Expect it to be harder, take longer, and involve far more sacrifice than you can imagine right now.
I've not had a holiday in three years, still avoid taking a salary as far as I can so that I can pump that money back into the business and keep it growing quickly without having to give any shares away, have had more sleepless nights, heartbreaking days, and unexpected obstacles to overcome than I could possibly have conceived in the beginning - I've also put in far more money than I originally intended and in many ways don't produce the same product I did when I started.
The best advice I can give is a version of some advice The Lizard of Oz gave to me, and that is that there is a certain prestige associated with running a business you started - people will call you enterprising and if you are easily pleased that will bring some short term pleasure to you. But the truth is that there are many kinds of clever; many ways to be brilliant, and we are not all suited to all of them, either temperamentally or intellectually. There is an abstract appeal to running your own business, but honestly I don't think it's something you play around with, or dip your toe into.
No one can tell you what you need to know, all they can do is point you in the right direction and tell you to get started. I'd encourage anyone to have a go at it, and see if it is for them, but should you decide it is not for you after 10k and a year of your life, then there is no shame in that. Having staff (however good they are it's a headache), doing all the incredibly mundane shit like accounting, posting invoices, filing, meeting with suppliers, etc etc is really extremely tedious, and if you don't want to give 90% of your company away to some VC shark, then you will probably have to do it for years yourself.
It's an enormous commitment, and I personally still can't decide whether I love it or hate it, or whether I wouldn't be better doing something else. All you can do is try and see if it is for you.
I've not had a holiday in three years, still avoid taking a salary as far as I can so that I can pump that money back into the business and keep it growing quickly without having to give any shares away, have had more sleepless nights, heartbreaking days, and unexpected obstacles to overcome than I could possibly have conceived in the beginning - I've also put in far more money than I originally intended and in many ways don't produce the same product I did when I started.
The best advice I can give is a version of some advice The Lizard of Oz gave to me, and that is that there is a certain prestige associated with running a business you started - people will call you enterprising and if you are easily pleased that will bring some short term pleasure to you. But the truth is that there are many kinds of clever; many ways to be brilliant, and we are not all suited to all of them, either temperamentally or intellectually. There is an abstract appeal to running your own business, but honestly I don't think it's something you play around with, or dip your toe into.
No one can tell you what you need to know, all they can do is point you in the right direction and tell you to get started. I'd encourage anyone to have a go at it, and see if it is for them, but should you decide it is not for you after 10k and a year of your life, then there is no shame in that. Having staff (however good they are it's a headache), doing all the incredibly mundane shit like accounting, posting invoices, filing, meeting with suppliers, etc etc is really extremely tedious, and if you don't want to give 90% of your company away to some VC shark, then you will probably have to do it for years yourself.
It's an enormous commitment, and I personally still can't decide whether I love it or hate it, or whether I wouldn't be better doing something else. All you can do is try and see if it is for you.