Chicago Private Equity

One of the most difficult problems I had when I started my first business was who to trust. Since I didn't have any network to begin with, just an idea, I had to form a complete network myself. This was for everything, supplies, trucking contacts and suppliers. All of my employees came from ads, since there was just me and my partner in my business, there were no referrals for employees, we had to guess and do our best to interview. We really didn't have the budget or skills to hire the correct people.

I tried looking at joining entrepreneur groups at the beginning but I was working 16 hours a day for the first full year so there wasn't time and I don't know if my marriage would have been able to take more of me being away. So, I ended up making mistakes. Lots of them. All of them. End to end and back to back. I messed up my sales, marketing, plans and shipping. I didn't come from an entrepreneurial family so I didn't have someone saying "no, don't do it that way." Although I wish I had.

One of the things I wanted to establish here was not only funding, but the idea of the ability to tap into the network I have built over the years and then tap into my network's network. There is every conceivable type of help available, mostly in tit for tat arrangements, where advice is free as long as you pay back into the network at some point. Most mistakes are avoidable, some aren't. Choosing the right network should be your first goal.

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