4 ms·

Are they mostly B2B? Or do they sell directly to retail consumers?

by da02 13y ago

hkarthik 13y ago
Most of the people I know doing this are involved heavily in local commerce. Think real estate, insurance, construction, and skilled labor companies (plumbing, A/C repair, landscaping).
- joonix 13y ago
  You aren't going to pull down 7 figures on a one-man AC repair business. In that type of business, you are just renting out your time, and nobody is paying $1,000/hr for an AC repairman's time. You can scale it, definitely, and have an army of repairmen working under you and then make tons of money, but then you're no longer talking about a one-man business.
  - larrys 13y ago
    I don't think grandparent comment was meant to imply 1 person business. (You are correct in your math assumptions). I just think they mean "small business funded organically or built from the ground up". Besides "1 person" can also mean "1 person and subcontractors" so where do you draw the line at "1 person" anyway? The only thing I would add though is that many of these businesses were not started by the person running them they were passed to a family member who got something that they could expand upon where the risk had already been taken.
    - hkarthik 13y ago
      Correct, I didn't mean to imply these were 1 person businesses with a single A/C repair person doing all the work. To reach $1 mil or more in revenue, these businesses use 1099 contractors or corp-to-corp sub-contracts to meet their labor demands.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  One of the things I have noticed is that 'managing' things is a skill unto itself. And some very successful people I know operate by helping people with skills connect with people who need those skills, and then creating a structure where a fair price is paid for the access.
OldSchool 13y ago
My experience has been around B2B. That's not to say that B2B is better if you're in a consumer market. Usually whatever you're in, the other seems like it would be easier because you haven't hit all the real life details yet. A B2B sale for example is not a trivial dollar amount, so your customer can be more demanding. There will be customers who are perfect, and those that are completely incompetent using exactly the same product.

Are they mostly B2B? Or do they sell directly to retail consumers?

by da02 13y ago

Are they mostly B2B? Or do they sell directly to retail consumers?

Most of the people I know doing this are involved heavily in local commerce. Think real estate, insurance, construction, and skilled labor companies (plumbing, A/C repair, landscaping).

joonix 13y ago
You aren't going to pull down 7 figures on a one-man AC repair business. In that type of business, you are just renting out your time, and nobody is paying $1,000/hr for an AC repairman's time. You can scale it, definitely, and have an army of repairmen working under you and then make tons of money, but then you're no longer talking about a one-man business.
- larrys 13y ago
  I don't think grandparent comment was meant to imply 1 person business. (You are correct in your math assumptions). I just think they mean "small business funded organically or built from the ground up". Besides "1 person" can also mean "1 person and subcontractors" so where do you draw the line at "1 person" anyway? The only thing I would add though is that many of these businesses were not started by the person running them they were passed to a family member who got something that they could expand upon where the risk had already been taken.
  - hkarthik 13y ago
    Correct, I didn't mean to imply these were 1 person businesses with a single A/C repair person doing all the work. To reach $1 mil or more in revenue, these businesses use 1099 contractors or corp-to-corp sub-contracts to meet their labor demands.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
One of the things I have noticed is that 'managing' things is a skill unto itself. And some very successful people I know operate by helping people with skills connect with people who need those skills, and then creating a structure where a fair price is paid for the access.

OldSchool 13y ago

My experience has been around B2B. That's not to say that B2B is better if you're in a consumer market. Usually whatever you're in, the other seems like it would be easier because you haven't hit all the real life details yet. A B2B sale for example is not a trivial dollar amount, so your customer can be more demanding. There will be customers who are perfect, and those that are completely incompetent using exactly the same product.