Writing in a post about my early business cleaning fish has sparked some questions about the accounting of my earnings. Several readers questioned how, when I was 12 years old, I made about ten dollars a day in 1 ½ hours of work when I only got 3 cents a fish. To get the whole story you need to also read the previous post about Getting Rich Needs More Than Just Talent.

Continuing my experience on the fish docks—–

By the middle of July with my sales approach and the captains recommending my services to the fishermen I had more fish to clean than I could handle in a reasonable time. The fishermen went into the dockside restaurant for a cup of chowder or lobster bisque and were ready to head for home in about 45 minutes. They expected their fish to be cleaned and iced by the time they were ready to leave.

Sub Contracting Discovered:

One day I had several hundred fish to clean and my clean rate was about 100 per hour on a good day. What to do? I suddenly realized that one of the kids on the dock who was lightening fast with a knife was standing there with no fish to clean. Butchie was fast with the knife but not with his speech. He had a bit of an impediment and in addition was scrawny. I said, “Butchie get down here and start cleaning I’ll give you 1.5 cents a fish for that bunch in the can and split the tip with you.” He was on those fish in a flash and had more than 100 cleaned in less than an hour. The tip was $3. When we settled up I gave him $2 of the tip and $1.75 for the cleaning. I made $2.75 on the fish that I hadn’t touched. More importantly I made a faithful friend and sub –contractor for the rest of the summer and learned how to meet the market need efficiently. Before the end of July I added another fast knife to the team and we dominated the business on the dock.The captains started announcing the availability of Bucky’s fish cleaning service and the fishermen looked for us.

-I made sure that my contractors made significant money in that 1.5 hour period after the boats came in from the ocean. There was a bit of grumbling from time to time but I was a bit bigger than my guys and that was important on the docks and grumbling was negotiated away.

In the winter I thought about the summer lessons and realized that self employment could be a really great experience. In 1950 those lifeguards at the shore sat on the stand for 50 hours a week and made about $45. I made more than them in about 10 hours of work .

There however were no girls hanging around the fish dock like they did at the lifeguard stands. That was no concern since I was only twelve and that was not yet an important detail.

Think about it. Everyone knows someone who is bright, brainy and knows all the answers to everything and still can’t seem to succeed.

When I was about 12 years old I made money cleaning fish on the docks for the tourists who had been out on the head boats fishing in the ocean. This was an early entrepreneurial experience since the kids cleaning fish were all self employed and had to find a way to catch the attention of a fisherman with fish needing cleaning. I learned a lot on the dock about what it takes to succeed in business.

I was fast but not the fastest fish cleaner looking for work. I quickly learned that more than fish cleaning talent was needed to get the work. There was a sales program with a convincing story needed to attract the attention of a fisherman lugging a big trashcan of porgies and sea bass off the boat onto the dock.

Instead of standing in the crowd of kids yelling clean your fish mister I picked out a struggling fisherman and jumped to his aid in getting the fish off the boat. In that few moments of helping I had a chance to make my sales pitch. “Let me clean these for you and they will be a lot lighter carrying them home, why don’t you go into Kurtz’s restaurant for a cup of lobster bisque and I’ll have them cleaned and iced by Harry(the iceman) by the time you get ready for the trip home .”

I made money everyday, not because of extraordinary fish cleaning talent but because my talent was supplemented by a program that met the needs of my potential customers. I was young and nimble and a dock rat who could get them from boat to firm footing quickly. I had a program that would put the fish into an acceptable condition to take home to the family ( the innards were back in the water after my cleaning) A cup of lobster bisque would be a pleasant end to the day on the water and they would get the fish back on ice and ready for the 2 hour trip home.

After a while the captains were helping me sell my cleaning services by recommending to their fishermen that they try to get Bucky to clean their fish. Harry and his ice crew which greeted the boats coming in took my cleaned fish to the ice trucks for me to ice them up. They helped because I was including them and their ice in my sales pitch.

The kids yelling “clean your fish never quite figured out what was happening and at 3 cents a fish with tips I went off those docks with $10 in my pocket almost every day after 1 !/2 hours of work. That was serious money for a 12 year old kid in 1950. College kids got $1 per hour for jobs in hotels or in the amusement parks in 1950.

The lesson learned on the dock was repeated and expanded with every project I undertook in my business life.

!. Know how to run your business efficiently
2. Figure out who needs your product or services.
3. Run down the dock to meet your customer and have a package with benefits that are attractive.

I still can clean a fish quickly but the porgies and sea bass do not come off the boats in
trash cans anymore.

In October Buck Says started to focus on advice to Start Up and small business efforts. I was encouraged to follow this direction since my business life had given me answers to many difficulties faced by entrepreneurs seeking to start a business.

