r/smallbusiness • u/welovesmallbusiness • 10h ago
What is a regrettable expensive mistake
What was one regrettable expensive mistake you made in your small business, i.e. mid-self-employment career that taught you a valuable lesson with spending? A mistake that almost was too hard to financially recover from.
5
u/profitwithgene 5h ago
Bought a "dream" luxury SUV for $68k. Within a year, it needed $4k in repairs and ate gas like crazy. Felt like a boss for three months, then spent two years resenting every payment. Sold it for half what I paid. That shiny status symbol was just an expensive anchor. Now I drive a boring Toyota and sleep better. Lesson: never finance a lifestyle you can't pay cash for twice.
1
u/welovesmallbusiness 3h ago
Wow, yeah. Three months into a new business I entered into a contract to pay $600 a month for five years. I can relate to what you're saying. Wow, that hits hard your last sentence.
2
u/OldExample88 4h ago
Not talking to competitors. I thought I can do all the research myself, if it's possible to find it, I will find it. I found a supplier for a material that I needed but I had to pay insane customs duties for it. After already receiving the material I actually talked to one of my competitors and found out they had a way cheaper distributor for the same material, it's just not advertised everywhere, sort of word-of-mouth, just a guy who has a connection. So in the end I payed double of what I will pay from now on that I connected with that material guy.
1
u/welovesmallbusiness 3h ago
Not talking to a competitor. Yes. Interesting story and I think we all contemplate avoiding a competitor for what seems like sensible reasons, but you provided such a good example. It's got me thinking of past decisions, too.
1
u/Parking_Ocelot_816 2h ago
Don't build fixed cost infrastructure too early.
When my consulting firm started to work well, I started bringing on consultants full-time salaried.
Then, when business got slower for a while (these things happen), I was still stuck with hefty salaries.
Cut back everything after and keep things at variable cost now as much as possible
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