My very first start-up…. ugh

This is actually kind of a sad story, something I am definitely not proud of. But I feel getting on “paper” might be the best way for me to learn from the experience.

It actually occurred many years ago, it seems I have since blocked it from my mind. I probably did this so I wouldn’t have to feel the embarrassment every time I talked (read: brag) about my entrepreneur-ism.

It was probably the first business that I sincerely tried to start-up. I was one year out of college and just finished working for one of the slimiest companies on the planet. I was over working for “the man” already, only one year into the workforce. I moved back to my college hometown and became focused on starting my own business.

Back then I definitely had “sexualized” the concept of starting a business. I had thought that money would start rollin in right away and after six months, I would be a billionaire with vacation houses in the Hamptons and Waikiki. It was less about enjoying the business and more about becoming a millionaire.

The business idea was a beer delivery service. Yes, you heard that right.

That idea was mainly to get things started, eventually I wanted to brew and distill, but to do that meant thousands upon thousands of investment, which I didnt have. Doing beer delivery meant aggregating all of the local brewery’s beer as well as some cheap kegs, and putting them all online. I actually still like the concept. It was perfect for my college town, where it was a drive to pick up beer and there were a ton of beer drinkers.

I worked quite a bit on it. I learned just enough coding to build a simple website, and learned all of the laws required to get a license to sell beer. I’m not so sure what the rules are now, but back then even if you sold beer you needed an actual store front. So I went and got one, a small beat up retail spot almost 30 miles from town. It was cheap and was an actual store front, so I met the requirements needed.

Here comes the sad part, and its tough for me to admit. In order to get the license, I had to mail letters to all of the local people asking permission to open a “convinience store” something I am positive no one else on earth did, but because I wanted to do everything correct, I did it.

I got a reply back from an old 77 year old lady saying she didnt want this sort of establishment so close to her home. I was 5 miles away from her.

I got so worked up over this that I stopped working on this project completely. I gave up. I told everyone that it was some crotchety old lady that ruined my plans to be a billionaire. I knew deep down that there were many many things I could have done to circumvent this. One simply being to talk to the old lady.

My best explaination for this was that I was afraid of both failure and success. Things were getting tough, and I wasnt sure if I could get through it, so instead of fighting for it, I found a good excuse that could save face with my friends, and I used it to get out of my predicament. The need to have to pay money to suppliers was getting close, and I lacked the funds. The requirement to pay the $500 to obtain the license was coming soon, and I didn’t have that money. So many new obstacles, and my response was to quit.

I think the lessons that one could learn from this is to give every project your best shot, even if you fail, your close friends and family will see you working hard at it and respect you more than if you just throw your arms up and blame the system like I did.