The emergence of Startup Digests across the country indicated that my change in direction for Buck Says was not a singular attempt to help folks seeking to start their own business. There are now StartupDigest activities in New York, LA, Boston, Seattle, Boulder and many other cities.

I am sure that some of the meetings will be helpful if they are carefully chosen by those seeking advice on starting a business. Many of the meetings clearly are designed for comfort purposes. A group getting together to share worries and obstacles to success might help some but in many locations the meetings seem designed around a coffee experience rather than to hammer out answers.

When starting to Blog I was encouraged to join in some Meet Ups to find out how to build an audience. The people were friendly the meeting places comfortable but the time spent for the purpose of building an audience for a Blog was a waste of time. There was a lot of ego building effort by the organizers and the participants that were in the gathering.

I have researched the local StartupDigest and find similar reactions from some of the participants I have interviewed. read more…

After listening to the President talk about the need for kicking up the economy I sat back and considered his words and how government could help entrepreneurs who are at the heart of job creation.

I thought about Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as well as other entrepreneurs who as a group created millions of jobs through the years. One common thread that was similar in each of their amazing success stories with great numbers of jobs created, was that they had no government stimulus packaged to move them along. The president was not at their side spurring them on while passing regulations that would slow them down.

There is no doubt that the President would like to create a program that would invigorate economic growth. The problem is that his interest, like most politicians, primarily is focused on getting reelected. What government agencies and most politicians don’t understand is that to help a true entrepreneur their help should focus on simply stepping aside instead of putting barriers in the way of creativity.

I helped my son today in his small business by preparing his employees W-2 s and the 1099s for the independent contractors he used in the last year. I volunteered since he is a small business person who works long hours trying to build a business. The requirement for preparation and submission are examples of a government agency creating another impediment to small business. I have a degree of experience, have a computer and can figure out the installation and use of required software. It took most of the day to complete the work. The software is needed with scan able forms since the IRS will not accept copied forms.
I picked up forms and software at Staples for $87.

His business wages and contract amounts were all properly recorded and the actual preparation only took me several hours for the 10 employees and 15 or 16 contractors. The four or more copies of each form being sorted for mailing took almost as long as the actual preparation..What was his alternative? It would be to hire an accountant and pay 4 or 5 hundred dollars for the preparation. When he is bigger and has three or four locations and 75 or 100 employees he certainly will use an accountant and be able to pay for that expert preparation. During the early stages of a small business, time and overhead monies are in short supply.
read more…

Sometimes the toughest step to take in an entrepreneurs start up company is simply “starting”.
There are so many things to do in preparation for starting a new business that sometimes the idea for the business can get lost in the preparation phase.

I had a business friend who had a great idea for a multi-store, niche business. He had big time experience with major financial institutions and had his undergraduate degree from Columbia and an MBA from Harvard. His knowledge and connections had helped put together many multi million dollar deals for others. He had a great idea and set out to structure his own company using his idea, talent, experience and financial connections. He had it all except for the business plan. He had helped others with business plans (including me) which had raised millions.

He spent more time, effort and money on the business plan than most small retail businesses spend on inventory to open the door. He hired Wharton graduate students to review and tweek his plan. He hired graphic artists to do extensive drawings of his projected store layouts. He discussed at great length with printers the typesetting of his business plan as well as weeks deciding on the cover style and color. He ran back and forth to New York to discuss with financial friends the financial structure he envisioned.

The plan took 18 months to finish. It is a work of art but did not do the work he needed it to accomplish. Two other retail organization opened national chains in the exact area he was targeting. Their opening timing coincided with his completion of the business plan.

My friend was an extreme case but provides a lesson for every entrepreneur. Get the details of your start up together quickly. Have trusted friends, review and comment on your plan. Get the needed financing in hand and get open. read more…

The general economy continues to lag but there are examples of entrepreneurial individuals who are moving past the current business malaise. Many of the individuals and partnerships are involved with the continuously expanded uses of the Internet and the various new ways of access.

Wireless access to the Internet, through laptops, I-Pads, cell phones and the expansion of social media has spurred all kinds of ideas. Marketing of products by affiliate advertising on Blogs is providing expanded opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to work from home. Most of this Blog income opportunity is small and a useful supplement to a primary source of income.

There are new companies emerging formed by individuals or partnerships pursuing imaginative use of new technology and success stories are emerging almost every week from some section of the country.

