Anxiety over starting a business. Any advice?

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DH is in a job he hates and has now been offered the chance to go part time. I also work part time. He has always wanted to start up his own business and now sees this as a great opportunity. I am trying to be supportive but am filled with anxiety.
On our part time salaries combine we can still pay the bills with about £400 left over. Our mortgage rate is up in a few months and I think we would request the term to be lengthened just to give us breathing space.
Luckily we do not have a big mortgage and no other debts. We also have some savings some of which we will invest into the business. The plan is to start small and just reinvest without taking any money out of the business for a while.

I just feel so anxious. We both use to have full time reasonably paid jobs. I went part time when we had the DC. We made some cuts but it was still fine. It's not an option for me to increase my hours and DH said he would need my help with the business anyway. I think it's the children I feel so anxious about I don't want to feel I have failed them.

Is it normal to feel like this? DH just sees it as a chance to finally do something he has always wanted to. He says if it fails he will just go back to looking for a full time job.

It sounds like he's taking a fairly low risk approach by sticking with his current job ist time and building the business alongside that, especially given that you can survive relatively comfortably on your two part time salaries.

If you're anxious then perhaps discuss with him how 'success' would look like and what the point would be at which he'd call it a day. For example if he still isn't turning a profit after 12 months (this will of course depend on the industry - some businesses take a long time to become profitable).

I'm assuming he has some knowledge of the industry he wants to go into, and has done detailed planning, built the necessary contacts etc. If not then it would be sensible to ask him to do his homework before he embarks on a new venture.

Bear in mind when you go part time depending on your income you may well pay a bit less tax so you may not lose as much as you think vs the new hours you work. And with the extra time you have you can spend more time being frugal - shopping around a bit more to save more cash.

It's always scary going part time but you can charge a lot more. He could also up his hours again if things don't work out or he could take a second part time job.

I would say go for it! Once you start your own business it's hard to look back. Work for yourselves for a while!!

• charge a lot more in your own business