By Razor Suleman » I AM a serial entrepreneur. I’ve spent my life building and growing my own businesses, and there’s no other career path I’d choose. Being an entrepreneur and travelling the road to success is something I’m truly passionate about, and thanks to hard work (and a little luck) I’ve achieved many of my personal and professional goals. However, I would never have succeeded in entrepreneurship if starting your own business truly meant going it alone.
I’d like to share with you the story of how I launched my very first business, and how the lessons I learned then on the importance of doing what you love, following your dreams, and having great people around to support you (personally and professionally) built the groundwork for my entire entrepreneurial career.
I started collecting sports cards as a hobby when I was very young. Soon, I was hooked – nothing was more exciting to me than collecting and trading those cards. So when an opportunity came around one day marrying my biggest passion with the potential to earn money doing it, I jumped at the chance.
When I was 15 years old, I heard that a brand new line of hockey cards was being launched and it was going to be hugely successful. I came up with my very first business plan: If I could become a real sports card dealer, and buy a couple of cases wholesale when they first came out, I could sell them for a quick profit.
But my plan, as many great plans do, had a serious roadblock to overcome. I needed $18,000 in capital upfront to make this business happen. I had a little bit of money saved from delivering newspapers, but that totalled only $3,000. I needed help. So I went to the person I was closest to, who has always believed in me: my mom.
I told her how great this opportunity was and how I would have all 20 cases sold before they arrived. As always, my mom was very encouraging and supportive. Unfortunately, she couldn’t lend me the money. You see, I grew up in a very traditional household and my dad controlled our limited funds.
To date, I’ve secured a million dollar line from my very conservative bank and received a multimillion dollar term sheet from a tier-one venture capital firm, but asking my dad if I could borrow $15,000 was the most difficult financing meeting I have ever had.
I told him of my plan to buy $18,000 worth of hockey cards. I included my one-page business plan (it was more of the cocktail napkin variety), and a document that outlined specifically when I would pay him back. Somehow, my presentation was a success, and my dad agreed to finance my venture.
With my certified check in hand, I couriered my order and less than a month later I received my 20 cases of hockey cards. As per my plan, I flipped them to my network of sports card dealers for a tidy profit. In the span of two months, I got accepted as a legitimate dealer, bought and sold $18,000 in hockey cards, paid back my dad, and was left with a nice little pool of capital to continue financing my future ventures.
I reinvested the capital from my first endeavour to finance my next. I’ve used this ‘bootstrapping’ strategy throughout my entrepreneurial career and it, along with a lot of advice and help along the way from friends, mentors, and partners, has allowed me to take my $3,000 in seed capital and build it into a company now valued at $10 million.
It’s not easy to ask for help, and it’s even tougher when the help you need is of the financial variety. However, when you are truly passionate about something and have a lot of faith that you will succeed, it’s worth it.
• Razor Suleman is CEO, I Love Rewards, and winner of Business Development Bank of Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007.
• Got a question about starting up a business that you’d like Razor Suleman to address? Send an email to
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