Re: The Joy of *small* business

On Sat, 14 Dec 2024, Lars Poulsen wrote:

On Sat, 14 Dec 2024 12:20:58 +0100, D wrote:

Sounds like a good man! You should keep him!

>
On 2024-12-14, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

I don't think it was 'What Color is your Parachute' but there was a book
from the '70s that had a punchline like 'How to hire an employer.' It's a
worthwhile way to think. They're not hiring you, you're finding
corporation that will provide a sales force, accountants, and all that
business cruft while you happily write code.
>
Many people dream of having their own business. Been there, done that, and
found the business part very tedious.

>
As I young engineer, I was puzzled at how little interest the "hot" code
writer had in the slightly bigger picture. They would be happy to fix
bugs, but refused to participate in the ECO procedures to release the
product updates. I spent some time in customer support, and got an
appreciation for what customers needed, distinct from what the
programmers would like to tweak. I connected with some of the people
running the ERP systems and learning their report generator programs, so
that I could do a roll-up of the BOMs affected by a changed part, and of
the recent ECOs that affected an assembly that came in for repair.
>
Later, when my former boss and I started a company, he took on
marketing, while I did book-keeping. We were both engineers: He was an
RF guy, while I was a systems programmer, but in a small business, each
job is 3-4 part-time jobs adding up to full time. And it makes for a
diversity within the jobs that I find is good for me.
>

Did you grow it into a big business? How did the experience change from the start to where you are now?