I Started My Business With an $8,000 Credit Card. Here’s Why I Did the Grunt Work Myself.

I started my medical business, MedLab International, with only an $8,000 credit card. I used that money to pay for my website and the first batch of inventory, but it also left me in a difficult position. Unless I could start bringing in orders and delivering on my promises to customers fast, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent.

So, with no outside investment and very little money to work with, I couldn’t afford to hire people to do the work for me back then. I had to figure out how to run the business myself.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but having to do everything myself taught me how my business actually worked. When I eventually started hiring, I had a much better idea of what I needed from people because I’d already done their jobs myself.

Do the work yourself

When you’re bootstrapping a business, you don’t always have the money to hire someone every time a new job needs doing. In the early days of MedLab, that meant I had to do pretty much everything myself.

I packed boxes in the warehouse, managed inventory and negotiated directly with suppliers. I couldn’t afford a forklift, so I climbed warehouse racks to move boxes around. I even drove packages to the post office at 3 p.m. on Saturdays to make sure customers got their orders on time.

Outside the warehouse, I also handled customer support and onboarding. I continued doing much of this work myself as the business grew because I couldn’t afford to build the right team overnight and didn’t want to rush that process.

The hours were long, but doing those jobs taught me how much work was involved and what customers needed from us. When I eventually started hiring, I knew what I was asking people to do because I’d already done it myself.

Spend money where it matters

When you first start a business, it’s very tempting to spend money on things that will make it feel like a proper company. There’s an impulse to splash out on an office, hire a big team or bring outside experts on board. But none of those things necessarily help you make your first sale.

Because I didn’t have venture capital or money to fall back on, I had to be careful about where every dollar went. I negotiated with suppliers, kept costs down wherever I could and put money back into the business rather than buying things we didn’t really need back then.

I couldn’t afford to spend money just because something would make my life easier. I had to think carefully about what the business needed, rather than what I wanted it to look like in a few years. 

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time to invest in offices and bigger teams. But there’s no point spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need yet.

Know when it’s time to grow

As the business grew, there were more orders to pack, customers to deal with and work than I could realistically handle myself. That’s when I knew it was time to start bringing people in. Luckily, when I started hiring, I knew exactly which jobs I needed help with because I’d already spent countless hours doing them myself.

But knowing which jobs needed filling was only part of it. I also had to find the right people. I’ve always liked hiring people with a chip on their shoulder. People who might not have the most impressive qualifications but have something to prove. I look for people who are willing to work hard and learn as they go.

Some of those early hires from around 10 years ago are still with us today. Seeing them grow with the business, buy homes and support their families has been one of the best parts of the whole experience.

Keep building, even when you succeed

MedLab started out in a warehouse that was around 600 square feet. We then moved into a 1,100-square-foot space and eventually grew into a 160,000-square-foot operation. We also made the Inc. 5000 list, which is something I never would have imagined when I was packing boxes myself and only sleeping a few hours a night.

But even then, I didn’t spend much time celebrating. I put the Inc. 5000 plaques in a closet and got back to work. I’ve since gone on to build several other businesses, and I still love the process of starting something from nothing. I think those early years, when I had no choice but to do everything myself, taught me more than anything else.

Success is not arrival; it is becoming. There is no finish line. The price is the point, and I will keep inching forward every single day forever.

I started my medical business, MedLab International, with only an $8,000 credit card. I used that money to pay for my website and the first batch of inventory, but it also left me in a difficult position. Unless I could start bringing in orders and delivering on my promises to customers fast, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent.

So, with no outside investment and very little money to work with, I couldn’t afford to hire people to do the work for me back then. I had to figure out how to run the business myself.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but having to do everything myself taught me how my business actually worked. When I eventually started hiring, I had a much better idea of what I needed from people because I’d already done their jobs myself.