How To Start A Business; Why Failure is My Ally.

Two years ago I worked in the business field as a Project Manager, for a Fortune 500 company. I was content, paying my bills, and had money in my Roth. Some people love this feeling, to them it’s heaven, but I died a little each day, and felt trapped. So I started looking in different directions and eventually read books on How To Start A Business.

I dreamed of freedom and felt I’d finally found it.

The last straw came one day when I was driving to work. It was raining and everything was dreary, hopelessness grew as I got closer to the office. It took every ounce of strength I had to walk into the building. I felt like a caged animal with no power over my life.

Things got progressively worse as I walked through the doors.

My ability to dream and imagine was stifled. I was trapped in a world that had me yelling at people and getting yelled at.

That was my lot in life. The money was good, but I felt horrible all the time. There was no fulfillment, and I found no joy in my tasks.

Learning how to start a business wasn’t simple. I even felt like I was going backward. I’ve watched the money in my savings account disappear and had to cancel almost every snowboard vacation for the last 5 years. These are sacrifices you’ll have to make if you want to become an entrepreneur.

Success is more about hanging in there than actual skill. The longer I live the more convinced I become of that.

How To Start A Business: First Find Your Passion

I started by looking into different ideas, and the ones I tried, ended up in failure. When looking into ideas and asking yourself how to start a business. It boils down to 1 question.

Where is your passion?

Currently, I’m working on businesses for 4 different passions. I love writing, snowboarding, computers, and shooting.

• For Writing, I wrote the book Hurricane Jerald and began writing blogs here on ESterlingLLC.
• For Snowboarding I Began SnoFall Gear.
• Computers have been fun, I’m working towards cyber security credentials.
• And lastly, I’m working on becoming a firearms instructor.

You may look at those 4 topics and think they don’t match, but if you look closer, you’ll see I love teaching. And what’s more, I love teaching about things I’m passionate about.

If I can make money doing it, that’s even better.

So first find your passion. Starting a business is tough, if you’re doing it for money, you won’t last long. Passion is the glue that holds you to the project.

My Business Failures and Triumphs

Hurricane Jerald, My First Business Idea

I’d begun writing this book a decade before when I lived through Hurricane Katrina. For the first three months, I helped run a shelter in Jackson MS., and drove supplies to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. One day I got frustrated because so much was happening, and I was forgetting it. Then I sat down and wrote my experiences in a notebook. So much had happened that I felt like I’d lived 4 lifetimes.

Once I had it on paper, I forgot about it.

5-6 years later I came across one of my old notebooks and sat down to read it. It grabbed ahold of me and I started spending every free hour writing in coffee shops. It inspired me to be different. I was going to change the course of my life. So in June 2017, I emailed my boss and the department head resigning.

It Was My Time To Quit

I spent the next two weeks going to work, giddy about the prospect of working for myself and becoming a writer. Time wasn’t passing fast enough and I became upset on the last few days when it stood still. Then after an eternity, it was over and I left the building and reality hit me.

I was on my own, and alone. There were no more paychecks, no more health insurance, and no more safety nets. This was a do-or-die situation. I had no option but to succeed. So I started to write and rewrite my book daily. It was intense, and I put a ton of effort into it. Finally, the book was completed 5 months after I quit. I made a small amount of money off it, but I was excited that people’s lives would be changed.

That’s ultimately what mattered, even if I’d hoped for more.

When I was writing Hurricane Jerald I believed it would be viral. Every person would read it, and change people’s lives. I would say this to myself daily. Instead, I had around 400 downloads, (which is amazing for a 1st-time author). But I got depressed because my dream didn’t come to fruition.

I felt like a failure, and couldn’t believe my book did so poorly. But sometimes failure can be a blessing. Even when I was looking at everything negatively, I kept writing.

In the middle of this, I started to run out of money and knew I needed to do something that would help support me. So I moved on to my second venture. For some reason, I stopped paying attention to book sales. That was a huge mistake.

How To Start A Business: Stay Focused On The Long Term

When you learn How To Start A Business, you must understand that there will be setbacks. There is no guarantee that you’ll succeed. But passion and the journey are what should drive you.

