Earn an income doing what you love.
Three and a half years ago, I decided to build a billion-dollar business. “Go big or go home,” so I thought.
Three and a half years later, 80% of my life’s savings (13 years, to be exact) are gone. My investors’ money, also gone. At 36, I have three children, and I’m unemployed.
Comparatively, my sister, Ana, started her company, Caralarga, 12 years ago. Her company employs over 50 collaborators and serves hundreds of customers globally. She earns a good enough monthly income, loves what she does, and lives her life on her terms.
I’m here to tell you what I wish I had known three and a half years ago.
Contrary to popular belief, starting a business is the easiest, most satisfying thing to do. The problem is our conception of what a company is.
Most of us think that our business has to be something bigger than ourselves. The type of advice we read and hear is primarily advice that drives our ego, not our passion:
“Go big or go home.”
“Fail fast, fail often, fail forward.”
“Move fast and break things.”
Social media fills our brains with other people’s success stories. Stories we use to compare ourselves. And that’s the problem. We compare our non-existing businesses to thriving multi-million dollar startups we read about in the news, creating enormous expectations for ourselves and building a massive mental barrier, making us feel incapable of starting a company.
We have to change the way we think about entrepreneurship and ourselves.
We forget that there are other types of companies: Microbusinesses. These are fun and pressureless projects, with no expectations and stigmas around them. They feel like a life project, with no deadlines. They are personal and purpose-driven.
She didn’t know it then, but Ana started Caralarga as a Microbusiness 12 long years ago.
In 2009, Ana moved to Hong Kong because of her husband’s work. She has always loved art, crafts, culture, and traditions. She was fortunate to be born and raised in Mexico, a culturally rich country with beautiful traditions.
Honk Kong was a perfect place to show locals and tourists about Mexican culture and traditions. Driven by her curiosity, she decided to set up a small Art Gallery, showcasing photographs and crafts that told the stories of Mexican independent artists.
To her surprise, visiting customers bought every piece!
Me: What did you expect when setting up this gallery?
Ana: I don’t know. I just wanted to showcase the art that I liked. I didn’t expect to sell even one piece of art.
Me: What did you do to sell all the pieces?
Ana: I don’t know! (laughing humbly)
Motivated by her success, she decided to set up a second gallery. She sold zero pieces. Boom! Not what she expected, but she learned that she loved to meet with the artists. Ana was curious about their backgrounds and stories. Her passion for arts, crafts, culture, and traditions increased. She kept moving, slowly and steadily.
In 2011 Ana returned to Mexico City and in 2013 moved to Queretaro, a city north of Mexico City, because of her husband’s work (again!). Ana’s husband set up a microbrewery in a small community called Hercules in Queretaro. (If you like high-quality craft beer, you have to try Hercules’s. Luis’s story is another one to tell.)
In Queretaro, Ana met Soco, an amazing artesana (craftswoman), and now the person who leads a couple of dozen artesanas in Caralarga’s workshop. Inspired by a trip to India, Ana started importing silk and pearls to design women’s jewelry. Soco has a fantastic skill to craft beautiful products, bringing Ana’s designs to life. Without overthinking it, Ana and Soco created their first jewelry collection with raw materials from Asia, combined with Mexican designs and crafting technics.
They showcased their collection in a well-known Baazar in Mexico City, where customers loved and bought all of Caralarga’s products.
In 2014, Ana was in the delivery room when her husband approached her, saying, “look, Ana, Caralarga’s logo is ready. Do you like it?” Caralarga was officially born. So was her third child.
Today, Caralarga is still Ana’s life project. To her, it’s not a multi-million dollar revenue business.
Inspired by her story and my learnings from failing to build a billion-dollar company, I decided to start my Microbusiness called Build Companies six months ago. So far, I’ve generated $1,200 in revenue from three customers—after paying taxes, I was able to buy my company’s internet domains, build my website, buy some flowers for my wife, AND... I still have some money left!
I hope that Build Companies becomes the business where I can earn a good enough salary to live life on my terms, just like my sister.
Microbusinesses are the perfect solution for anyone who wants to generate an income by doing what they love. I believe everyone should own a Microbusiness.
Don’t try to build a multi-million dollar business. You will most probably fail. (Remember? 90% of startups fail.) Follow this path, and you’ll live under high stress. You will learn a lot, and you might be the lucky one to be in the 10% of founders that thrive.
Do you want to be lucky, or would you like to build a project that makes you happy, is sustainable, and has a 90% chance of success?
Start your Microbusiness.
Join our community of hundreds of Microbusiness builders
