How did Electrovicity get started?
A true story about how, and a little bit about why I started Electrovicity.
A true story about how, and a little bit about why I started Electrovicity.
Thank you for visiting Electrovicity on blogger, and thank you for your time. At this time, Electrovicity is a full-time home-based business that my wife and I operate. I'm sure many folks who have done something new would agree there is always a learning curve, and starting a new business is no different. While neither my wife nor I have ever taken a salary from the business or paid ourselves, deciding to try something new is worth it, making it profitable and getting paid is part of the process and challenge. I'd rather know I tried to do something earnest, something independent, and outside my comfort zone than to never have tried at all. I've been fatherless since the age of five, maybe sooner. To me work is work, and I've always worked, and I've always worked hard for others and I mean physical hard work, straight labor, it's called sweat equity, and I'll continue to work. I remember my first job was about a year after mom passed away, I was thirteen years old. A friend of mine asked me if I'd like to make some money, so I took her up on an offer to work at a warehouse. I worked part-time over the summer break and made just over three hundred dollars. And what did I do? I spent it on a Yamaha dual cassette tape player. One summer I did yard work, another summer I would do handy work like interior house painting projects and small jobs. Before I knew it, I graduated from high school and went to University. When I started University I left living with my aunt and uncle and rented a room from my cousin and I was working two jobs, both were part-time. I remember being afraid to borrow money and take out a student loan, I think I borrowed like seven thousand dollars and I paid it back as soon as I could. I worked at night five days a week, went to school during the day and worked weekends at a bank. Not only that, I was trying to earn a University level degree, but I wasn't focused on University and my education suffered, and my bad grades reflected my effort at University. I did get to learn some taekwondo and even had an opportunity to fight in a University sponsored tournament. I'm glad I got a chance to go to University, and I'd say overall it was a positive life learning experience, I just wasn't ready. Then my living situation changed, and I found myself looking for a place to live. Family came through for me with a place to stay while I regrouped. I was working numerous hours now, still two jobs, and I was able to get into a small studio for eight hundred dollars a month. Then my car broke down, but I had a bike. It was winter, and I rode my bike to work, and work was an easy thirty to forty-five minutes away from my studio. I got off work at three in the morning, and it was cold, windy and raining heavy all the way home, riding on my bike. So, there I was on my own, working and living life, then I met my wife. How we met is another story, and here I am, it's 2022, I'm older, married, have a small business, an entrepreneur and living life. Now what? Keep reading.
Electrovicity began when I thought about starting a small business back in 2005 through 2007. My idea was to do computer repair work. I liked building and tinkering, but I had no real experience with electronics or computers. I took an introductory electronics class at a local Junior College, got my business license for reselling, so I could connect with legitimate parts suppliers, and before I knew it, I was in the computer repair business. Unfortunately, I didn't build the skills to pay the bills, and I quickly found myself spending huge amounts of time trying to fix computers and sometimes having to return the computer without being able to repair it. If I couldn't fix it I wouldn't charge my customer, and I didn't get paid and all my time was gone. I learned lots from the work I was able to accomplish, and I even built a few custom PCs that folks thought highly of. In the end, my computer repair business failed, but I gained some valuable knowledge in the process. So back to the drawing board I went. Soon we entered the eye of the economic storm of 2007, 2008, and it hit almost everyone I knew like a ton of bricks. It looked like the big bad wolf huffed, and puffed, and blew the housing bubble up, down, round and round. Well thinking back to my college days I remember somewhere in one of my classes we discussed an economic downturn is often the best time for starting a new business. This time I took my lessons learned and started brainstorming new business names, new ideas and I researched selling products online. Oh, I called my first business Advanced Creative Technologies, and that name got shortened to A.C.T computer repair and service. Electronics were fresh in my mind from fixing computers, and I had established some business connections with parts vendors and wholesale distributors. During my brainstorming efforts for my next business I thought of my favorite 80s TV show, Miami Vice and while I might have the seriousness of Castillo, I'd like to think I'm more of a Sonny Crocket with Tubbs moves 😁. So anyway, How did I make the name Electrovicity? I took the word electronic, added vice and threw in city and came up with Electro Vice City, and I shortened that to Electrovicity and ran with it. I don't fix computers anymore, but I still have Electrovicity. Electrovicity just kind of naturally morphed into an online sales and service provider. As I mentioned previously, I thought, why not sell stuff online. That's when I started with auctions on eBay and selling stuff on Amazon. As time moved on sales were moving along and like always I was working hard, and had a full-time job doing plenty of hours and overtime trying to provide capital for the business without taking on too much debt to pay for inventory, stuff to sell and life. It was going ok until Covid and job loss, enough said on that. I still have Electrovicity, and I'm still striving, learning and moving. Thanks for taking a moment to read about my life and starting a business named Electrovicity, follow along, read along, https://blog.electrovicity.com/, and shop our eBay and Amazon stores.
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