Groupon is one such company which has a marketing plan that enables small businesses to attract a national audience for their product. Groupon is only two years old and has enormous income with tremendous growth taking place. Andrew Mason, a Pittsburg native, was the entrepreneur who came up with the idea for Groupon in 2008. Groupon is not yet a public company but is reputed to have done close to $500 million in business in it’s second full year of business. They now employ several thousand people and had a 6 billion dollar offer for purchase from Google in December. They rejected the offer. read more…

Watching the CBS Money watch show the other day I came across a segment that surveyed the most financially aware States. One of the determining factors was how many people in a State had a personal rainy day fund to cover unexpected emergencies.

This emergency fund philosophy should be adopted as part of the start up plan in a small business. Most businesses have some contingency in the business plan but seldom have a specific rainy day fund for totally unforeseen emergencies,

This is something that should have some financial attention as you move along in your start up period. These type of emergencies happen in private life and unfortunately happen in business also. In a small business that emergency will inevitable happen the day before payrole is due or the automatic deduction for power is about to be taken.

There are all kinds of fixed expense items that are scheduled> It is the unscheduled one in those early periods of a small business that can be game stoppers. Prepare for this from day one and be pleasantly surprised if you find yourself in year two without that unforeseen emergency happening.

If you are faced with that critical requirement there are two ways to handle it. Cash or unused credit are the solutions. If you have been setting aside a small sum in an account that only sees deposits, that will be the start of the solution. In your start up plan, an emergency credit card is a useful backup for that emergency. I think that a never used line of credit on a major credit card that is left in the safe is an asset to use in the emergency.

The trick is to never pull cash out of the account or use the credit card unless the need is truly a event that seriously threatens the business.

Put a plan in motion when things are moving smoothly. If that emergency happens you will be able to bring some sanity to a chaotic moment/

Note: According to the Money Watch program New Jersey residents were the most prepared with an emergency fund put away. Nearly 50% of the residents had such a fund .Maybe New Jersey has frequent emergencies or the folks there are simply prudent,

A recession doesn’t stop a promising idea from becoming a new Start Up business.
There are some current examples in operation that deserve study. One such new business is a company called Solve Media.

Someone in the group had an idea to use CAPTCHA as a marketing tool and gathered a team and money to start the company and pursue the same basic goals as does every entrepreneur. Their goals may be a bit larger than most small business start ups but what they need to do to succeed requires the same basic business format as almost every new business..

When it comes to running a business the major difference between a $100,000 and $1,000,000 are the zeros at the end.

Solve Media obviously has raised significant start up capital. Check out the executive team. These guys do not work for fishcakes. They however need to do the same thing as every entrepreneur getting a business started.

They have an idea that they believe will make money. They have put together a team that they believe can take the idea to a profitable result. They have convinced a money source to fund the idea and the team they have put together. They now are refining the idea and starting their marketing campaign to convince e companies to buy the idea. They then are determined to move to a break even point before their initial funding runs out. This is the first financial goal of every new business no matter how many zeros are on the end of the projections.

Solve Media is looking for a final result that is larger than most new businesses have in their initial business plan. They must still wend their way through the same basic obstacles as every new business with every member of the team sharing the founders vision.

Beside coming up with the CAPTCHA idea, the talented team and the large amount of initial funding they must be unified in maintaining their vision with passion, determination and persistence.

Their required PDPs are the same for every entrepreneur no matter the size of the start up.

Watch Solve Media in 2011 as a learning tool for your start up. Check out their video on the web site—www.solvemedia.com

If you business is new and small, Tax Time might seem far away, but it will be around the corner before you know it. There are a few steps you should be taking if this is your first filing for the business. Even though your business may be still taking it’s first breaths the tax man has no sympathy for the long hours you are spending getting things moving. A little time each week reviewing income and expenditures is time well spent. You also might notice expenditures that need attention other than for taxes

Assembly of all the capital costs of starting the business should be carefully assembled and filed for review by your tax preparer. Review all of the pay role and be sure that you have met the withholding requirements.
read more…

Every business has it’s individual aspects that need to be addressed if success is to be achieved. There is a basic philosophy that was used by a friend that took him from being a one location operation preparing taxes to a multi-office business which made him millions.

He believed that saving pennies on each aspect of operations was important and he used several tools to remind his managers.. One technique was often laughed at, but proved to be effective in making his philosophy known in every one of his offices.

The hand towels in every bathroom in all offices had a sign attached that said:
We provide the finest paper hand towels available for purchase. Please use one towel after washing your hands. The pennies saved are important.

There was often jibes directed at a management that would worry about paper towel use.
The towels were a reminder to all the employees that saving money in every aspect of the business was important. Salaries , bonuses and every aspect of the operations were solidified by a company ethos that encouraged saving every penny possible. This was combined with a reminder that conserving towels and using less paper was an environmentally responsible action.

A successful independent pizza operator told me that his success was dependent on first producing excellent pizzas and secondly remembering that his business was essentially a nickel and dime business. read more…