Chapter 1: The Decision

I’m Nathan Hoehne.

I’m a 25 year old software developer in Canada.

I’m just a normal guy.

I’m not a genius.

I'm not a millionaire.

I’m not a salesman by nature.

I’m not the guy from your high school that you thought would become an entrepreneur.

But I’m starting a business.

I’m not going to pretend to know the future or make predictions but I use AI every day and it keeps getting better and better. Maybe I’m watching too much Diary of a CEO, but it feels like AI is this giant wave that could engulf a lot of my current opportunities.

My plan is to get a surf board to ride the wave.

My plan is to become an owner.

I have no idea if I have what it takes.

But

if (I do nothing) 
  Worst case: unemployment 
  Best case: status quo
else // I do something 
  Worst case: new skills
  Best case: adventure​

That is, if I don’t try, things can only be neutral or bad, but if I try, every outcome is positive.

I will be documenting my adventure along the way and in each chapter I will give one concrete step that I’ve taken so you can follow along.

Concrete step #1: Register a business name

Not sure how this works in other countries but where I am in Manitoba, Canada, you register a business name before you can incorporate. Don’t think about it too hard. Chat with AI to come up with something really simple like “[your last name] Labs” or “[your last name] Consultants”. My dad’s company was “Hoehne Consultants” and I’m waiting for approval for “Hoehne Labs”.

You also don’t have to incorporate right away and lots of people would say it’s premature.

I decided to for the following reasons:

• Its a quick win that lets me say that I’m starting a business without putting in any real effort

• I want to have the freedom to run things through the business for tax and liability reasons (what can I say, I’m the son of an accountant)

• It will make it easier for me to publish apps to the Play/App Stores but more on that later…

DISCLAIMER:

I've never done this before and I'm learning as I go. Be cautious because I will make mistakes, but also be inspired because if I can start a business, so can you.