Business tips for anyone thinking of running a company

Right now it's harder than ever to maintain a growing business or for that matter start a business. I did a little research and it shows that there's only about a 25% chance that your new business will last 4 years. Now here's the thing that most people who want to start a business don't understand, and that's the fact that your not expected to make money for the first 2-3 years and given this economy lets be safe and double that to 4-6 years. Now that being said your lucky if you can break even on your 2nd or 3rd year but odds are you are going to be loosing a good amount of money throughout these building years.

I personally had an aunt and uncle recently move from Spain to the US to start a specialty print company. They came with only enough money to run the business free and clear for about 6 months. It didn't really cross there minds that they had to build there brand and there company for years before they should really see a profit of any kind. This is leading to a world of problems for them and are forced to pack up and move back to Spain with a big financial loss.

The reason I bring this up is all the time in the Paintball and Skate industry you can see "clothing companies" or other small companies start and end all in the same quarter due to the fact they produce a line and don't see a profit, given the fact they lost money they drop the endeavor all together. Talking to long time friend and business affiliate Jimmy Hickey it seems that most students are under the impression that they need to complete there schooling before they are expected to make money. Devoting all of there time and resources to getting a good grade in school, while the fact of the matter is you could be at school and growing your brand and business through the growing years so that when you do graduate a schooling program your that much further ahead in your career.

I have people all the time who are so entrained with what I do that they think they can start there own brand and make it big. The fact of the matter is I started PBRack in 2005 and didn't turn a profit on the company for years, I also started the company when I was 16 and just getting started in the world of competitive paintball. At age 21 now I'm able to support my self fully with very comfortable living while also maintaining a hand full of part time staff and operating our new warehouse/office. Another thing to keep in mind especially in a down economy is getting creative with your services. Questions to ask your self and your employees- How can we be more productive for less money? Can we offer any more services to bring in extra money? Can we do anything to promote our company that doesn't take away from the bottom line?

Key point I would advise to take from this quick write up are-
1. Don't plan to start a company and make money for 4-6 years, chances are you wont
2. The clothing industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world without prior knowledge of it I would advise venturing into something else
3. It's never to early to start building your brand or company
4. Get creative- business is always going to be competitive, get creative and you'll throw your competitors a curve ball

-Tommy Tucker
Owner PBRack