Post: #1

I'm starting this thread in aim that guys can share their mistakes in making money so others can learn from them. I think it's beneficial for all of us who are in the money hustling lifestyle.

No bashing comments are wanted.

Last night I lost a guaranteed 25-30k € deal in profit.
Only because one tiny but BIG mistake.

One of my hustles is importing heavy machinery.
I found a machine in Sweden for a very reasonable price, I'm also a mechanic so with only one or two days of work I could sell it for 25k + in profit.

Needless to say I was excited.
I called the owner, no answer. Called in a few minutes again. No answer.

It was getting pretty late so I thought the guy is not answering anymore so I sent him a email. Big mistake.
I should have kept calling.

This morning I called him and he told me that he sold his machine late at night yesterday for a lesser price!
I explained that I tried to reach him but he didn't answer my calls.
He let me know that he only was away for 15 minutes putting his kids to sleep.

Conclusion = If I had called one more time instead of writing the email, I had closed the deal. Needless to say I have a bad taste in my mouth today.
This would have been easy money with minimal work efforts.


Lesson:
Always, always go for the call! Never write an email!

Lesson learned.

Post: #2

I like this thread idea.

I am in a high commission sales job, meaning one single deal can be almost the equivalent of a year's salary for many people. Only problem is it takes forever to close one of these deals, up to 6 months IF everything looks good. And even then, any number of things can go wrong and fuck it all up. So my words of wisdom to myself is: Live life like it was your last day today and be sure to be happy whatever you're doing. Meaning that if I was living in a place where there were tons of girls that I found very attractive, where there was convenient transportation (NOT majority of US) ala good subway system, cheap taxis, great nightlife so could go dancing often, great music scene, cheap delicious exotic food, basically paradise, then it wouldn't matter if I closed a deal or not because I'd be happy either way.

The way it is now, I am only living life to the fullest IF I close a big deal but if not, I'm either struggling or at best, if it's a small deal, I'm just like everybody else in the rat race.

Oh, one more bit of advice. PLAN PLAN PLAN, especially if you're in new markets. I tried to set up shop in 3 different cities in 2 countries and did not see cash flow for a long time despite thinking there was a market for it. Make sure you have enough cash reserves to last you if you don't see a penny of income for a long time.

Post: #3

The biggest fuckup people make is that they never actually try anything for real; they just dream and procrastinate and their thoughts of "doing something for myself" just become a little comfort bubble to sink into when their day job they hate gets them down a bit.

This 'never doing anything' fuckup is the hidden fuckup, and dwarfs the fuckups of people who tried and failed by a factor of many thousand. Better to have a go at something and fail than never try at all.

I'm 40 and my whole life did nothing but career jobs that I was expected to do, and I fucking hated every minute of it. Recently I set up a very small experimental online business: I buy stuff from China, import it and sell it on ebay and my own website. It's been a fantastic experience and finally I get to do something for myself. On some days I think 'oh shit I have £10,000 in stock sitting in a bedroom what if I'm stuck with it?' but every few days I open my email and see I've sold something and think 'well, that's my accomodation for today paid for plus a huge steak dinner with all the trimmings'. It feels like it just dropped from the sky.

Post: #4

My lesson that I'm still learning is that the deal is not done until the money is in my hand. Not a verbal commitment, written/email commitment, or even a signed contract matters. Its when I'm actually paid.

This is why make new clients prepay at least some of the fee before I start.

Post: #5

My god. I think I can probably fill the entire RVF server with mistakes I've made; from big to small.

In just 10 years in business too.

Any honest entrepreneur could too i think...

Post: #6

To steal a quote:"Do it pro from the get-go."
I rushed to get my company together and am suffering for it years later. There is a ton of paperwork which must be filed if you are creating a legal entity. Trying to comprise any of this will eff you up big time or at least cause all kinds of delays. Also, make sure you have a market for what you want to sell. My last idea was great, but now I wonder if there is any real need for it.
I had a former employer spend millions on a packaging system only to discover no one gave a flying frack about it.

Post: #7

Not pressuring my parents to move out of Croatia.