Learning how to start a business is not glamorous, sometimes it’s even tedious, but the rewards are amazing!

Time is what you’re fighting. Because as time goes by, you’ll start to wonder if you’ve made a mistake. When you are learning how to start a business, time can be the enemy.

However, don’t let the pitfalls stop you, they’ll slow you down but you must get up and keep going, and chase your dreams, otherwise, what’s the point?

I let my dreams go for a while, I wanted to become a writer, but other things like needing money clouded my judgment. So I began to look at ways to make money.

Eventually, I was led astray by myself, but it was a great learning experience, and now I’m back doing what I love. When you learn how to start a business, you make it work. It’s one of the most rewarding feelings ever.

Learning How To Start A Business, I Became A Mobile Closer;

My sister works in the Title Loan industry, and her company needed a mobile closer for real estate deals. It was good money and seemed pretty fun. So I jumped on board. I never went on staff with the company, I was the guy they called whenever an extra hand was needed.

At first, things went amazing and I was making a good amount of money, but then the winter hit, and people don’t buy houses in the cold Minnesota winter. If the temp is below 0, would you like to be moving a couch in?

Once again, I felt like a failure, and couldn’t understand how God had brought me to a place where I would experience this. I felt like I had heard God, but he wasn’t giving me the success I wanted. That was his job. Remember if your mindset is like mine was, you’re mistaken. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and if God wants you to learn a lesson, he’ll drive it home.

My second idea was not working as expected. I needed to look at other options. This led me to Amazon FBA selling.

***An important lesson, When your livelihood is based on how busy others are you walk a dangerous path.

How To Start A Business: Amazon Selling; A Business Takes Capital

I was excited about this prospect and saw people making decent money doing it. So I became a third-party seller on Amazon. My site made money for the first few weeks, but then people stopped visiting my listings.

Sales dropped dramatically and I called client support. For 2 months they couldn’t figure out the issue. I became frustrated because I couldn’t make money and got into debt. It sucked, and I was spiraling again. Life is hard, and when you can’t succeed your emotions will play tricks on you.

***The lesson I learned here, is don’t get paid from one place You Need To Diversify Into Different revenue streams. If one dies on you, the others will hopefully keep going. You won’t be as stressed and you can take time to figure out what went wrong.

How To Start A Business: Shopify Sales

I moved into Shopify to have more control over my financial status. With Shopify, I could focus my listings properly, write blog posts, and dropship. I loved the idea of drop-shipping because I didn’t have to ship anything as I did with Amazon, and I was able to meet a lot of suppliers from Hong Kong, which was fun.

I did this for six months and finally came into my own as an entrepreneur. However, I realized that I hated drop shipping. My feelings changed because I was selling crappy products that took 3 weeks to deliver. I didn’t want my name associated with junk.

My site was like every other snowboard shop online, just different colors and pictures. I wondered how to differentiate my store if we had the same products. Lowering or raising my product prices was the only option, and we were at the point of making no profit anyway.

When you are learning how to start a business, you have to make a decision and continue making it. What will my company name stand for? I couldn’t let my name stand for junk products from China that take 3 weeks to arrive.

It sickened me, and I know there are ways around some of that, but I didn’t have the necessary capital.

So I asked myself what I should be doing. A friend of mine asked me How to Start a Business at this time too. I talked with her about passion and skill being what needs to be driving her.

Then I realized, I wasn’t following any of that. and I needed to make a huge change. A final change.

How To Start A Business; WordPress Blogger; Small Business Development.

When answering how to start a business, my 5th and 6th business iterations were my final ones. I stick with these because they’re what I’m passionate about, I’m good at, and I feel fulfilled.

My fifth and sixth ventures are going on for 4-5 months (at the time of this writing), and they’re going strong. I decided to focus on my strengths and stick with writing. Part of me is still annoyed that I haven’t been doing that, but you can’t blame yourself for the regrets of the past. It’ll only hold you there. So now I write about topics I’m passionate about.

