what was your age when..

I believe anybody can succeed in running a business at almost any age. I was just lucky enough to have my eyes opened to the possibilities early on.

I guess if I were to be honest, my first business ever was selling candy to other students when I was 9 years old. I'd go to the dollar store, buy bags, and then sell the candy individually for a 5-10x markup. I was eventually shut down.

I started my first web business at 14, but didn't really have any success until I was 16. It wasn't until I was really opened up to the possibilities that I knew this was what I was meant to do. I never really had any idea what I was going to do in terms of a career growing up so I'm glad I found this when I did.

Mistakes? Too many to count. Not treating it like a business was one. Not taking enough action was another for a long time. Failing to take risks or being willing to do things differently hindered me for a while as well.

I think I was about 25. I started providing digital marketing services to small and medium sized businesses as a freelance consultant.

Mistakes? Not valuing my time more.

When I was 20, just started learning.

I was 28 when I first started out online. Before that I worked in banking for many years.

My first successful business was a SEO business.

Yeah sure I made some mistakes but I always learnt from them.

Kieran

Hmmm.... Early 20s for me and I am ashamed to say but I started selling product codes but hey, it gave me the funds that lead to bigger and more honest things.

27 started a tshirt company. Had no experience and no clue.

I was 26 when I started online. So now it has been 13 years.

I was 25 years old when I realised that being your own boss was the best way to get ahead in life.

Started my own business in 2010.

Had I known I would have started my Entrepreneurship endeavors at 20 instead of making others rich with my blood, sweat, and tears.

The most important thing is to work hard and remember that life is a Marathon and not a Sprint, do you have the determination to endure?

I have started my Online business since my 18 years old. Now I feel it is one of the good business. I have been doing this business without any problem. I can do this work at any time. It can be done at night, when I will be free. Thanks

Originally Posted by mwilliams054 How old were you when you first started your own business and realized the entrepreneurship life was for YOU?

Senior year in high school. 2004

What was your first successful business?

Ebay. I actually learned how to run a business.

What are some mistakes you made that you wish you knew when first starting a business, that you know now?

Don't quit (ever), and keep gathering lots of leads everyday.

I know that I wasn't fit for a job since a little kid. I hated working for someone else and found it unnecessary to do so if I can put the same effort in my business instead and generate 10 times more money.

I graduated with two masters degrees but decided to give a middle finger to what I studied in university and changed my life path to get into internet marketing and sales which is what I am passionate about.

It doesn't matter what mistakes you do because you are not cut from a different clothe. regardless of the books you read or mentors you have, you will have to go through the learning curve just like everyone else but you can massively shortcut it by working harder, reading great books and having mentors.

I was 20 when i started internet marketing

Not too late i think..

Awesome post! I was 17 years old when I first became an online marketer. I was a senior in high school. I just hated waking up every single day at 6:30 am, get ready, drive through traffic just to get to school at 7:30, listen to a teacher who is usually bad mood most of the time and taught things that I literally had no interest in. I started thinking to myself, isn't this what it's like to have a job? I have to wake up early, drive through traffic with other people who are battling drowsiness and struggling to stay awake, listen to a teacher make you do things that you hate a.k.a. a boss and go home all tired but still full of work to do. I saw the big picture.

Graduation was nearing and I was lost and confused because I had no idea what I should be doing. I didn't plan on college at all because I didn't feel like it and I just hated the way schools educate you by cramming all these useless information and base your worth by how many correct answers you get.

Fast forward, I graduated. The next weekend, my dad gave me "the talk". Uh oh you may say but here's the cool thing. He asked me what I wanted to do, what I wanted to learn and pretty much what direction I'll be taking. I replied quick and honestly and said "I really don't like school and don't plan on going. I don't want to have a boss, I don't want to wake up early and I don't want to be forced to do things.". There was an awkward pause and I thought I would hear an earful. Instead, he smiled, hugged me and shook my hand and said "Let's do business together. Let's start an online business." LOL!

For my first successful online business, I was with a system and was promoting it. I did really well. I'm promoting a new system now tho. I also did really well selling articles to bloggers as a second income stream. I was making around $5,000/monthly from all this combined.

For your last question, if there's something I wish I knew, it would be to consistently take action. That I should re-invest my income back into my business. That I should focus on the income producing activities not the other way around. Most importantly, not to take time for granted. We can always get more money, but we can't ever get more time.

This is a great thread btw. I'm sure a lot of people will learn from this and get inspired to take action.

Started in 2009. Didn't make much in the beginning. Eventually built up a sizeable online income. Took several years though.

But don't let that discourage you. I had periods and breaks in-between where I made no progress. Keep at it 24/7 and you'll breakthrough much faster.

First "business" I started was when I was 17. That went horribly wrong haha but many lessons learned!

I was around 20 when I started to take IM seriously in my spare time outside of my sales career... A while after that and once I had the cash, I went off in my own direction and I haven't looked back since

my first "business" was like at 13, i was selling and buying toy soldiers and stickers

Back in 1981-82 when I was 14 I used to sell folding boomerangs I designed that you could put in your pocket to a Kite store in Covent Garden.

Around the same time I was making and selling Oboe reeds to music shops.

It wasn't until I was 23 that I leased my own premises and opened a business after migrating to Australia.

A year later I employed my first employee and in eighteen months that was two.

Some 25 years later I still operate that business and several diverse offshoots.

1. I was 22 years old. Got in the Happy Birthday Club. And made money with a Chain Letter many years ago.

2.My Ornamental Sign business I ran out of my House for a number of years.

3. Every mistake I made was a 'learning asse't so I am glad I went through them


- Robert Andrew