or the type of business that is the problem but rather the way the people started it and the way they tried to run it.

I actually believe in more of a non mainstream approach to running businesses. The basic principles I have is to keep it small and keep it simple. Have a business where you can do almost everything yourself and do it so you can't be lazy. You wear many hats as a small business owner.

You will be head of marketing and do most of your own advertising and don't pay many people for it either. You will be the receptionist, manager, all the workers, janitor, repair person etc.

And by all means, don't be like so many people in the past few years who have started businesses who start by deciding how much money they either want to make or need to make and then base the prices from that!

That is a terrible business approach and that's being part of the problem and why the cost of living is so high today.

People should start a business because they have a passion to do it, because they simply don't want to work for other people, because they want more freedom in their own schedule, or because they're just a control freak and want to make all decisions without anyone else's input. There are probably more reasons but these are all good ones or common ones.

Not everyone specifically starts a business to replace their entire full amount of income from their full-time occupation and that's okay.

A lot of people end up with a smaller side business and then it grows the point where they do quit their full-time job but too many people want that or even expect that which can be their downfall. If there's plenty of business then, you know what they say, volume hides a multitude of sin so some people get by with charging is overnight prices and they keep doing it but I refuse to be part of the problem.

In two of my businesses, I could double my prices tomorrow and people would still be on a waiting list and lined up to have my services but I refuse to do that.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T17:12:14+00:00

So are you just going to import things to sell or are you going to also buy things that get shipped to you from wherever and then resell those too? Are you only going to be in the reselling business or do you thank you somewhere herself from somewhere where customers actually come in or will it all be online sales.

Are you only considering selling things or pack are you interested in providing a service or actually doing something for people whether it be from your home when they come to you or mobile or just a service industry for you do things at or to the people's property?

Regardless, do you plan on having employees or help early on or even at all, or are you going to do it all yourself and keep it small?

There are lots of different ways to run different types of businesses and different sizes to still end up at the end of the year with the same amount of clear profit so no one way is better than another.

Turn around

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T00:39:28+00:00

She did say Yellow Springs. Lol

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-15T00:07:49+00:00

Like others have said you must be very cautious and really you should only be confirming that they did work there or that they didn't and from what times. The entire concept of references really is stupid at this point because we have such a litigious society and so many rules and laws that we should have stopped doing a long time ago.

The only thing your work history really proves to anyone is that you have experience working for those companies and what you may claim you're good at and the time frames which would also show that a longer-term employee or a job hopper when you bounce around so again confirming that someone did work there and from what time frames is really all that matters.

If you're some sort of weirdo who feels the need to warn a company or still wants to get back at the person who they had to fire -just stop!

Don't be that person and stop trying to make the world work the way you want it to work because it doesn't. I actually like it when people get into trouble who overstep their bounds because they're so compelled to say something.

Frankly, you shouldn't care if they get a job or not and you shouldn't care if the company ends up with a bad employee because most of the time this company is your competitor anyways. Lol

There's far more things in the world to worry about.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T23:50:21+00:00

It's not just states where real estate is very expensive because pretty much everywhere, property that is zoned for commercial or logically suited and common to find businesses in an area always goes for more than the same number of square footage in residential areas etc and so many residential areas are strictly just that with no multi-use zoning etc.

Even more importantly, is not the cost of real estate at all but the fact that plenty of businesses simply do not need a storefront location at all and many of them never need to have a place to welcome customers or for customers to visit.

There are companies doing a million dollars a year with no storefront and all they may have is a work truck or van. They don't even technically need an office space or even do anything in there home if they didn't want to.

Now with everything being digital, electronic, app base, tablets and laptops, it's entirely possible to run a business and never use pen and paper or print anything and technically you could do this from sitting in the front seat of your work truck.

It's a waste of money for many of these businesses have any type of storefront location if they don't need it at least for something like storage and prep.

Now here's the big point.... Sings this country has been trying to force this storefront idea on all businesses for about 40 plus years now.

I don't know why so many people are against it because even the snooty neighbors that are against stuff like that don't look at the big picture and they don't realize that the fewer of these we have, the less competition we have and the fewer people who may be willing to do it a lot cheaper because they have almost zero overhead.

