Leaving 9-5 to run family business

[3woods]

Hello all -

I am highly considering leaving a stable 9-5 job to help my Dad and brother run a the family timber business. The business has run since the 50's when my Grandad started it and its a local timber business. They also do ranges of garden furniture and fencing along with slabs and beams etc. Its something I have always wanted to do but ended up going to Uni after school and got offered a good job from a placement I had when I was studying. Anyway, I have been working for around 11 years now since Uni and have the opportunity to help change the business and inject some new ideas into it.

My main concern is it involves a huge pay cut, like over 50% for the base salary they are both taking. Obviously it also involves going self employed so no paid holidays and other benefits associated with a salary type job.

I am torn. Its something that I know will be a huge undertaking to make it successful they are barely profitable as it is so it would require a lot of hard work. But the business they have is all word of mouth and there is no advertisement or presence on social medial.

I have a young family and my wife is so supportive of the decision and just wants to see me happy and passionate about work. I am quite risk adverse so naturally feel more concerned with what could go wrong but also torn as I know what could go right. I just keep thinking I will never really know unless I try it and life is short so may as well go for it whilst I am still young.

I know its never going to be a huge global business but it could be a profitable local company at least as it already has a good reputation.

I need to speak in detail with my Dad about it but wondered if anyone out there got a tale to tell for the positives or negatives of a similar decision?

You would be crazy to do that.

channel zammo.

just say no.

If you were footloose and fancy free - then maybe. With 2 small children - hard no.

The business is barely profitable to 2 people - so you would need to generate an additional £50-60k profit pa to make enough to pay you & to pay your Dad & brother more too (assuming national average wage). Even if you could generate more income - is this something your Dad and brother want ? They would have to work harder too and maybe they are happy plodding along.

If you have skills and experience that could help them - offer a couple of hours per week input -free at least at first. You could pick the easy stuff to tackle, eg setting up a scheduling plan for social media. But again - bearing in mind they will have to work more if you start generating more business.

If you have carte blanche to make all of the changes needed, and your father and brother take a complete back seat, then possibly. But I think you'll end up upsetting them because of their 'always done it this way' attitude, which could end very badly all round.

My husband did exactly this in December 2019. He gave up a permanent, salaried and full-time job to start his own business. Covid was obviously a massive blow and things were not easy financially but the business is now doing well and he's so much happier.

Can't you inject some changes and get involved whilst continuing to do your day job?

If it's increasing market presence through social media that can be done at any time.

If it works and business increases then you could think about jacking in the day job.

How will the business support another financial expense of your wage?
Long term, can the business support your brother and you?
How does your brother feel? He possibly has forgone a university degree and worked in the business for longer.

Will you have to buy out the business?
Do you have any other siblings who will also want a slice of the business?

I would work for an hourly rate for one day per week (as an employee) for a year and then reassess. Or, if it is far away, can you work there for four weeks straight each year?

Do not give up your job.

No, you can't afford to lose 50% of your wages. Working with family is different anyway, it brings its own set of problems. They are not going to take easily to you telling them what to do. There will be conflict and that will impact your family life.

Don’t give up your day job with two young kids. You could start becoming more involved on the side though?

I really admire your willingness to give up what you have and to become part of and make a success of a local family business. We need more of them and more people willing to take chances and be entrepreneurial. If it works out you have the opportunity to be part of something which will almost certainly mean more to you than working for The Man 😁. I would probably as others have suggested ease my way in over time - even if it means you are working one full time and one part time job for a while it will be time well spent if it gives you a realistic picture of the business and its possibilities. And crucially, of how well and easily you can work with family members which can in itself be very tricky. It's great that your wife is supportive, she's a keeper!

The other question I would ask is what your situation would be if it doesn't work out, could you relatively easily get back into your old career? Or another job at similar level to where you are now? That would certainly be influencing my decision.

I work in a family bauiness. It could be very divisive if you aren't used to working together. If you want to change the marketing, is that your specialism and background? Would you be a director of the Ltd company? Or just self employed? I wouldn't leave my job, i would support on the side until it became profitable enough

I really, really doubt that this particular business is scalable to an extent that will one day replace your wage. Get a bit more profitable, sure; pay you the equivalent of your current salary, how?? Plus all the inevitable stress and family fights of trying to drag the business into the 21st century.