Currently, I run two websites, that make a small amount of money. I’m also pursuing areas in IT and firearms instructing. (I’m already a snowboard instructor).

Esterling would become the site you’re on now, while SnoFall Gear stayed branded as a snowboard site. ESterlingLLC.Com and SnoFallGear.Com.

How To Start A Business: Stick To Your Strengths:

When you get into something you don’t know anything about, take some risks and start learning.

When learning how to start a business understand your plans might not work, but having a plan is better than not having one.

Snowboard Instructor; The Final Business Venture

I became a Snowboard Instructor around the same time that I made my Blog Sites. I did this because I love snowboarding and wanted to do something I was passionate about. This last winter was the best winter of my life, and I improved my Snowboard skills tremendously. Next season I’ll try for my next snowboard certification.

Life is good, I just had to go through a bunch of crap to get here. By no means am I a success. I do odd jobs to survive, and sometimes I’ll get a short-term Project Management contract.

I will make this work, and I will thrive.

Something I tell myself every day is to play the long game. My websites, my SEO, and my focus are on working for myself. By doing odd jobs, I’m surviving today, working on the website I’ll make tomorrow happen. 

To Be An Entrepreneur, You Need To Persevere; How To Start A Business

Most people won’t let themselves try, because they’re afraid to fail. I’ve failed so many times in the last two years, that I think I’d barely recognize success. I won’t call myself a failure and refuse to give up. I’ve seen freedom and I’m running after it. When you become an Entrepreneur you have to change your thought processes.

As an entrepreneur, you can’t punch in at 9 AM and leave at 5 PM. This also means you have to shut things off once in a while. I specifically don’t work on Sundays. This is my religious belief, but it’s also a healthy choice. I feel reenergized on Mondays when I get back into it.

Do you feel like giving up? Do you consider surrendering when things get tough? Take a deep breath, look deep into your heart, and ask God for help. He’s the only way I’m making it. I should’ve been bankrupt a year ago, yet somehow I’m surviving. Becoming an entrepreneur is a rewarding experience, but it’s tiring and extremely draining. I love that I’ve become an entrepreneur, it’s helped me learn a lot about myself that’d otherwise be unknown. It’ll do the same for you.

My Belief In Jesus

My faith in Jesus gives me the strength to do all things, I believe he’s the way the truth, and the life. While praying this morning, he spoke to my heart about success. I’ve never thought about Jesus helping me in this, but I realized he’s been doing that all along.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:7 – Bible

For the last year and a half, I believed I was holding myself back from success. I told myself that I was horrible at starting businesses. In truth, I thought I lacked the skills, and constantly referred to my failures. Instead, God changed my paradigm, and I realized how much I’ve been learning. Entrepreneurs will fail consistently, but if they’re learning that’ll help them succeed. Constant adaption and perseverance will see you through.

Life is hard, but when you have freedom, it’s amazing.

Where Are You In The Entrepreneurial Journey?

Are you an entrepreneur who is hitting the edge of your luck? Do you believe that God doesn’t love you? Are you sitting in an office, wishing you’d have the guts to break out and become an entrepreneur?

You can win, just because others are winning doesn’t mean you have to lose. When you hang out with other winners, you’ll start to win. It starts with a mindset change, and then actions.

I also believe when you surrender your life to Jesus, he will transform your life. He is my source when I’m lacking, and my source when I’m succeeding. Life is meaningless without him. My success comes directly from him, and I know what I’m striving for because he created me to accomplish this goal.

If you’re struggling and don’t know how to keep going, look to him. He’s waiting for you to act. If becoming an entrepreneur isn’t for you, that’s fine. Figure out what makes you happy, and what your gifts are. Then run for them.

How To Start A Business Conclusion

When you are trying to figure out how to start a business, I want you to remember a couple of things.

1. Find your passion
2. Pursue that passion
3. Weight the options
4. Know when to walk away

I’m sure there’s more to this, when answering the question of How to start a business, there are a lot of variables. I’m always afraid I’ve left something out. however stick to your guns, and ask questions.

How to start a business, is a great first question.