Life as a Self Funded Entrepreneur

I have never liked the idea of working for someone else, I am very independent and creative. I like to have full creative control over the things that I put my time towards because when I become interested in something my brain doesn’t stop coming up with ideas, I work very hard and I am extremely passionate.

I love that when you start your own business you can make it whatever you want, you can take risks and try new things and change and pivot as much as you like.

I love the flexibility of being able to decide where my time and attention goes and only having myself to answer to.

Sounds great right??

Well let me tell you the flip side of entrepreneurship. Everything is on you, the risk, the costs, decisions, failures and ALL the problems!

I have been self employed in some form for most of my life, my first sole trading venture was as a hairdresser I would work from home or travel for weddings and special occasions, then I played in bands which lead to busking and playing solo gigs. I also started training horses and doing contract farm/horse work and then had the opportunity to build a horse breeding program and stud farm that I now run with my mother.

The purpose of this blog post is to explain the reality of starting, owning and running your own business. I think a lot of people go into a new business venture thinking it will be their sole source of income but that is very rarely the case.

I am not the best person to talk to for business advice, most of what I have done has taken a long time, cost way more than it should and of course a lot of mistakes and changes in direction; however this is what my path looked like and it’s worked for me and there is not a thing I would change.

I have always held the belief that we do our best work when it is our hearts passion, I have many things that I am passionate about and have spent my entire adult life finding a way to afford to continue to do these things. In short

I created an income stream from everything that I love.

This hasn’t happened overnight.

I have had full time, part time and casual jobs all while establishing my businesses, I needed the security of a wage and also the money to put towards my businesses since I self funded everything and never took out loans.

Like I said, I’m not here to give business advice, I’m just sharing with you what I have done which is by no means the best route out there.

I knew I would be playing the long game since I didn’t have a formal education, the means to get a business loan or any money of my own to invest.

I have always been a big writer, I write down everything, my goals and dreams no matter how big or silly they sounded and looking back over old notebooks I have been able to tick off things, that at the time I wrote them, seemed impossible. So I know from experience that if you stick at it, you will get there.

Perhaps not in the way you thought.

I have never taken out a loan for any of my businesses like hairdressing, music or horse training, I have always funded the start up off my own back from the wages earned from my jobs.

Since I didn’t ever have money to throw at these ideas nor a business plan or the option of a loan I decided not to put my eggs in one basket so to speak. For me I needed multiple streams of income with minimal start up costs and because I am driven and passionate I knew that time wasn’t an issue, I was happy to commit long term and allow things to grow organically over a long period of time.

My personality does not let me rest, I am busy minded, creative and have lots of ideas. I can’t stay still for long and always have a project on the go. I get bored and distracted and jump from one thing to then next which may seem like bad traits to some but I don’t believe in bad traits, I believe that we are all different and if we learn what our strengths and weaknesses are we can use them to our advantage.

The advantage for me has been that I have managed to turn every single one of my hobbies and passions into an income stream. This means that I don’t end up turning something I love into a chore by doing it full time, it means I have balance. It also means that I am not forking out for my hobbies, initially my intention was to just have my hobbies pay for themselves so that it wasn’t costing me to do those activities. Did it start out that way? No of course not, it has taken a long time but now, not only are my hobbies paying for their own costs they’re also an extra source of income.

I am a romantic person, I hate the idea of doing something I hate just because I need the money, sure there have been many times I have had to just keep chugging along to pay the bills but my end goal has always been to be entirely self employed.

I just figured that if I wanted to be an adult that still did all the things I loved to do as a child then I would need to monetize these hobbies in order to afford to keep doing them.

I decided to go with the things that I love to do, not just one but all of them.

This meant I didn’t have to choose any one particular thing and it also meant that I had multiple avenues to explore as far as income and creativity. I have always chosen one main focus and set the others aside as hobbies then when I burn out on that one particular idea I prioritize something else.

Originally I focused on my hair business and music leaving horses as a hobby, this was around a ten year stint. Then I chose to put the horses first because there are only so many weekends in a year and if I was booked out with music and hairdressing there was no time for horse events. For 10 years I put the horse businesses first focusing on the breeding program then traveling and focusing on my training program whilst having my music and hairdressing as a hobby.

You may be thinking wow that is all over the place there is no way anyone can be successful without honing in on one business and giving that everything.

Well yes and no, absolutely if you want to be super successful the best bet is to probably go all in on one thing but for me it’s a lifestyle I’m chasing and crafting, I have no desire to be rich or famous, I simply want to live daily how I chose and my brain simply said “make money from what you love so you can afford to live that life”

For me this has been a lot of hard work but a blessing, I am now at the stage where I am no longer travelling and able to settle down in one place and all my business models are well and truly established.

All the time I spent on each idea and venture exploring the business side but also taking the pressure off each one to enjoy as a hobby, I am now in a position where I have multiple business models that I am really passionate about and that are all set up, I have spent years developing the skills and they can now earn my living.

Being self funded means there is no magic recipe, no kick start to earning a living, it takes time and lots of hard work.

It takes years of working harder than you ever would at your full time job but doing it for yourself with no pay and no way to even know if its even going to be worth your effort.

I have worked many jobs to learn new skills and to bring in money to keep throwing at my businesses. Over the years I have worked in the hair and beauty industry, hospitality, construction, horse breeding and training, music, administration, marketing, accounting, cattle, tourism just to name a few.

The way I have been able to afford to keep going and to expand is by doing everything for my businesses myself. Again, probably not the best business advice since I do believe in sticking to your strengths and paying someone who is an expert in something that you are not, is way more beneficial, but what do you do when you have no money??

