So You Want Your Own Business? (Part 1)
So… you want to start your own side hustle or maybe even a full-time business?
Everything I’m writing here comes from experience—not from training courses or textbooks. These are my own views, built over a lifetime of running businesses.
And I can tell you this… I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way.
The good news is, if I share them with you, there’s a fair chance you can avoid making the same ones.
And all I ask in return is simple…
👉 When you make your first million, remember where you heard it…
…and feel free to send me a Porsche 911.
It has to be new… but I’d also accept a one-owner, low mileage model if you’re trying to keep costs down!
Where It All Began
I really wanted my own business when I was a teenager.
Back then, I believed something that a lot of people still believe today…
👉 “People who run their own business have lots of money.”
Everyone around me seemed to think the same—friends, family, even adults.
I’ve since discovered… that’s not always quite true!
Some business owners do very well…
some just get by…
and some wish they’d stayed employed.
We can’t all be Alan Sugar or Richard Branson…
…but there’s nothing wrong with having a go.
Trying Anything and Everything
So that’s exactly what I did—I tried a bit of everything.
One of my early ideas was knocking on doors selling and fitting a safety device called an “Eye Spy Viewer.”
(It’s that little lens in your front door so you can see who’s knocking—before deciding whether to answer or hide behind the sofa!)
I persuaded my joiner friend to come along with me:
- He drilled the hole in the door
- I fitted the viewer
- Job done in about 15 minutes
Looking back, it wasn’t a bad idea…
but it didn’t exactly make us millionaires.
After that, I moved on to:
- Selling shirts from the boot of my car to work colleagues
- Buying and selling second-hand cars
All while still working as a printer during the day.
I was busy… motivated… and trying hard…
…but none of those ideas made me rich.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
Then something happened that changed the direction of my life.
I used to work with a guy called Ron. He’d left the job and gone into sales.
One night, my wife and I bumped into him while we were out. We got chatting, and he told me how things were going.
He’d doubled his earnings.
He had a brand-new company car.
And he had an expense account.
That conversation stuck with me.
In fact… it changed everything.
Ron told me about a correspondence course called The National School of Salesmanship—and before I knew it, he’d signed me up.
(What I didn’t realise at the time was that Ron had a little side hustle going… he was earning commission for selling the course—what we’d now call an affiliate programme!)
Still, I paid up and got started with real enthusiasm, learning everything I could about sales and business.
What You Can Take From This
Here’s something important to take from this first part:
👉 You don’t need the perfect idea—you just need to start.
Most of my early ideas didn’t work…
…but every single one taught me something.
And those lessons are what move you forward.
Next Time…
In the next blog, I’ll tell you what happened when I stepped properly into the world of sales…
…and why learning how to sell might be one of the most valuable skills you’ll ever have.