To be fair there is a transcript if you don't want to watch the video....

By the way - just fyi - I'm the guy in the video you're addressing as a "rich person" :)

Great summary and yes - cash flow is king. Getting projects on retainer or prepaid or closely controlling your receivables is the key to that. Developing rock-solid contracts (not just handshakes) is also best. Planning for the inevitable too - inevitably at some point a client or customer will go bankrupt, or fail to make a payment due to THEIR cash flow or challenge an outcome. For you to survive that you need a reserve you can draw on. All the times my company has been at highest "risk" has been due to a client not being able to make their financial commitment - sometimes despite all the above being in place.

And yes - you won't be doing the techy stuff you currently enjoy as much (or at all) if you're running a business. If you think that running a business means you get to do techy stuff all the time you're not going to be in business long. For all my employees our goal is to maximize billable hours. For MY profile it's to minimize billable hours - the more billable hours I'm doing the less I'm concentrating on working ON the business rather than IN the business. Techys who start businesses and don't make the transition from techy to business owner are probably the most common reason for failed tech startups.

One key factor not mentioned is knowing the metrics of what makes your business tick, and then monitoring those metrics. So for instance the key metrics for my business are:
  * Billable hours
  * Recurring billing contracts
  * Ongoing fixed and recurring costs
  * Cash flow
  * Sales Pipeline
  * Project flow

We've placed various measurements around these so that if something is seriously out of whack we know about it before it becomes a problem, we then concentrate on addressing the specific need backing the metric. Metrics work in both directions. If my billable hours are low that means we probably have a sales or project flow issue. If they're too high it means we need to look at hiring.

Nah technically he's right. S cubed would be S times S time S :) Not 3 Ss.... :) We could write an "S"say about it.... :)

Well yes. I have all those things. So do my employees.

Oh also - if the business fails - we can't collect unemployment. Which doesn't mean we don't PAY unemployment. On the other hand we are personally responsible for any salaries owed employees. And Taxes. etc.

A) If you treat your employees fairly from a wage point of view how is that "taking advantage of them".
B) Remember that a business owner bears pretty much ALL the risk. They are personally responsible for a number of things. Most small business owners are on the hook for their line of credit for instance. This means that if the business owes the bank $60k - they PERSONALLY owe the bank $60k if the business can't pay it. Owners are always responsible for salaries and taxes - no matter what their personal financial situation is they're personally responsible.
C) There are lots of expenses outside the payment of salary in owning a business including rent, leases, capital investment etc. Many of those require a personal guarantee for a small business.

In short - equity built up is a sum of many things, and is far from a guaranteed outcome of owning a business. Risk on the other hand is definitely guaranteed the moment you start your first corporation. Are there evil business owners that take advantage of their employees to rake in huge profits? Yep. Are there good business owners out there who would risk their own money and livelihood to keep a company going, including taking no salary or putting themselves at risk? Yep. You might be surprised how many fall into the latter category rather than the former.

I think the 40% of second businesses has already weeded out those that just gave up. It's 40% of those that DID try again :)

I had to go to the desktop version on my phone to see the actual video. Another Slashdot win I guess :) Video appears to be hidden if you are in the mobile version of the site.

FYI we actively embrace open source in our solutions. Our main web content management platform is the open source version of DotNetNuke (www.dnnsoftware.com) and we use lots of open source solutions when crafting a solution for a client. "Microsoft centric" means that is where our expertise lies. It doesn't mean that's all we sell or support. Our goal is to build a stable solution at a reasonable price for a client, and if an open source solution makes sense we'll go that way.

Lol whatever. I hate autoplay as much as the next guy. Not going to bother responding to the Microsoft trolling. To each their own. Thanks for the positive feedback.

I would count myself solidly middle class. Not Rich.

Lol excellent point my friend..... Math was never my strong point, thus the book keeping comment.

Excellent summary.

Doofus, my income has varied widely. It depends on many factors. Believe me there were years when I wondered if I wouldn't have been better off working for someone else. Other years i have been extremely happy with my paycheck. Income isn't everything of course. Day to day happiness counts for more than the bottom line.