The richest people I know are the people I went to college with who had side busiensses in college. Or people who dropped out of college to focus on a business they started. Basically, smart people who started a business. There are lots of people who start businesses who aren’t smart and dedicated who fail. There are a lot of smart, dedicated people who don’t have the b__lls to start their own business (myself included). You need that combination.
The biggest trick to staying in biz with a small biz PARTICULARLY in a business UNfriendly state (ex: NYS), is to KEEP UP WITH YOUR PAPERWORK! You simply MUST do DAILY data input. This is the ONLY way to keep track of what is going on. Just passed our 10th year this July. Also we have rental property in a ultra tenant friendly area. Not easy.