Post: #8

For the past few years my best friend has been one of the biggest marijuana growers in a state in the USA. 2nd biggest grow in that state. I have the money to join him but havent because Im scared. My life is not bad, Ive grown used to it and while I work quite a bit 8 months a year, 3-4 months a year I chill and travel. While saving 25-35k US a year.

I think I made a mistake not going there before. This summer he wants me to go but my boss is trying to keep me here in China with all sorts of enticements. I can see myself staying again. Seems like a huge mistake but Im a low key person and afraid of moving there, starting a warehouse grow, learning the trade (but with total 100% help from him and his wife) spending maybe 20-30k start up. But could make double-triple that if things go right, just the first year.

Ive been in China for 10 years and its hard to leave my apartment and life. I have doubt, "what if I fail".

Post: #9

So true. One quick example is losing 7 figures because an employee was caught doing something illegal. Remember that the company is responsible for any idiotic action from the employees.

(12-18-2014 07:45 AM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  My god. I think I can probably fill the entire RVF server with mistakes I've made; from big to small.

In just 10 years in business too.

Any honest entrepreneur could too i think...

Post: #10

Not starting one.
.

Post: #11

(12-18-2014 08:52 AM)ball dont lie Wrote:  For the past few years my best friend has been one of the biggest marijuana growers in a state in the USA. 2nd biggest grow in that state. I have the money to join him but havent because Im scared. My life is not bad, Ive grown used to it and while I work quite a bit 8 months a year, 3-4 months a year I chill and travel. While saving 25-35k US a year.

I think I made a mistake not going there before. This summer he wants me to go but my boss is trying to keep me here in China with all sorts of enticements. I can see myself staying again. Seems like a huge mistake but Im a low key person and afraid of moving there, starting a warehouse grow, learning the trade (but with total 100% help from him and his wife) spending maybe 20-30k start up. But could make double-triple that if things go right, just the first year.

Ive been in China for 10 years and its hard to leave my apartment and life. I have doubt, "what if I fail".

It depends on which state it is in, and if you intend to follow medical laws or any of the other marijuana related laws. If you're talking California, growing it is the easy part, but then you will have to compete in a highly saturated dispensary market. If you go out of state, well, then you run the risk of catching a federal case. Either way, due to the non profit nature of 215 and SB 420 in California, you will have to launder the money you make if you are successful.
I can discuss this more by PM if you want. I just had a failed dispensary business in California after spending a few years there trying to make it work.

Post: #12

I spent 3 years trying to run paid traffic and websites.

The whole time my copy was all wrong. I'm in the process of learning copy.

Stupid

Post: #13

Don't do anything for money. Do it for satisfaction.

Post: #14

-

VET YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS, AVOID SOCIOPATHS

For months and months I let a sociopath of a partner lead me on, lie to me, fudge figures and statistics, lie to the board of directors and investors, and generally ruin my life - all because I was too trusting, gave him the benefit of the doubt, and ultimately allowed him to do this.

You are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with. In general this will probably be your spouse/family (if you are married) and the people you work with. You spend a lot of time at work - whether it's your career or your business - so make sure that you work with people you can trust and respect.

You might not have as much influence over this if you work in an office, so in that situation just choose to avoid the sociopathic types and align yourself with people you wish to become in a period of 3-5 years. They will be just old or senior enough to give you a practical insight on what to expect and how to get there while not being so senior that it would be odd for you to spend a lot of time together.

INTEGRITY IS EVERYTHING

When it comes to business partners, I used to think that competence was the only thing that mattered. This sounds stupid in retrospect but integrity, honesty, and trust are just as important - if not more important. If you are constantly guessing whether your business partner is lying to your face and manipulating you, your life will turn into a living hell.

Thus, the biggest mistake I've ever made in business was trusting the wrong person and then wasting months of my life pulling myself out of the hole that he dug us both into.

IF YOU WANT A PARTNER, START LOOKING BEFORE YOU NEED ONE

If you are considering *someday* launching a tech startup - start looking for a CTO partner NOW.