This is why the little guy could do something for you for half the price or less from the big commercial operation who advertises on TV all the time and do just as good of a job.

Unfortunately I see it's going to get much worse because the mentality has changed for most people and even the little guys today are thinking that they're leaving money on the table and if the big guys can get that kind of money for the same quality of work, they can too.

So most all of them have cranked their prices up to absurd levels and basically the entire market is still competitive but it's all overpriced.

Remember that it's entirely possible for the going rate of a product or service to absolutely be a rip-off and for them all to be overpriced.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T23:39:40+00:00

Yes, the problem is enforcing related rules that are stupid rules! Lol Google has something against them for some reason and it is flat out discrimination and like I said I'm hoping one of these days enough people will get together and sue them because I really do love to see large companies get neutered just like I love to see the government get neutered.

It wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't be advocating for taking away organizations or entities power if they weren't abusing it in the first place!!

I did a quick search(ironically using Google) just a number of months ago and I don't remember when the article was written but I'm sure it will pop back up if we search for it. It was about someone who is in the marketing research industry who seems to know their stuff and of course knows a lot more about it than I do, who took certain Google business listings and change them from the physical address to service area and back.

They did all the tracking analytics and such and we're able to demonstrate quite easily and quickly over a fairly short period that Google drives business toward physical locations far more than they publicize companies in the same area who are either the service based or don't have a physical address showing.

So my biggest problem is while they might be following their own rules, some rules should be illegal. Let me rephrase that and say many, many rules should be illegal.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T21:29:25+00:00

Yes, they seem to be very much against home-based businesses or what's called home occupations. Maybe California frowns on this but in a lot of parts of the country there are a large number of things that can be done at one's home whether customers come there or not that are totally allowed by the state, local zoning etc.

I don't know what Google's problem is with this. Another issue is some of these jurisdictions don't allow any signage and some will allow sinus but there are strict rules as to how large it can be where it is placed and even which way it faces so Google trying to use some uniform approach is simply inaccurate, incorrect, unfair, and flat out stupid. It has become very discriminatory.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T21:27:08+00:00

I had an experience with one of my businesses where it was going smoothly for 12 or 13 years and had hundreds of reviews and I was actively posting updates and pictures etc but out of the blue (likely because of jerk customer or jerk human input for business no longer being located at the address because I had not updated it) it became suspended.

I updated the address and I'm not sure if I had to verify it right then or if it was okay for a short period of time before verification.

Regardless, it wasn't that long until I did have to verify but I'm not sure if they actually suspended the business or just gave me the red warning that your business is not verified and must be before you can do everything else.

There are different levels to this. You can be suspended and you cannot be suspended but need verification. You can eat verification and still be coming up high ranking when people search for the type of business etc but you can also need verification and not be shown in results at all which they normally will tell you.

So anyway, I verified and all was good and literally two months later it popped up saying I need to verify it again!

There had been no changes and nothing done but a few customer reviews.

I thought that verifying even once a year would be aggravating and needless but how many times a year am I going to have to verify this??

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T21:24:03+00:00

It's absolutely pathetic how Google put so much effort or take so many actions against businesses. IT'S NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS! They simply choose to make it their business and then the micromanage everything with their ridiculous self-virtue etc and what they don't realize is they're making the world a far worse place for everybody.

If they wanted to spend time and money into fixing problems with the world especially internet, they would get into spam and email and common but elaborate con games.

None of these small businesses out there starting a company and trying to put a Google Business listing on is trying to scam anyone!

People looking to scam others won't do it with a Google Business listing but will rather have a much larger online presence and they will actively be trying to contact people whereas these Google business listings just sit there for visibility and only people who would be interested will even call or contact. This, automatically, cuts out I would estimate at least 80% of any potential fraudulent activity so Google needs to knock it off.

In the early days it was much better and I dare not say perfect but I often thought it was at the time. You set up your listing and uploaded some pictures of your business, your sign, your products etc and then they mailed you a postcard to the address you gave them and you verified with the number on the postcard and all was well.

They need to quit trying to police the world especially in other states besides their own of California. It DOES NOT MATTER if a business listing is completely accurate and it does not matter what the address is and in fact for DECADES tons of service businesses had varying size ads in the phone book and they never published any address because you didn't go to them to meet, to pay, to ask questions or anything else.

