SAN ANTONIO — If you’re wanting to take a leap of faith and become your own boss, here are some ways to start. A local entrepreneur who successfully built her business in less than five months shares what worked for her.
If you’re reevaluating your career or unhappy with your job, you’re not alone. A record number of people quit their jobs in September. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.4 million people left the workforce.
Stephanie Scheller, founder of Grow Disrupt, who’s based in San Antonio shared how she was miserable in her previous job and quit to start her own business. She now helps small businesses thrive through various marketing and sales strategies.
“There was a huge learning curve on all things needed to build a business, run a business, and keep the business running because most businesses don’t make it past three years and we’re going on 7 now,” she said.
While it may sound obvious, Scheller said you need to make sure your business model is profitable.
“Fortunately, my business model was service based so there was no hard cost. So, wherever I priced it was fairly profitable. But there’s a lot of people who are pricing themselves and they’re either having to pay a contractor or reselling products and they’re not priced to actually pull a profit,” explained Scheller.
She said people need to also, budget for taxes, at least 15% in federal taxes. Scheller added that it’s crucial to figure out your burn rate early on.
“A burn rate in business is the money that you’re going to burn through if everything stopped,” she explained.
If you decide to move forward with a business idea, set a timeline. Scheller decided on 3 years to make it or break it. She said another important tip, is to be a kind boss to yourself.
“You know the jokes like your boss is like calling and being like hey, can you come into work on the weekend, 4 o’clock in the morning, hey can you be here in half an hour. We joke about how that was me to myself,” said Scheller. “It wasn’t until I started being a better boss to myself, that it started to translate to my team.”