Inc. staff

Seed Capital: The Awful Truth

Entrepreneur observes that while self-employment promises financial independence, he thinks of little besides money.

 

from the trenches

"The primary motive for going into business is financial independence, a state of affairs in which a person, by definition, 'no longer has to concern himself about money on a day-to-day basis.' So what a twist it is that the good soul who chooses the path of self-employment will spend the next several years thinking about little else besides money. . . .

"I've started very small businesses with as little as five thousand in cash and as much as fifty thousand dollars. Neither was nearly enough.

-- Randy W. Kirk, president of AC International, a company in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., that manufactures bicycle accessories. From his book When Friday Isn't Payday: A Complete Guide to Starting, Running -- and Surviving in -- a Very Small Business (Warner Books, 1993)

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