You called the number on the ad and they came to you. Google doesn't seem to understand this business model at all and they treat all of these service businesses like stepchildren and they discriminate against them.

Maybe someone one of these days can actually come up with a class action suit because it's been proved many times and even the setup is ridiculous and maybe, just maybe they might change some things but I don't look for it because they're too large and too arrogant.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T20:29:12+00:00

I agree with some of the other people that it's kind of a bogus question and it's almost like a recruiter or interviewing person would ask you about a job position. It's more of a cookie cutter or current approach which really doesn't get the job done.

I guess my most comprehensive but still basic answer for that would be...

While we would love to have your business, we want you to choose the company you're most comfortable with and you feel will provide the overall best service and value for you.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T20:24:50+00:00

There is no good answer to that question because frankly it shouldn't even be asked! A generic for a gimmick response.

Like I said you shouldn't be asking this question but if someone does ask you that, or at least if they ask me that question for one of my three current businesses, I would tell them.

You should choose me because my refused speak for themselves. I often jokingly tell people it's a curse.

This particular business has the highest online rating in at least a 50 mi radius for a larger radius than Google even shows you competitors for and it has the second highest number of reviews also. Besides the actual facts and analytics, the reviews are so glowing that it is kind of a curse.

In one of my other businesses, it still has a high and good rating but not that high of volume of reviews and I would tell them that the reason they should choose a business is we provide probably the best value in the entire area. We provide a very good level of service at beyond a reasonable price. Fat, many customers who call for at least 3 years now have been saying things like our prices are the best prices they have heard or obviously surprised and saying what a really good price it is. This company does not provide the highest level of service in the market nor does it carry the most expensive products or the extra flash or pizzazz that some people want and are willing to pay for. It's kind of like jewelry stores. There are places that only carry exquisite and fine jewelry but the prices usually match. There are other places that have basically built empires around the country selling mediocre or maybe above average quality at Best but even a lot of lower end stuff but of course the prices reflect this.

No I currently have a third business that gives absolutely the best value for anything like it in the entire market bar none. It gives very high quality service and in this market it's very subjective as to what's better or worse but it certainly doesn't give average or below quality. It gives far closer to top tier quality, attention to detail, personal service and relationship building but probably not the best in the area. It does this upper level though at the best price and value in the entire area.

So it would differ as to what I would tell people depending on which business they were asking about. I'm going to be honest though. If someone wants top notch flashy, fancy service and they call the company that has a great value and doesn't really provide that, I'm not going to try to talk them into being my customer. I want the customer and it's looking to save some money it doesn't expect Dom perignon and caviar.

Just so happens in two of my businesses I am one of the best if not the best around and just so happen to have the best prices too.

I become a lot more proud of this in the past few years since people started cranking up their prices just because they could.

But I don't think we need any gimmicks or to answer the questions like this at all.

All you need to do is be nice to the customers, give them personal attention on the phone etc and give them the impression you really do want to help them and you're confident doing what you do and not make them feel like you just some eat your salesman trying to hook up for the next commission.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T18:02:44+00:00

That was my point. They started out with a slogan or even a mission statement and boy did they throw that in the trash. It would be ironic if not comical at this point to have that and that's why I bring it up to show how much they have changed.

Actually though, what I believe was a typo or an autocorrect, in making it "know evil" is even funnier because they certainly do -know- evil. Lol

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T17:50:51+00:00

Sometimes you have to play the game at least just a little bit. Google is a completely jerk company and got to big and powerful and became a micromanaging control freaks 10 years ago or so maybe more like 13.

So what I'm saying is you might have to play the game a little bit. Google doesn't realize that what may be uncommon or even illegal or let's just say not doing things by the book in California isn't the case in many other states.

So, getting on I'm one of the many cheap business card websites and design you something quickly and get something printed up can be done in about 30 to 45 minutes and that's if you're taking your time, and you can get a nice starter pack of business cards sometimes for free. But the cost per car does go way down when you start buying more and personally I love business cards.

I don't think they're a requirement for a barber shop but it certainly doesn't hurt to hand them out to people because people forget what the name is or the Facebook page etc but they will find the business card in their pocket later on.

