Incfile is where entrepreneurs go to power their bright business ideas, but who flipped the switch to power up Incfile? You’re about to find out. Learn more about how Nick Siha and Dustin Ray got to where they are today, why they get out of bed in the morning (if they stop long enough to sleep) and what they see ahead for Incfile’s future.
The OG Hustlers
What do a firefighter and a hip-hop music executive have in common? Not much, you might think, but then, you haven’t met Nick Siha and Dustin Ray. “You could definitely say Incfile was our side hustle,” Nick says. In fact, it was a side hustle born out of another side hustle when Nick realized how complicated (and expensive) it was to form an LLC for a business he was starting with a buddy.
Fast forward a few years, when Dustin was working his own side hustle, moonlighting from the music industry with a graphic design business. The two connected via a mutual acquaintance, and the result was a lasting business partnership, a decade-long friendship and an ongoing legacy of supporting and inspiring the entrepreneurial dream.
“It's all about that entrepreneurial spirit, that ‘make it happen’ mentality, that ‘go get it’ attitude, that hustle culture. You don't let anything get in your way.” – Dustin Ray, Co-CEO, Incfile
Walk a Mile in Your Shoes? These Guys Have.
High-dollar investors and trust-fund backers don’t know much about bootstrapping their way to entrepreneurial success. That’s why Nick and Dustin knew they had something special. Because every challenge a future business owner faces — every hurdle, every victory and every heartbreak — they’ve faced it, too.
From where they started to where they are now — it’s a path that every entrepreneur has walked. And while not all arrive at the same destination, who better to give you a roadmap for the journey than someone who’s already traveled it?
“Later this year,” Nick says, “we'll have served over a million customers. By next year, we will have formed over a million entities. Hitting that million is a huge milestone for us, and to be able to do it the way we did it — we didn't go raise millions of dollars and come to the market. We came to the market, just like everybody else does. And I think that's a really important part of our story — that all of our growth has been organic.”
“I think entrepreneurship is the backbone of the economy. It's what drives the country forward. Everyone hopes to achieve some sort of financial, economic independence, and these days those things are really only achievable through entrepreneurship.” – Nick Siha, Founder & Co-CEO, Incfile
A Word of Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Making business dreams a reality is a pretty tall order, but it’s what gets both Nick and Dustin out of bed in the morning (or, more accurately, keeps them up at night). They’re committed to creating solutions that make the road to entrepreneurship easier to travel and to take down the barriers that tell prospective business owners they need to have a certain amount of money, skills or education to validate their goals.
But the one question Dustin gets asked most often by aspiring business owners?
“When do you know the time is right?”
Dustin, however, doesn’t shy away from dropping some truth. “I'm gonna tell you right now,” he says, “you're never gonna know. And the question you have to ask yourself isn’t, ‘Am I going to get this decision right or wrong?’ You have to ask yourself, if you don't make this decision, can you live with yourself if you don’t take the risk? Are you going to live with regret? Or are you going to find your resolve?”
He goes on to say that this indecision — this fear — is what keeps so many entrepreneurs from finding success…or even getting started on achieving their dreams. “You don't need to be good at everything,” he says. “You don't need to be intimidated by starting a business because you don't know the difference between an LLC and a corporation. People get intimidated, and it creates just enough doubt in their head, and they say, ‘Maybe I don’t have the chops,’ or ‘What if I’m not cut out to be an entrepreneur?’ And these are their first steps, so they just stay in their comfort zone, working a job to make ends meet, and they never get started. For me, that’s the real tragedy.”
The Future of Incfile Is the Future of Entrepreneurship
Both Nick and Dustin say they wish they’d had a service like Incfile when they were starting their own businesses. Unlike today’s Incfile customers, they didn’t always have the knowledge, support or resources they needed to make their journey easier.
One other thing they didn’t have — a sense of community. Being an entrepreneur, they both say, can be isolating. That’s why they’re looking forward to the next evolution of Incfile.
“We have this vision,” Dustin says, “where we have an opportunity to impact and change the way people conduct business and the way people think about business.”
Things will change for Incfile as Nick and Dustin work to make it not just a valuable tool for business owners but a community in which they can grow and thrive. One thing, though, will not change:
“Our core philosophy has always been to do the right thing by our customer, to be transparent and to provide the most value by adding more value than our competitors do. And there’s no other competitor out there that really represents the path to entrepreneurship the way we do.” – Nick Siha, Founder & Co-CEO, Incfile
Ready to join the nearly 1 million businesses igniting their spark with Incfile? Our leaders have been where you are, and they’re ready to welcome you to this crazy, challenging, rewarding and fulfilling entrepreneurial lifestyle. Whether you’re brand new to business ownership or you’ve been around a time or two, we welcome you here. We encourage you to take a look around and stick around for a while — there are many exciting things to come, and we’re looking forward to having you be a part of it!
Wendi Williams
Wendi is a freelance writer based in Indianapolis, IN, with over a decade of experience writing for a variety of industries from healthcare to manufacturing to nonprofit. When she isn't working on solutions for her clients, she can be found spending time with her kids and husband, working in the garden or doing more writing (of the fiction variety).