Right now. Get on http://www.founder2be.com, get on http://www.angel.co, and start looking for a technical person now. Get in touch with a bunch of them and begin hustling with them on small low-risk projects to get to know how they think and act. It takes months, or even years, to build trust.

I lucked out in that I found a world class designer/hacker hybrid who is now my CTO in my current venture. Having said that, building that relationship took years. At this point, I'd trust him with my entire net worth if it came down to that.

ENCOURAGE THE EVIL, VET THE CHARACTER

You will never know right off the bat if someone is an evil manipulative lying sociopath or just quirky.

When I met the sociopath in question he was probably one of the most charming guys I've ever met. Ultimately he ended up ruining my life and bilking me out of thousands of dollars. This led to me wasting months of my life getting myself out of this abyss and temporarily driving me into a deep depression from which I recovered in early 2014.

As soon as you meet someone that you are thinking of working with or partnering with, start testing them. Tell them stories that you've heard about partners screwing each other over and see how they react. Run hypothetical situations by them to see how they would respond. Entrust them with substantial but not critical sums of money, for bizdev purposes, to see how they handle it and if they are the types who will steal from you. Something in the range of $300-$1K is about right.

Ask them to tell you stories about their lives and then a week later ask them to recount the story. Remember all of the small details and see if they twist their original story or if anything seems out of place.

Incorrectly vetting your partner in the beginning could end up with you losing a huge chunk of your net worth and months or years of your life, and quite often your mental and physical health.

Avoid all of this by aggressively but quietly vetting people in advance to draw out all of their worst character flaws.

Everyone has character flaws - quick temper, being flakey, etc - but there is a stark difference between that and being a malicious sociopath who will fuck you over and reverse months of progress from your life.

Be very careful who you commit to.

Post: #15

I like this thread. Will keep track

Post: #16

I've been fortunate to avoid major misteps (thus far) but I've seen the boatload and back of reckless decisions

1) Fraud- Avoid at all costs ESPEICALLY if its larger than 1MM/year. Its a guaranteed get caught within 2-3 years. I've seen medicare fraud, medi-cal fraud, credit card processing mills, underwriting mortgage firms blow up. FBI search and seizure.

2) Sleeping with employees- Aside from the potential HR problems and lawsuits, this is a definite big no no. It kills morale and creates a crappy working environment

3) Blowing up working capital- Speculative real estate investments, speculative stock bets, or just stock variance (ala 2008/2009). Diversification of your capital is key. Spread your money along a few banks, keep some money in cash (25-200k), keep some money in semi-liquid precious metals (5- 20k). Just have your bases covered

A friend's family took a capital "haircut" after the Cyprus Bank incident. Luckily, that was around 10-15% of their net worth but its still a bitter bullet to swallow.

4) Balling out - Business is booming and your income is on the up and up. Keep your lifestyle costs down, because lifestyle is like a treadmill. The faster you spend, the more you want to spend faster.

If you are based in LA, you'll hear some fabolous blow-ups. I knew through mutual friends a guy who started in the loan origination business and started making 1-2MM/month. He grew up w/very little money and just went a little crazy. Bought a gorgeous house in SF valley, bought 5-6 supercars (ferrai, lambo, aston martin, black phantom, white phantom, etc etc). Flew to NY to go shopping. Dropped a million+ at the tables in Vegas. Spent 10k/night to bang clubrats at the penthouse suite at the Roosevelt Hotel etc etc.

For 2-3 years he was making crazy money, and spending it just as fast. Overnight his business dried up. His investments (leveraged of course) turned sour, FBI shut down his business, and he got court indictments. Hes still left w/a million or two, but just a grand pity. This dude could have been worth 100MM+. He should have known better. Its a sad story, but history repeats

Post: #17

I am in sales. I sell people. Well, in the recruiting field to hiring managers.

I was about to get a contract with a $30b company but misread the contract. I thought they were asking us for all of our cost information. I called the front line person (in the Procurement group) to explain that we don't do business like that but she said that since I don't meet the business requirements, I can't be a vendor. I asked for a few more days. She said I can talk to her boss if I had questions on the contract terms. Instead of getting in touch with him, I was trying to get in touch with the hiring manager so he could possibly call a higher level manager in the Procurement group for me. He didn't return my emails or voicemail.