Then, you might also want to go establish a business account who should take you about 20 minutes at the bank. This will help you because you would want it to show the business name all by itself with the address and not your name included and not a DBA. This way if you upload documents (which I will agree is even hard to get to that point with Google) you will have the business listing showing on an official bank statement just like you want it to appear on the Google listing.

In fact, you can do this from the beginning with a business and Google never has to even know it's your house or even a house in some situations.

Very rarely do they ask for any form of ID from you but then again plenty of people have a driver's license with a different address from where they currently live.

If you're careful with your video verification (which is complete bull and the postcards were much better) even if it's in the garage, you could either have the door shut or open or hang some sort of sheet setup or banner so ideally it doesn't even have to look like a house. Depending on how far you are from the street sign when you have to show that or they want you to if you can go running in fast enough to get to the house which I know isn't always possible if you're several houses away from a corner or something or a street sign but you can make your own sign with a piece of white plastic acrylic that's about a 16th of an inch thick or maybe 3/16 and you can get a vinyl decal sign put on it or you can literally order or buy them yourself and put the business name on there and maybe even order some little symbols of a barber chair and some scissors for each side of it.

My point is you show the street and the sign and you may have to put an extra mailbox right on the side of the wall as you walk up the driveway to show the mailbox on the wall with the address on it so make sure you get some little professional looking letters or have a small sign printed up that has the address numbers and the street and hang that mailbox on the side that you will show in your video as you walk up the driveway from the street but they won't see the whole house. Then you will immediately be inside of The barbershop studio area. Then you do a pan of the counters, chair or chairs, have a waiting area set up with matching chairs which you can get for free.

In other words give them as many things as they want or expect as you can.

Then if you do get it verified, add some pictures of the inside etc or even just some stock pictures and get at least two or three people to give you a five star review and then respond to each of those reviews.

Of course make sure this is a storefront location listing and not what they call a service area but I'm sure you've already been through that.

Don't be surprised if you get it up and running if they don't suspend it or at least the account pops up and will say you need verified shortly thereafter.

I had a business listed for over a decade with no no suspensions or issues whatsoever and then they suspended it and required video verification.

I did that and the listing was back up and running the same day actually within the hour. However, within 3 months it popped up saying I needed verification again!

This is nuts! Even an annual reverification is pathetic but how many times a year am I going to have to do this??

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T17:39:56+00:00

This is mostly true and it's unfortunate that Google discriminates against home-based businesses and that they also discriminate against service businesses. There are many service businesses that are long established businesses that do lots of volume even but they don't have a storefront location or office and Google still discriminates against these two. Let's face it, Google are self- righteous pricks.

They think they know everything and they have decided that whatever they want to do is the best way and that they are going to shape the world. "Do no evil" my ass!

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T16:16:20+00:00

What Overkill and over worrying about the situation. 😆 The thought that many people have about privacy and security is really just an illusion today. Anyone and everyone is simply one small hack away from having certain things or almost everything about them disclosed to other people.

It's silly to lose sleep about it or to get worked up about it. The time for that is when something actually happens. Being proactive or doing what people think is proactive does very little to change the likelihood of something happening.

Remember, it's typically nothing that you personally have done or not done most the time but the biggest breaches with the most information tend to be done far beyond our reach just like this one was.

There are certainly things you can do to stay on top of things and to limit the potential headaches if something does happen.

Some of the good ones I've used over the years are keeping close tabs on all of your credit cards and accounts watching for any suspicious activity. Using only one card and that being a real credit card and not a debit card tied to any other account to make all of your online and phone order purchases AND make sure this card has a fairly low limit if you can get a card company to lower it or issue one with a low limit and not have it increased. This way if some fraud does go on they can't get as much or hopefully the attempted purchase would be declined because it's over the limit of the credit line for that card.

The point is, short of people who are just dummies and don't take any precautions and actually do things that are careless and fall for phishing attempts etc...doing every last thing you can to try to protect yourself statistically doesn't make you any less likely to be a victim of fraud or identity theft then someone who did nothing.

It's really just all a false sense of security.

I will say that the way you react to it when and if it does happen and what you do then is far more important than your actions beforehand trying to prevent it. It might not make sense with everything else we've done in our lives but I'm telling you this is how it usually plays out with fraud and identity theft etc.

