Although his net worth is in the millions, you can find KJ VanDerwerken driving around Charlotte in his 1995 Jeep Wrangler. On extra hot days he has to hit the dash for the air conditioning to kick on. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’ve never had a car payment in my entire life. I’ve never lost money on a trade in. I’ve never been stuck in a lease. My car has never depreciated in value. My insurance is dirt cheap” he says. “I’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars over my life by opting out of trying to impress everyone around me with things I don’t need. And I personally believe that same philosophy has helped me tremendously in entrepreneurship”.
KJ has taken this mindset of staying lean and applied it to his past three start up businesses. And with this has found great success. Staying lean doesn’t necessarily mean being frugal, although in many cases that helps. The goal is growth. But cash flow is king and profitability matters. “When you’re deploying your own capital to fund your business, you must critically examine your potential opportunities, and where you decide to allocate that money” KJ stresses. “Spend your resources on what will increase revenue and grown your business. Invest into what the market is supporting and has shown to be successful”.
Unnecessary overhead can crush startups. In a digital world as a self-funded entrepreneur, you need to look to cut costs and give yourself the sweat equity where you can. “Work longer hours to avoid hiring an additional employee.
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Set up and office in your garage instead of leasing costly space. Learn a new skill, and complete expensive tasks you’d otherwise have to outsource such as building a website.” KJ adds. Entrepreneurship is not pretty. It can be extremely stressful. It’s many long days and sleepless nights. The leaner you company get to start, much of those problems will be alleviated.
Technology has awarded entrepreneurs in many facets. “Work can be done much more efficiently. Automating processes and tasks have become much easier.” KJ says. “I’m a huge data guy. Technology has allowed me to track and monitor a plethora of metrics from customer acquisition and retention costs to conversion rate to monthly recurring revenue.
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Technology allows you to analyze and make decisions that will best help your business at minimal cost”. Technology has also made information somewhat of a commodity. A google or YouTube search can lead you to free Harvard lectures or get you in a high level self-teach course. It’s also allowed you to outsource things you can’t learn to a global pool of skill.
Keeping your self-funded start-up lean, can save it from failing and losing your time and investment. “I’m not saying don’t spend money on things you love and that bring you happiness in life. I just recommend becoming more aware of spending money on things you know don’t bring either” KJ beautifully states. “And if you’re self-funding a startup venture staying lean should be a focus”.
If you’d like to get in touch or follow KJ, you can find him at https://www.instagram.com/kjvanderwerken/