So 5 fucking days later, the hiring manager emails me and says that he already hired some people. I wanted to cry.

I ended up calling the front line lady's manager. He said it was a miscommunication and the contract doesn't require us to provide the information I thought. I wanted to cry even more. I promptly had my partner sign the contract and sent in all of the information. Had I thought a bit more and/or had a little more knowledge in negotiation or persistence, I could have got this deal.

I'm now hoping to get into being the preferred guy at this company that the hiring managers deal with in my field. I've been doing this (my first sales job) for 4 months and this would have been my first big deal. Lesson learned.

Post: #18

One recent f-up I had was buying bulk about 2 months before the end of the year.

If I waited until year-end, when everybody is clearing out inventory I could have saved another 20%.

Lesson Learned!

Also, don't buy more than 6 months in bulk. Storage space and potential headache for small business outweighs cost savings.

Post: #19

Having a web-developer from anywhere outside north america, europe or australia. They don't have the same work ethic and customer service that westerners have.

Post: #20

We had a sociopath partner in our old radio company, fucked us over good while one of us was on vacation. Took over the bank accounts etc. Had to start over from scratch with a new company, several years later we're still not making any money on the new business yet, but the sociopath is doing great by himself.

Post: #21

Ah yes, TravellingSoldier, the most common business fuck-up....

hiring cheap offshore labour.

Post: #22

(12-23-2014 09:43 AM)TravellingSoldier Wrote:  Having a web-developer from anywhere outside north america, europe or australia. They don't have the same work ethic and customer service that westerners have.

I got sucked in hook line and sinker
Put a project out on Freelancer.com got a quote sub 1K from a man on the Queensland Goldcoast, turned out to be bloody Rajeev from Mumbai and the company held me over a barrel till I parted with 1.6K and a FUCKIN eyesore website that only a retard could fathom. The backend was worse.
I lost a lot more that the web design fee, time and the business I was involved in (precious metal trading), time is everything

I found out later they were ran out of the UK and were paying peanuts to these poor buggers to punch out shithouse sites.
Anyways, I can laugh at it now and after half a bottle of bourbon I fucking cry laughing, full bottle just the tears

Post: #23

(12-23-2014 07:29 PM)Bazzwaldo Wrote:  

(12-23-2014 09:43 AM)TravellingSoldier Wrote:  Having a web-developer from anywhere outside north america, europe or australia. They don't have the same work ethic and customer service that westerners have.

I got sucked in hook line and sinker
Put a project out on Freelancer.com got a quote sub 1K from a man on the Queensland Goldcoast, turned out to be bloody Rajeev from Mumbai and the company held me over a barrel till I parted with 1.6K and a FUCKIN eyesore website that only a retard could fathom. The backend was worse.
I lost a lot more that the web design fee, time and the business I was involved in (precious metal trading), time is everything

I found out later they were ran out of the UK and were paying peanuts to these poor buggers to punch out shithouse sites.
Anyways, I can laugh at it now and after half a bottle of bourbon I fucking cry laughing, full bottle just the tears

I have also fallen prey to this, not with websites, but with just general shit work from SE Asian contractors

Post: #24

Not getting the seller to sign the P&S ASAP after the offer was accepted. The delay ended up working in his favor as he ended finding another buyer.

This happened last month. Still kicking myself for letting the Sellers RE agent talk me into the delay. From now on, offer accepted = get the P&S signed.

There are PLENTY more, but this one has me salted.

Post: #25

(12-25-2014 07:24 PM)BostonBMW Wrote:  Not getting the seller to sign the P&S ASAP after the offer was accepted. The delay ended up working in his favor as he ended finding another buyer.

This happened last month. Still kicking myself for letting the Sellers RE agent talk me into the delay. From now on, offer accepted = get the P&S signed.

There are PLENTY more, but this one has me salted.

What kind of property was it? Do you have RE experience?