Quoted from frolic:I slept on the floor of my office 20 years ago for 2 years as I started a previous business. Not something I would do today with a family, but those are the sacrifices you make.
I still don't even take a salary from my current business, I pay myself dividends from profits. Fortunately I deliver product to customers, so I actually generate a profit
I started building my 12 unit business park in 2007, just before the crisis. I had a pile of cash and my bank said they'd loan me $1m to finish it. Well, the crisis came along and they changed their mind ... No loan for RD!
So I sold my house and all three of us (me, wife, 7 year old girl) moved into an empty concrete shell unit. We had all our furniture in a pile and we set up the beds and camped out. The sun would come in the clear roof at sunrise and blind us lol. The beds were in the corner, and we were surrounded by pinball machines and furniture. It was bloody cold down there I can tell you! There was a portapotty at the far end of the site for the concrete contractors and if you wanted a poop, you had to hike 100 meters through the mud and rain.
Anyways, that's what I did. I walked to work every day (I was on the worksite!!) and built the whole business park myself (except the shells which were done by a contractor) I'm not a builder, I'm a furniture salesman. But over 2 years I found 11 tenants and built all the units to suit them. (I kept one unit as my warehouse)
I haven't had a salary since 2007.
And hey, it's all paid off. I've been going to tell this story since all this "preorder/prepay" fiasco started, but I didn't want to come off as a dick or something. But hey, that's how all my businesses have started, the furniture stores, the sofa factory, the property company.
The fact that these guys are paying themselves the big bucks while not delivering PAID PRODUCTS to customers is not on. At all.
rd.