On January 1st, 2008 I started Eligeo officially.  Although I had incorporated the company in 2006, I finally went into business offering up services via the Internet.  I was still at my day job over at Jim Pattison Group but it was my intention to get out and finally start my business.  Money was the only real barrier at this point but I was determined to quit my job and follow my dream.

That January I settled on several ways to round up money to start my business including:

1. Selling my beloved pick-up truck for a more fuel efficient vehicle
2. Re-finance my home
3. Doing as much work part-time as possible to fill the bank with money
4. Contacting banks, including CYBF to obtain financing

In January I started doing a lot of one off projects for people all over the Internet.  A lot of these were contract jobs found through websites like Freelancer and Elance.  I quickly worked up enough cash to put $15,000 in the bank and I refused to touch it.  It probably took me about 6 months to get that money in the bank.  I had specifically opened a business banking account to ensure that I wouldn’t touch any of the money for my own personal use.

The next step was to re-finance my home to settle all of my credit card and line of credit debt.  I was able to extract about $20,000 out of there which literally wiped out all of my debt and I was now debt free except for my condo that I own.  And in 2008 you were still able to max out your mortgages to 40 years, although I only did 35.  Not only that the recession fears were about to hit so I was able to get a favourable rate on my mortgage.

Next up was selling my truck.  This was a tough day as I loved my 4×4 Colorado Truck.  It was the metallic orange colour along with black accents that made it really sharp.  I also had the truck bed tent that went with it and also had a nice tonneau cover as a final touch.  I sold this truck and was able to pay off my remaining loan and shift some of the left over money into the company to help purchase a company vehicle.

Finally, I approached the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to solidify a loan of $15,000 for the company.  This was the final piece of the puzzle for me.  The first year meant no principal payments and only interest which was about $50 a month or so.  This gave me the flexibility to get things rolling quickly.  The process of going through CYBF was tough since there were a lot of hoops and approvals to get things done (I believe this has since changed with a better approval process thanks to some wonderful people here in the Calgary CYBF branch).

With all of those things out of the way I was ready to start Eligeo.  On July 31st, 2008 I officially left the world of being an employee and began my adventure as an entrepreneur.  Boy was I scared.  The first gotcha was that the CYBF loan hadn’t been approved at this point but it was maybe a week or so into August that I was approved and the funds were finally dispersed on August 28th.  I was ready to go armed with $30,000 in the bank and no debt.

It’s amazing how quickly that money disappears.  And believe me I burned through every single penny of that $30,000 over the first year which include good decisions and some really bad decisions.  But I persevered and continued to work hard to make sure that the business grew.

Money really saved my butt and there were a few times I almost pulled the plug on the business in the first year.  There were some very challenging moments but I was able to get through them because I stashed away enough money to work through them.

I was prepared for a few things going into this including the fact that I’d be fairly poor for the first while, my credit rating was going to take a big hit and it was going to be awhile before I had a really good steak dinner again.  But believe me it all worked out and it continues to work out.

Most businesses shut down in the first year and I believe the number is somewhere around 90% won’t make it 5 years.  Well, I’m in year 5 and believe me we’re going strong and money isn’t an issue anymore.  There are new challenges to face when building a business and that’s something I’m involved with day in and out with Eligeo.

So to recap a few things:

• Work your butt off part-time to come up with as much money as you can
• Look at all sorts of financing options through organizations such as CYBF or other government sponsored programs
• You might have to give up some of the luxuries for the first while but they’ll come back one day, it’s just a matter of whether or not you can force yourself to sacrifice it