Owning your own business

Chevel

How many of you own your own business? Is it less stressful and more rewarding? Something I've been considering for a while, not necessarily IT related, I'm still trying to figure out what.

Do we ever figure what we want when we grow up? Lol.

yoba222

Whatever you do, please don't start selling herbalife or any other annoy-everyone-you-know-on-social-media MLM product.

tedjames

I think there was another thread in the last year or so about this. I've owned and run a side business (not IT-related) since 1996. It's a lot of work, regardless of what it is. Look at it this way. Work for someone else 8-5 and then drive home and work the rest of the night and potentially weekends for yourself. Then you get to wake up in the morning and drive back to your day job and then come home and work on your business and wake up and drive to work... It can sometimes interfere with family and other personal interests. If you're married, make sure that your spouse supports you in this endeavor.

the_Grinch

Funny you posted this as I am starting to get ready to form my LLC. Worked out for me that my last class for my Masters in Business Organization law and covers properly forming an LLC (along with others like S-Corps, LLPs, Sole Proprietorships). My main goal right now is for some extra cash while working and hopefully something to do when I retire in 26 or 33 years.

stlsmoore

There's a handful of people on TE who's started successful businesses like "Shodown" that can provide better input. I've attempted a few when I was younger but all failed, learned a lot each time afterwards though.

1. Focusing first on making money rather than if the service/product provides value.
2. Under capitalization to commit 100% for the first couple of years to grow the business like it should.
3. Not knowing myself well enough to know what I wanted out of owning a business.

With that said I'm going to give it another shot within the next 3-5 years. Not having enough capital or access to it via personal network seems to be my biggest hangup. I'm looking at buying out a business this time rather than a startup. I'm more passionate about running a business rather than building up a business from scratch.

Fulcrum45

It dawned on me quickly that there isn't much of a difference between having a small business and having a second job. My wife owns a photo booth business that she runs at wedding receptions, parties etc. There's a sight technical element and a fair amount of equipment to haul so it practically guarantees I have to be involved as well. It stresses me out over the fact that now not only do I have my normal job to contend with but I also have to make sure hers runs smoothly on the weekends.

TechGromit

Chevel wrote: »

How many of you own your own business? Is it less stressful and more rewarding?.

My Wife owns her own business, she does Mental Health counseling. While the reward is she can set her own hours and not have to deal with the administrative and red tape an employer throws at her. For example she hated doing the yearly training for sexual harassment and other similar yearly training requirements. Also she doesn't have the pressure of seeing up to 8 clients a day, she see's at the most 5 clients a day now.

The down side is when people cancel, she doesn't make any money, some months she may get 10 or 15 cancellations a month, it really affects her bottom line. Or her booking are down, it's a constant struggle of having enough clients to keep her busy, but no so many she's overloaded with work. Also she has no benefits, if she needs to call out sick, she has to call up all her clients and cancel each one, and of course she doesn't get paid for sick or vacation time. Not to mention the no medical benefits either. Fortunately she has medical benefits from me, but without it and the benefits of a group plan pricing, insurance would be a huge burden. Then she has to deal with insurance companies, most of which do not pay as much as she would get paid if her clients paid cash, (very few do) and she has to pay a billing company to correctly fill out the forms to submit claims.

She earns about as much as she was making (after taxes) when she was working for someone else before. She not getting rich, but she does have a lot more flexibility and freedom in her daily life, less stress in some ways, and more stress in others.

You could do quite well for yourself as a side business, but when you go out on your own full time, especially if you need to purchase health insurance for you and your family, you might be better off in the long run just working for someone else. I've seen health insurance plans on the open market that would have cost $3,000 a month (coverage for me and my Wife) for excellent coverage, but still had a prescription plan not a good as I have now. You can get as cheap as $400 a month for a single person, but the coverage sucks and the deductible was very high before they start to pay a dime.

UnixGuy

yoba222 wrote: »

Whatever you do, please don't start selling herbalife or any other annoy-everyone-you-know-on-social-media MLM product.

+1 I LOL'd

More rewarding less stress doesn't have to be business it can be a competitve sport you get into..there are compound benefits to that!

martell1000

Technically I own my own business since a year. But I have a major client which gobbles up about 20 hours a week.

Good:

- You can kinda get your own scedule in place - if I say I am there at X o clock no one argues with me
- You are free to take on new or refuse any work which crosses your way
- If you decide to go a certain route nobody will tell you "nay"
- If you need to postpone stuff or just feel like you need to have a day off - no big deal
- You dont have a Boss
- You are seen as a business partner an not as "property"

Bad:

- You HAVE to deliver, just sitting idle at your desk and watching the clock tick will get you homeless in no time
- You need to do a lot of strategy / thinking what to do and what not
- You are sick? No pay that day!
- Your client goes bacrupt or decides not to pay the bill? You have to take care about it yourself
- You are seen as a business partner who needs to get his **** together or you will be sacked in no time

Ugly:

- All administrative stuff like taxex, planning, getting clients is on your desk
- If you screw up you can only blame yourself
- If you dont know how to organize stuff and dont have a solid plan to get things going you will screw up


Would I recommend it?

Depends, if you dont have a family which depends on your montly paychecks getting there in time and if you are willing and are able to develop strategies and do a lot of not paid thinkery - yes

Otherwise: Lette itt!

I got no kids, no pets, and my wife has a well paying 9 to 5 so it works real good for me.

UnixGuy

martell1000 wrote: »

Technically I own my own business since a year. But I have a major client which gobbles up about 20 hours a week.

Good:

- You can kinda get your own scedule in place - if I say I am there at X o clock no one argues with me
- You are free to take on new or refuse any work which crosses your way
- If you decide to go a certain route nobody will tell you "nay"
- If you need to postpone stuff or just feel like you need to have a day off - no big deal
- You dont have a Boss
- You are seen as a business partner an not as "property"

Bad:
....

This is kind of achievable when you're employed in a senior-ish position in a good company that values work/life balance...

martell1000

UnixGuy wrote: »

This is kind of achievable when you're employed in a senior-ish position in a good company that values work/life balance...

Totally agree. But what would be the point of starting your own business if you are not going for that in the first place (if you are doing IT - other fields I guess it depends). I started this business because I got the offer first from my major client to do so - if you start from scratch you might be in a much more difficult situation...

UnixGuy

I see your point, and I'm honestly undecided about this issue and have no clear opinion about it

Chevel

yoba222 wrote: »

Whatever you do, please don't start selling herbalife or any other annoy-everyone-you-know-on-social-media MLM product.

Oh god no, lol I'm not a MLM person at all.



Thanks everyone for the responses. I haven't quite found my niche I love working with my hands but love the outdoors as well. I would love to have a side business just so I feel like I'm not wasting my life away. Its just me so money has significance but I would like a quality of life. Each time I work for some one else its a struggle....