How to start a business with no industry experience
Starting a business without prior knowledge of accounting, supply chains, pricing, or management leaves founders overwhelmed about where to begin. Without knowing standard industry shortcuts or how to source suppliers, early clients and operations become stressful administrative headaches.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Try popups and online before committing to a brick and mortar
- 2Get a job at existing bookstore to learn the skills you lack
- 3Start small with a coffee cart or online storefront like Shopify before scaling up
- 4getting a short internship or part-time job first
- 5starting small gigs during college while having more free time
- 6gaining years of experience in various industries before freelancing
- 7Buying an established MSP instead of building one
- 8Partnering with an existing MSP owner who retains an equity stake
- 9Acquiring a plumbing or traditional CPA business instead
- 10Working for another company to learn the operational side of the business before launching
- 11Finding another sales job to make enough money while gaining experience
- 12Waiting to take intermediate accounting classes and tax courses before doing any work
- 13Pursuing an Enrolled Agent (EA) license in college to land an internship instead
- 14Developing a unique set of niche skills to market added value
- 15starting off small and making a few pairs to see if they would sell
- 16Reading business books and following a structured reading list
- 17Planning to talk to potential customers months before launch
- 18Relying on an agency to handle marketing and sales
- 19Asking questions in community forums and subreddits
- 20trying to do small cash jobs under a DBA
- 21taking chainsaw and urban forestry classes with the IAA
- 22asking for suggestions on reddit about door knocking, facebook posts, pricing, and invoicing software
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’ve owned my MSP since 2019 and built it from scratch. It’s now profitable and comfortably covers its expenses, but getting to that point was not easy.”source ↗
“Customer acquisition has by far been the biggest challenge.”source ↗
“Now I am thinking how hard would it be to start my own company? I have my own LLC, ladder, couger paws. But up until getting the ACV check, I have no idea what to do. I do not know how to supplement, I don't quite understand how much subcontractors bring to the table, I don't know what I don't know.”source ↗
“Should I just find another sales job? Or can I learn everything else and leverage my door knocking skills to run my own company?”source ↗
“Can I start selling jobs today if I am not officially a licensed contractor yet?”source ↗
“Same it takes several years to make money and if my spouse wasn’t making money I could have never survived.”source ↗
“I’m currently confused about where and how to begin building my portfolio, especially since I don’t have any professional experience yet.”source ↗
“As others have said, buy, unless you’re lucky, if you start from scratch you’ll be throwing money at it and having to onboard all you’re tools from scratch.”source ↗
“I started doing small gigs for local shops in my final year and first few clients were a headache because I didn't know the common shortcuts people use.”source ↗
“I’ve never done anything like this and would love some advice on what I need to do.”source ↗
“Would I need to get liability insurance to start?”source ↗
“Also when you I need to declare to HMRC?”source ↗
“I’m starting my startup next year. This will be my second launch. My first launch failed because I lacked business and marketing knowledge and didn’t have enough capital.”source ↗
“I have plenty of time to learn now, so I want to understand how to run a business and how startups actually work.”source ↗
“I really need help. I’m starting from zero and don’t have much support.”source ↗
“I would never build a new msp from scratch ever again. You couldn't pay me enough, there's nothing you could offer in any reasonable way to get me to start again.”source ↗
“My main problem is that I don't know what I'm doing or where to start. I don't know much about accounting, ordering supplies (or where to buy from), setting prices, or management.”source ↗
“Problem is has been I've never run a service before and don't know how to go about it.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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