Eight years ago Jason Wachob was physically crippled from a business venture that went bust.
“I flew 150,000 miles coach in a single year for my last start up company,” Jason said in a recent interview. “When you’re 6’7”, that’s torture.”
By the end of 2006, the former Columbia basketball standout’s business had tanked. He had nothing to show for it but two bulging disks in his lower back.
Building a successful business is typically done by trial and error, with many hurdles along the way. And when it’s your first company, every day involves making mistakes and learning something new.
We asked small-business owners around America to tell us the one thing they wished they’d known when they first started their businesses.
We’ve broken out some of the best to serve as a primer on getting as much as possible right the first time around.
Dispatches From The Front 