The Accidental Entrepreneur

When a Wrong Number Leads to a Right Business

You know that moment when the universe throws you a massive curveball, and you're standing there thinking "What hell just happened?" That was me in March 2007, when a wrong number changed our family’s entire life trajectory. Y’all I can’t make this up – our multi-million dollar consulting business started because someone dialed the wrong number on a land line no less.

Let me back up.

My husband, Josh, had just left his big corporate job as VP of Sales. We had three kids under 10, a mortgage, and this “brilliant” idea to "do something on our own." What was that something? Great question... we had no clue.

As I look back on that time now I naively thought my day to day life wouldn’t really change that much. I was thinking he'd figure it out while I kept managing our domestic chaos. BAHAHAHA! Nope that is not how this “fairy tale” ended.

That One Wrong Number...

It was 2007. We’d moved back to North Carolina where I am from. The kids were settled in school. It was just a normal day. When Josh, my husband, walked into the kitchen with this funny look on his face. He had just gotten off a wrong number call – with a guy from Canada who had a furniture company and was looking to sell on Walmart.com. Instead of saying "wrong number" and hanging up, he'd ended up in a 30-minute conversation about e-commerce strategy.

This wrong number caller had accidentally dialed our home office while looking for some other guy, not Josh. This is where things get weird. – my husband had just spent the previous two years developing and expanding an e-commerce sales channel for a major ready to assemble furniture company. Coincidence or kismet?

Y’all, I kid you not - this is how a wrong number turned into our first client before we even had a business name. (I’ll tell you that story another day.)

Fish Out of Water: Our Early Business Days

We were a bit like fish out of water. My husband knew corporate but knew nothing about starting a small business from scratch. I had been a Mom in Chief and Professional Volunteer. As you can imagine right off the bat we ran into a series of obstacles.

1. Pricing?

2. Roles and responsibilities?

3. New clients?

There were many changes that happened within our family too. These were 3 of our top level stressors.

1. Brand New Kind of Family budget

2. New relationship dynamics with your spouse

3. Extended family’s “helpful” advice.

One of the things I promised to y’all was that I was going to keep it real like a Big Sister. We have had many evolutions to the problems of charging for services, roles & responsibilities, and client acquisition. Some worked and others did not but this is what we did for the first year.

The First Three Hurdles

What to charge?

We created a detailed scope of work for our client. Determined how many hours a week would be spent on that client. This included any prep time as well. Then, set an hourly rate. We intentionally padded the hourly rate knowing many potential clients would want to negotiate. (And yes, prospective clients did try their best to negotiate us below our wiggle room but, we had to hold firm. Well, I held firm. Josh wanted the business.)

Who did what?

This took us YEARS to figure out. In the beginning I felt intimidated because I didn’t have corporate work experience. I hadn’t managed teams of people. Josh had.

We discovered a very interesting thing. My years of volunteering gave the exact skill set to start a new business. I had been used to being the finance person, customer service person, and wrangler of cats. The single best volunteer job for anyone who wants to own their own business is PTA President. IYKYK

We had to have each of us in our own Zone of Genius. Josh is a master at account knowledge, national account management and getting client buy in.

Growing the client base

The first few years this was nothing short of a hustle and grind. Remember it was 2007. Selling furniture and home goods on the internet was in its infancy. For some perspective Wayfair was CSN Stores. Niraj Shah, co-founder of Wayfair, was just like us. Running around trade shows trying to convince suppliers that e-commerce was the best way to grow.

We went to every home decor and furniture tradeshow in the US. It was exhausting. One good thing did come from it. We were able to build relationships with the internet retailers at the time (Overstock, Walmart, One Kings Lane, Wayfair, Rue La La…). We both needed to grow our customer base.

Real Life: The Home Front Changes

Budget

Our yearly income took a 50% hit the first few years. Think about that for a few minutes. It was a HUGE adjustment for all of us. Annual vacations to the beach had to be put on hold. New clothes were bought when the kids outgrew the old not just because. We did not have expendable income. Period.

Here’s the funny thing. Our kids are now grown and when they look back at that time all they remember is trips to the library, going to town square to hear the free concerts, and playing hide and seek at night in the neighborhood.

New Relationship

I think one of the reasons Josh and I make good business partners is the same characteristics that make us good life partners. We like each other as people. We respect each other. We have the same values and morals. Now that is not to say he doesn’t drive me bat sh*t crazy sometimes. 🤪

We had to set new ground rules. 1) No talking about work before 8am and after 7pm. You would be surprised how hard this can be and how necessary it is. Roles at work didn’t transfer over to roles at home. 2) Don’t micromanage me. This was hard for Josh. He kept wanting to organize me and my schedule with the kids. 3) Don’t let work or personal disagreements bleed into each other. I struggle with this. If I was ticked off at something Josh did or didn’t do I had a heck of a time not taking it out of him at work. I know this is so wrong! I’ve worked really hard to stop it with success most of the time.

Helpful Advice

My parents were highly invested in the success of our new company because we had moved home. They loved being around the corner from the kids. I think this gave them the idea that we would welcome all unsolicited advice. It was TOUGH! My best advice here is to do what we SHOULD have done. Sit down with my folks from the get go and set some ground rules similar to the ones Josh and I made with each other. I think if we had done that it would have saved Josh and I a lot of angst.

The Real Recipe: Communications, Boundaries, & Belief

Communication

When I was rereading the above one of the through lines was Communication. When starting a new business you need to continually communicate with your partners, spouse, kids, family members, and friends.

Boundaries

You either love them or hate them but as a business owner they are vital to keeping you sane.

Faith

On the one year anniversary of our business I gave Josh a little plaque that he still has in his office today. It is a quote from Martin Luther King, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” I think that sums up entrepreneurship. Trust in yourself to take that first step.

Over the next few weeks and months I will provide you with step by step instructions on how to create roles and responsibilities, set boundaries, and charge your worth.

I have to say I am grateful everyday for our caller with the wrong number. It has been the best thing ever.

Do you have a business? If so, I’d love to know how it started? Leave a comment below.