If they just need some marketing, buy a stake in the business and do it for them evenings and weekends.

I also don't want to sound cynical but improving your marketing reach is much more complex than just creating a social media account... That's table stakes really, it takes strategy and tremendous work to grow your social media and an understanding of SEO to see an uplift on your website. It's a key reason why so many small businesses fail

Test the water alongside your full time job. Put aside a few hours a week for the family biz, and undertake tasks that can be done out of hours eg SEO the website for the keywords you need. Can you open a webshop so people can order online even if click and collect/see more of what the biz offers? Plan and implement a social media campaign, you can prepare the posts and schedule them in. See how this improves the financial position of the biz.

After a few months assess the results. Can you honestly see an uplift. Will the biz actually ever earn you a proper income? Then decide.

Nah, not with a young family. Being employed brings protections and benefits, I wouldn't give that up.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think that's an overarching theme of "don't leave your current job". Which is a shame as I was looking for a boost to do it, however I do appreciate the realism and advice on how to make this work for me.

I am considering putting sometime into it on the side to see how things go but already feel stretched with my current role and juggling family life.

There's more to it too really. We have recently relocated and my job is now around 2 hours away and requires me to be in the office one / two days a week. I am looking for more local work but things are slow around Christmas and companies are taking a while to get back. We are currently living with my parents which is OK but less than ideal. My preferred route is to work on it on the side for a while but the remote working is only meant to be a temporary measure and my wife is very keen to get our own space again so her parents can visit.

I have a job offer but its even further away from my family (but close to my wives parents). It feels like a very decisive move right now and I am struggling to decide on what is best for my career and my family.

I understand you are not in an ideal situation regarding work and accommodation but neither of these issues negates the responsibilities you have to your children. You only have to go into work 1-2 days per week which is a pretty good life balance situation

Have you even discussed this with your father and brother - as I said before they may be happy with things as they are and wouldn't want extra work.

I hope you get some positive news on the job front in the New Year

Would your wage increase dramatically as the business became more successful?

How old are the children?

Make an appointment with a solicitor experienced in family businesses. Explore issues and expectations.

Make an appointment with the industry association for an overview.

Then make an appointment for yourself and a followup with your father and brother with an experienced business advisor. Explore issues and expectations.

Look for local accommodation. Explore your options.

I always like to make decisions with as much information as possible and it will be money well spent either for going in with clarity or keeping out of it and being thankful for that.

Above all, you need to maintain personal relationships and going in blindly is a sure way to make messes.

Reddit is full of stories how this kind of arrangement doesn't work out. Don't do anything without written agreements. "It's family" is no protection against being taken advantage of and in the end screwed over.

Did your relatives ask you to join the business?
Choosing a 50% pay cut is ridiculous, would you be doing more hours than 9-5?

You need to do a proper commercial assessment of what that move would mean - not just for you, but from the point of view of the business.

Do they have a business plan? For the next year, 5 years and 10 years? What are their projected revenues/profit? What's the cashflow like?

If you were to join them, what kind of salary would you be paid? How would business finance this if it's barely profitable now? Why is the business struggling to turn a profit?

How would the other members of the team feel about you joining? Would it change their role/involvement if/when you join?

Do they have a marketing plan? Have they identified their strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats? What are the current trends in the market? Who are their competitors - and are they doing better worse than them - and why?

Lots of important issues that you need to address beyond what sounds more like a rose-tinted dream of yours.

If I were your wife, I'd be seriously concerned about this move unless you really have interrogated all of these issues. Of course she wants to see you happy, but I can't think she'd be very happy if the family income is suddenly under threat. Does she work? Will she be prepared to take the main responsibility for the family while you take a salary cut, as well as the risk?

A lot of good points. Thank you everyone. No I don't think they have any of the above in place. Its a small local business that has just been ticking over for many years. Without some injection of new ideas it will close soon and I was considering trying to save it as its always been a part of my life. Obviously the well being of my family means the most so I do need to be realistic and not just follow a passion project when my daughter is young.

By the way I only have one daughter, she is 2.

Following your update - an alternative view...

saving the family business on it's last legs is a passion project. Only get into passion projects if you have deep pockets. You need to do the background work outlined by BIWI. Never give up a job and take e 50% salary cut for a passion project