Page 219 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

Marianne Cascone, who makes children’s clothing in a small partnership she
runs with her cousin, illustrated this concern well:

Our biggest fear, since the beginning, is that our products will be “knocked
off” and our prices will be undercut. We are covered by patents and
trademarks, but it still happens from time to time. However, I am a firm
believer that if I focus 100 percent on creating a quality product, we will
rise to the top every time. We do not get sidetracked on other projects; we
focus on keeping our customers extremely satisfied. There is still a chance
that I will walk into Target and see my design on their shelf under another
company’s name. We are just hoping to have a place in that market so they
are truly competing with us and not stealing from us.

Those who had expanded by hiring employees tended to worry about making
sure they had enough cash flow and recurring income to keep the payroll going.
If you own a solo shop and business tightens up, you may be able to tighten up
along with it. But if you owe people a fixed amount of money on a fixed
schedule, you can’t do that. One business produced more than $2 million in
annual revenue but earned only $60,000 in net income for the owner, in large
part because of the high overhead of employing people and investing in
infrastructure.
Holly Minch mentioned the Goldilocks principle: the idea that success is
found within certain margins and not at the extremes. “I want the clients to get
real value out of what we deliver,” she said, “but not at the expense of our
bottom line. And I want the team to have enough work to live well but not so
much work that we’re not living.”
Others worried about “faking it” or needed to keep the wheels rolling after the
initial passion faded away. “My biggest fear is that my consulting and writing
becomes mediocre,” said Alyson Stanfield in Colorado. “Success seems to be
the ability to keep going, to keep the doors open,” said Lee Williams-Demming
in Costa Rica.
“Be careful of letting clients take your business in a direction that makes you
hate your job,” said Britta Alexander, one half of the husband-and-wife team
running a marketing company in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. “The further
you go down that road, the harder it will be to correct course. And it’s really hard
to quit your job when it’s your own company.”
Digging deeper, the fears and worries were more closely related to issues of
identity. “I love my work,” someone said, “but what if I love only the work, or
what if the thing I love is no longer fun because now it’s all work?” Statements