How much money makes a small business worth the hours/stress?

[Hollyhead]

Mulling things over, how much more money than a job would you need to earn from having your own business to make it worthwhile for you?
DH has his own business, and I am really proud of all he's achieved, but after the long hours and the stress of meeting the legal responsibilities of being a director and employing people, and the long term uncertainty and instability with fears for the economy all the time, I find myself wondering if he'd be better off just getting a job (not at the moment). He doesn't earn anymore out of it than just working in a job doing the same, which got me wondering HOW much would make the long hours, lack of time off, and working nearly every day of the week would make it worth it. I think it's somewhere between 10 and 20K, but I don't know if that's reasonable to aim for - what would you want?

10-20k a month? I would say so - definitely

I work in a high profit industry in sales and thinking of setting up on my own as my commission is going to be dire post furlough and I think if I could do maybe 3/4 deals then I would earn what I earn doing 10 deals a year with stress for my company

Ha no - I was thinking 10-20k a year more than a salary doing the same thing for someone else!

Interesting. We ask ourselves that quite regularly. We come up with the answer it isn't all about the cash. Are we building a valuable business with assets we can sell.

The responsibility is immense that and I have to be honest I really struggle with the stress of it.

Oh same with my DH. He’s a web techie! It drives me mad! So much effort and responsibility and he’s just had to give himself a pay cut because his employee made a huge mistake and they lost a client

Work out your/his hourly or daily rate then decide if you/he are happy to work for that
I would say the only exception to this is if ultimately it WILL be worth it, but put a timescale on that.

Because we are insane, it's not about the money but I have a whole load of people I can call good friends!!

I want the freedom of doing it for myself and don't plan on employing others - although contemplating a partnership.

I would look to earn the same initially but then Year 2-3 more just think I don't want to do it for anyone else anymore

I'm self employed and own my own business but I don't employ other people which makes things a lot less complicated!

I suppose I'm very different to your DH because I picked a job that was flexible and didn't require stupid hours - I earn roughly double per hour what I did when I was employed but I work far less hours. When I'm full I earn around 1200 per month working 25/30 hours which is fine for me.

I could do more but it's a physical job and I'd be burnt out and exhausted at the end of the day. Work life balance is more important than making lots of money.

Thanks everyone, it is at least nice to know I’m not alone! I think I’d find it easier if it was just him - it’s the additional stuff where you think they reward is just not great enough especially with the problems taking holiday - we haven’t had a full week off together as a family for 2 years now. I also work so it’s not even like I’m freed up to do all the home stuff. If it was sacrifice to be rolling in money it wouldn’t be so bad!

I think more actually. I run my own business and earn £20-40k more and I wouldn't really want to do it without a decent financial return, especially long term. It's so bloody stressful and takes over every aspect of your life. At the very least you want to be getting a lot more out than you would otherwise be putting in PAYE, otherwise what's the point?

I think more actually. I run my own business and earn £20-40k more and I wouldn't really want to do it without a decent financial return, especially long term. It's so bloody stressful and takes over every aspect of your life. At the very least you want to be getting a lot more out than you would otherwise be putting in PAYE, otherwise what's the point?

Ive dropped 30k a year to go the other way.

I now do 3 days a week not 5 plus. And the business itself is in a better place to ride changes or issues as theres a larger support structure. Im enjoying working with the new owner and excited for where it can now go. Gives stability and opportunities to the staff too.

Its a big drop but Im paid well and feel like Ive got my life back. I am so much happier without the worry of "what might happen" completely on my shoulders.

I don't employ staff to work for me I just outsource the work to other self employed people. It's a higher price to pay but they're experts and can do a better job and usually quicker. The business runs more efficiently this way and I earn not loads more than when I was paye but I do less hours and I get the last say in everything. Wouldn't change it for the world.