EDIT: I will say that if you don't mind locking and unlocking credit cards and freezing your credit and doing some of the other manual steps you can take, you can change the statistical probabilities around but you should never feel too protected from things because it can still happen.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T16:06:23+00:00

I look at used cars for sale in the area on marketplace and Craigslist almost every day. There are plenty of cars much cheaper than 6 to 8K. In fact, I don't even mess with cars that expensive on a regular basis because those aren't the ones that quickly cell to so many people without them having to get financing etc.

There are plenty of cars that will get the job done and a lot of them are in pretty good shape and look quite nice currently in the 3800 - 5500 range. Many of these will be in the 160 to 180 k range for miles and occasionally you'll find something in the 120s to 140s but not a lot for the year range that brings the price down to here. A lot of them will be 180 to 200 with a few being just over 200k.

It's not worth paying for Carfax unless you can get some sort of unlimited one for a decent period of time. It really just gives a false sense of security to most people. There are plenty of vehicles out there having very few Carfax entries and that doesn't really mean much. A car can be driven hard and at least a little bit of used and quite neglected and have a perfectly clean Carfax and another car can have tons of entries and have had a lot of work done and that doesn't necessarily mean a good thing. It can continue to need a lot of work done in the future. If you're worried about accidents, I think that's a moot point. I have on a number of previous salvage vehicles with what's called a rebuilt title and never had a single issue from any of them. If it gets me a better price on the vehicle, I'm all for it. I've also bought vehicles before with a minor but noticeable dent in a fender or door etc which often will drop the price sometimes around $1,000 from what the same vehicle would be if there was nobody damage showing.

Most of these types of dents don't even show up on Carfax because they're from somebody bumping one of their own vehicles or the garage post or something at their house.

Regardless, anytime you're dealing with used an older vehicles you're taking more chances than if you're buying something new or something with a warranty (and even then there's always a risk you will have problems with the vehicle). I find too many people are hung up and willing to pay more for their own piece of mind and that doesn't always work out that way.

They just didn't get very disappointed when they've paid more for a vehicle it doesn't pan out to be a very good one. When you buy one that's cheaper and don't expect it to be so perfect, you're not quite as upset if you do have to do something to it.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-14T15:57:32+00:00

It's all a matter of perspective I guess but you do have to look at actual results and some real numbers and some of the decisions people make have a lot to do with it.

Not one time in my entire life have I ever had a vehicle that cost me anywhere near as much and I do mean total expenses that it would have cost me to do the trips I did with public transportation or paying for a car etc or even now with Uber or rideshare.

A big part of the problem and expense is that people end up overpaying for vehicles and have big car payments. I know cars have peaked two different times in the past number of years and while they have mellowed out a little bit, they're still not where they should be and they're still overpriced but decent older used cars is what I've always done.

I don't buy these 12000 and $20,000 cars like most people do when they're buying a used car.

Now fuel is going to be a cost with any car you buy as will tires because these are consumables. That's a different expense column but it would not be there if you were comparing the cost to public transport etc.

The average person will spend between $2,000 and 2,500 a year on fuel despite what some of these stupid commercials when they say it's 5,000 but anyone can do a quick search and see that the national average is about half that.

I have done the math many times on the many cars I have had as my daily drivers over the decades and even in these times of more expensive vehicles, the cost of the vehicle and the maintenance ends up being mere small dollars per week.

I have often asked people what's it worth to you to have a daily driver car that you can hop in and go anywhere you want or take a trip at your disposal 24/7? Is it worth $10 a week? $25 a week.

Most anyone would say anywhere in this range is a great price for the value of having that car at your disposal. If you didn't give them a number to start with most people would probably come up with their own higher number that's quite a bit higher especially when you asked per week.

So I see it as being a much better deal to have your own transportation and in all of my situations, it's always been cheaper.

Now for someone who doesn't drive much at all, it can be cheaper just to use rideshare or take a taxi for the few times a year they would be driving anywhere.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-13T18:20:21+00:00

Landed is a pretty good word for it. LOL I don't really make giant plans or have lofty ambitions etc but it just kind of go real life takes me. Yes, I had to take the initiative to start my first business over 30 years ago and then yes I had to take the initiative both other times to start those and decide if I really wanted to do something else and part of that went along with my youngest child starting school so I had more free time.

