Tips for starting your own business

It’s been several years since Jon quit his day job and my website became the source of our income, a decision that we both agreed to only after several months of hand-wringing and hair pulling and looking over that edge and determining how much it would cost in hospital bills if we hit the ground.

Turns out it would cost bunches! Because neither of us qualified for private insurance. Shit, I forgot to put that in the video. Probably a good thing because I would have gone off on some socialist rant and proved just how much I don’t love my country.

Moving on!

It was a huge risk, one that luckily paid off, but in the beginning we were fumbling around, bumping into walls and each other and not just because Jon is legally blind. Not really, but sometimes his right eye will start to wander while he’s talking to you and suddenly you’re looking around like, wait. Who are you talking to? I’M OVER HERE.

Starting a business is a total pain in the butt, and there are a few things you should know before jumping over that precipice, starting with: make sure you trust the person who packed your parachute.

Jon and I made a video of some of the hoops you have to jump through to get a business up and running. For the sake of brevity I left out a few things like:

1. Try not to start your business the same year you have to replace your sewer line.

2. Try not to start your business the same year you get sued by a publishing company.

3. Try not to start your business the same year your business partner comes down with something similar to the West Nile virus.

These things make sanity a little more complicated, and you’re going to need all of that sanity when you find out how much your lawyer charges for responding to an email.

(If you can’t see the video above, click here and you should be able to view it.)

Many thanks to Citrix Online for sponsoring this video. If you have any tips for starting a business, do share. Like, how do you hold it together when it’s time to pay quarterly taxes? Xanax?