I come from a very “do it yourself” family. To keep costs down I have learned multiple skills and continue to do so. Over the years these skills have come in handy time and time again and continue to save me money.

Working for myself means that I do absolutely everything I possibly can myself and if I cant then I learn how. Everything from book keeping and web design to starting colts and trimming feet, you name it!

I have lived by this quote and it has served me well…

A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one

I am finally at a point where I can afford to outsource, I can pay people who specialize in their craft so I can do the things I do well, but for the longest time this was not possible.

Passion is the key, I have chosen things that I love and do everyday and spent half my life figuring out how to earn a living by doing them.

The truth is, doing what I have done will not make you a living right away or make you rich, it’s years of hard work with no return and years of paying for everything for the business yourself. You don’t just start a business from scratch in the industries that I have chosen and magically it pays for your living…I choose the tricky stuff the fun things.

Until one day the business starts to hold its own, it starts supporting itself and I was no longer funding it. Does that mean I could quit my day job and it’s all happy days? No it just meant that my wage from my regular job was not being sucked dry and that my business was not costing me my personal money anymore.

But in order to grow you need new developments and new ideas and developments need money so I was back to throwing money at it again because I didn’t want the responsibility of having a loan. Until one day the business started earning enough to pay its own running costs and it’s own new risks and ideas.

Still I was a long way off being able to see any profit from it for myself or pay my own living expenses.

By sticking at it I was able to start cutting back my work days from my other jobs and put 100% of my time and effort into my businesses, then as I increase my turnover (notice the word turnover, this is not profit, this is simply money coming in and going right back out again) I was able to take more risks and grow and invest into my other businesses.

It is a risk, it is always a risk not having a wage that you can rely on each week or fortnight and every year is not the same, just because you have a good year doesn’t mean you can sit back and it all keeps ticking over. Nothing is guaranteed, you can’t take anything for grated, the only thing that is for certain is to work harder.

In all honestly it is simply loving something, loving a way of life and wanting to share that with people that keeps me going.

I think another misconception is that people think you need to be confident or outgoing…I am neither.

With my own personal businesses I am the product, it is really scary to put yourself out there but in my case I had no other option. I sing, I cut hair and I train horses, it’s me that I have to sell which is a really uncomfortable thing to get your head around when you are not naturally confident. This meant that I had to work extra hard and up level my skills in order to develop confidence.

You are your biggest investment!! Investing in your own knowledge and skills is never a waste of resources and even if you don’t see anything right away you will always see results later down the track.

Believing in yourself is hard and convincing others to believe in you is also hard but once you truly believe in you, your vision and what you have to offer is of value things get much clearer and easier!

With our company Rising Star Horses, the horses we breed are the product. I find that much easier to market since it’s not me personally.

The only way you can keep going on a rollercoaster such as being a self funded entrepreneur is by loving it, believing in it and sticking at it and seeing it through all the hard times.

There will always be hard times! I repeat - There will ALWAYS be hard times!

While I have been extremely lucky that my family and friends see my visions and support everything I do, I have had to work hard and fund things myself which I am grateful for because it has not only made me develop my skills but also my character.

What people don’t see is that for 15 years of my life I have not had a home. Sure I have lovely horses and cool businesses but I have put my horses and my business ventures as a priority over everything including everyday comforts, family and friends. I traveled and left everything behind to find myself and to become the person I needed to be in order to make the life I knew I wanted to live.

I used to work in hair salons but when I quit hairdressing I could no longer afford anything related to the industry for myself. That is why my hair is long, has no colour in it at all and I have grey hair, because once I left the industry I could no longer afford those luxuries. I used to wash my face and my hair with soap, there was no room in my budget for skincare or nice shampoo. I bought my everyday clothes (and still do) from op shops and am ever grateful for the hand me downs I am given.

There have been multiple times in my life where I have lived on 2minute noodles (with a fried egg on top if I wanted to be fancy and my budget permitted). I have lived in my swag or on the floor for most of my 20’s and travelled from job to job so I could afford to keep my horses and spend the money I earned on building my businesses. (no rent, no mortgage, keeping my living costs at an absolute minimum)

I only bought the bare necessities for myself.

It was a big milestone and novelty when I could buy skin care and shampoo that made my hair feel nice and it really wasn’t that long ago.

I have been through some hardships not just in everyday living and business but in life as well but I wouldn’t change a thing because now at 32 years old I am living my childhood dream of not giving up my hobbies, creativity and fun. I can spend my days doing what I love and share the things I have learned along the way with likeminded people. I can honestly say that doing it tough and going without was absolutely worth it to get to where I am now!

I finally have a real house! Not a shed, not a stable, not a building site or camp site or living out of my car, but an actual home with power, running water and hot water! Yes I have lived a long time without any of those things!

I have showered from a hose and gone to the loo in the bush more times than I would have liked but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. I wasn’t about to part with my horse just so I could pay a rent and have a bathroom.

This is my experience dabbling in business and I wanted to share because so many people ask me how I do what I do and I want people to see that, like anything in life, its not easy but if you are willing to sacrifice and do the things others are not and if you stay committed you will see results.

There is sacrifice in everything you just have to choose what you are willing to go without for the long term goal or bigger picture and stick at it.

I hope this gives you something to think about when you see other people “living their dreams” please know it is not always rainbows and roses and that 10 years is the minimum commitment before you will see major financial shifts doing something completely on your own. Of course if your business plan has investors and a fool proof business model you’re going to see results quicker but no reward comes without risk and hard work.

God bless to all you budding entrepreneurs xoxo