I've looked at my checkbook about three times since quitting my previous job back in May 2014. Fortunately, my wife handles the finances at home -- a particularly stressful job when household income briefly plunges to near $0 during startup mode.As you may recall, Amy Katz and I co-founded After Nines Inc. in September 2014. We bootstrapped the company and we didn't take any money out of the business until around March 2015. Every dollar After Nines Inc. earned during the first few months flowed back into the business.Creative freedom. End-to-end business control. The ability to partner on ideas with each other -- taking reasonably good concepts and then shaping them, polishing them, and nurturing them into something great. The ability to say "I'm done" for the day because of family commitments. The ability to say "I'm working 24 hours today" because I've got a creative itch that needs to be scratched right now -- and everything else must move to the back burner. The opportunity to speak with the world's leading I.T. entrepreneurs -- to learn what makes them tick. Pride of ownership from the ideas that begin to percolate in your head. Backed by those ideas, rapid satisfaction from the things you build. But building a business also means delayed satisfaction on the financial front. The first check I received from After Nines Inc. arrived in Q1 2015 -- about four months after our launch. It covered some of my expenses from 2014 -- about $2,000, I think.It was the sweetest $2,000 check I've deposited in quite a long time, because it represented positive cash flow at After Nines Inc. Thanks to Amy's planning and financial management, we've essentially been cash flow positive since day one. But again, the cash flows back into the business and not to us in any significant way. At least not yet.Recurring revenue from subscription services. Data gathering, analysis and true business intelligence from the data. Influence the influencers. Any-to-any communications -- thanks to cloud and mobile computing. We've now got the cash flow to invest in those trends -- and cover them here.If our R&D and financial plan come together as expected, Amy and I should receive our first official payroll paychecks around January 2016.In the meantime, our own day-to-day satisfaction building a company carries us forward. Call us crazy. But please, call us entrepreneurs.
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