The Serial Entrepreneur

I admit it. I’m a serial entrepreneur. Most of my ventures have not been successful.

The first time I went into business for myself was when I was about 9 years old. I was reading Boys Life Magazine and I saw in the back that you could sell Christmas cards to earn points with which you could buy toys and other merchandise. I signed up and couldn't wait for my first business kit to arrive. When it arrived, I was so anxious to get out going door-to-door, that I left immediately (with my Grandma’s permission). Before I knew it, I had canvassed my Grandma’s neighborhood and had a bunch of orders. On Saturday I hit our home neighborhood . Again, after a few hours work, more orders. People need Christmas cards, and I was there to deliver. I did this for at least three years and loved the goods I earned.

I worked more traditional jobs from the ages 14-17, but when I was 18 I had a friend that mowed lawns and told me he had too many customers. I said, I’ll take them! The next thing I know, JB’s Landscaping was keeping me busy. I had an apartment complex that was my main customer. I did work, and they gave me checks. I really liked this.

My next venture would be many years later. I had started taking Metabolife (herbal speed) and had great results. I lost a bunch of weight. So I thought that I’d become a distributor. I bought stock, etc. and started selling it as a side business. Eventually it ran its course. I think I used most of the product myself.

I then had a run of several business ideas. Cable Broker was a full fledged LLC. I started it as a side business, and to my knowledge only got one order. It’s hard to run businesses on the side when you don’t put any time into them. While running this I also thought that an online company selling network products would be a hit. So I started Network-Stuff.com It actually got some traction and I sold a few thousand dollars worth of goods. But it was a side thing that was inconvenient because I was working a full-time job and going to the University at night. But, I thought what I really needed, was a couple more businesses on the side. I started WebPageBroker.com, a company that would list domain names for sale, and then take a commission when they sold. I also purchased a bunch of domains hoping to sell them. I actually sold one for $2500 (americanluxury.com) While running this I got another great idea. I would sell promotional items to Universities. Specifically Football shaped cups and mugs. JB Trading was born. When all of the local universities turned me down, I went ahead with the idea anyway. I got licensed with the CLC and started selling really cool football shaped cups and mugs at the BYU football games. I ended up with several hundred of these left over, and after keeping them in my garage for years, finally gave them to charity just this year.

So, with a string of unsuccessful side-businesses, I thought that I should try this out full-time. This is when Offspring Technologies was born. Call it a blessing, dumb-luck, or pure providence, this one took off. I can’t say that I was prepared for this, but I knew the industry, I knew the would-be customers, and I had committed to do this full-time. I also had the full support of my wife and family. Sink or swim. Me and my business partner were going to do this or go down in flames burning. But we worked like mad-men, and made it work. The company grew quickly. During this time we started two other companies. Crucialcables.com and IT Distributing. Neither one of those ever really took off. Crucialcable.com maybe did a couple thousand dollars a year and IT Distributing, while a great name, never even got much past the conference room brain storming session. Our focus was on the main company, Offspring, where it should have been. Now I’ve already blogged about the downfall of Offspring, (after we sold it), so I won’t go into the details of how it all ended, but it was a success. We grew it from nothing to a recognized national brand actually becoming the leading brand in some industries.

After I left Offspring, I started Bringhurst Consulting, and did real estate full time (similar to Webpagebroker.com, but with REAL estate, not web estate.) I had some success with this, but not enough to pay the bills. Bringhurst Consulting also did web design, marketing, and consulting. So I was doing all of this, but it still wasn’t enough. I worked a couple other jobs in sales and then the entrepreneur bug started calling again. So, with the blessing of the company that purchased Offspring from the company we sold Offspring to (it’s been sold twice), I started Professional Cable and WhataCable.com. Professional Cable is a manufacturer and wholesaler of computer cables, network cables & wire, and home theater cables. WhataCable! sells all of Professional Cable’s products online, and in addition to those products, sells other third party-products. Both companies are doing well. The reason for the success? It’s similar to Offspring. I’m working full-time at Professional Cable, it’s not a side-business. I know the industry. I have full support of my wife and family. I know the customers. I’m working like a mad-man. I carry a large inventory. I have a great location. I have good vendor partners. I have established a good customer base in a lot of different industries. I’ve exhibited at the InfoComm trade show in Las Vegas, and will be exhibiting at the CEDIA trade show in Denver in two weeks. I’m getting the name out there (and it’s a good name if I do say so myself).

So will Professional Cable become a national brand like Offspring? I’m not sure. I’m not worried about that. I’m glad the company is where it is today. I’m confident that it will keep growing and will be successful.

If you've always thought about starting your own business, what is stopping you? Make a plan. What are you going to sell? Who would be your customers? How would you get your name out there? My suggestion is to do it full time. Focus 100% of your efforts on this an make it fly. It's very rewarding.

Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/