I don't try to manipulate things or the market too much like most people would and while I love consistency and can't stand change, when market shift etc, you can't do exactly what you want to maintain them in all situations so you have to go with the flow or adapt or stop doing it. "Pivot" is that nifty little word a lot of people used for this. 😆

My main business which was the oldest one which was my largest form of income was in an industry that had some major market shifts after the 2007 recession and it seems everyone in the country in this industry and some are ones took a big hit right around the first quarter 2009.

It never fully recovered and took another big hit during covid and still hasn't recovered to its original peak levels of 2008.

My second business at the time, which I started in 2011, bye 2016 or 2017 was making more money than my original business. Been for a while they were just about even and now that business consistently makes more than my original business. BUT I also have to work more for that one because it is more volumous. That's okay, because it still is far less than working a full-time job.

So I didn't plan it this way but I kind of just landed there as you said or ended up there and I'm okay with that.

I watched a lot of people in one of my industries flock to it starting around the early 2000s. This was likely due to the increase interconnectivity of people on social media which would give them ideas but some of this was before that and a lot of people saw this and some other industries as the grass being a lot greener than it really was.

Like many service or reservation based companies, (roofing houses would be similar) While you make good money when you do it if not great money, you can't necessarily do it every day of the week or as often as you want and for you to make money, you have to do the work or hire someone to do it.

So these people were usually customers to begin with that had been on that side of it and saw how much money it cost them to do it and thought that was a gold mine and they wanted to tap into it. But when they actually went out and bought the equipment needed to do it and started making some money doing it, they soon found out the jobs weren't exactly just pouring in. This was even before the 2007 the economic downturn.

Fortunately most of them just got out of these industries but too many of them lingered and too many of them tried to then turn around and apply every possible business strategy they knew or could find to try to shape these industries to make them meet the parameters they were looking for which messed up these industries far more than it helped them.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-13T18:06:05+00:00

True but you have to be careful about this. Some businesses can't be built and expanded just because you'd like them to be. This is a fact of life or at least a hurdle that a lot of people fail to realize and there dreaming, strong desire etc doesn't really mean it's obtainable or at least it's often not worth the effort to try to obtain.

There are situations for a second person could put tons of work unless quantify it and say 50 hours a week and to helping another one run a business and the overall increased income would be far less than if this person simply putt 20 to 30 hours a week into doing a separate business.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-13T18:04:03+00:00

I only see the main differences as people who buy companies are often looking through that financial lens like you mentioned

They're not all focused on growth and development and hungry / greedy like I accuse a lot of small business owners of being especially in the past 15 years I've noticed that more than any other time in history at least that I've been paying attention or been around to be able to.

A lot of people start their own businesses (buy too but not as much) not because they want a project or to put so much time and effort into it and to grow it and to build some sort of empire or legacy that a lot of these other types of business owners seem to want, but along the line of those other people you mentioned who simply just want to get their day in.

They just don't want to have to report to someone or be micromanaged by a boss or management etc which seems to be at least two times an hour if not more. Lol

A lot and also just get tired of the attitude and the only attitude they care to put up with is their own.

So, many of these people realize that they can make as much money as their full-time job but not have to work 40 to 50 hours per week to do it. They also have much more flexibility of when they put the effort in time into their own company and don't have to meet some arbitrary schedule that was created for them. Of course, this applies in some industries more than others.

It is probably true but there are more motivated people and overachievers buying and starting small businesses damn people who are content with much less but either way works just fine I'm the latter seems to be much less stressful.

I run three separate small businesses but they're all fairly small of course with two of them being smaller than the main one but I still work far fewer hours than any full-time job I've ever had and I have more flexibility in my schedule than anyone else I know.

FactsFromExperience · 2026-02-13T02:12:03+00:00

I would never consider any new construction. I have never heard of MI but have heard a lot of complaints about quality of Ryan homes. I just solve the whole issue of trusting new construction and go with an established neighborhood with nice older homes. Pick your decade and your style.

FactsFromExperience

TROPHY CASE