Anyone else constantly dream of leaving a regular job to start a business?

[Alavanille]

I keep thinking about this but not sure I actually have any skills.
Like many people I dream of running a cafe or coffee shop, maybe combined with a gift shop or something well-being related.
its a pipe dream I know, I need to earn a living and most businesses aren’t successful.
But then I think, some people do it…. And make a success of it.

Yes... CONSTANTLY!! And I have a friend who has done it and Im really jealous

What would you do @RenaultClio ?

I think it’s swings and roundabouts, I have a good, salaried full time job, paid sick leave, decent annual leave, I’m in the enviable position where if I wanted to retrain or start my own business I’d have such an initial drop in money I wouldn’t be able to afford to live. I don’t like my job, don’t hate it but if there was something else I’d definitely jump at it.

That being said when I bought my house (on my own after divorce and splitting the marital home proceeds of sale 50/50, which I’d never be able to manage were it not for this job) the people who lived here ran a business and I had no idea how they could manage to pay a mortgage and whatever, I found myself thinking I’m doing something wrong if I’m scrimping to get this house and they’re doing it whilst doing that for a living. Turns out for whatever reason they didn’t have a mortgage, and they’d done a lot of work on the house too. So I think the people who do things like that must have an injection of cash from somewhere because I simply don’t know how they’d do it otherwise.

I'd love to open a full time martial arts dojo, subletting to other clubs as well as running my own...shame I'm not in any way qualified to do so! 😂🥋

Currently teetering on the edge of doing just that. Can’t leave my job yet though, will take a while to start making money.

You've watched too much cobra kai 😂😂

I have my own business (coffee shop) and I've just bought a house on my own, and I'm currently abroad with my dc

But, ive been going for nearly 8 years, it's been a hard slog, and I'm paying wages, doing orders, SM etc from my sun lounger because you don't ever get any real time off. And I love it, wouldn't change it for the world. Every day I see hospitality businesses closing down and I'm forever grateful that we're not only surviving but thriving!

I run a cafe... I am now very happy in my 9-5😂

Me and DP have tried various things over the course of our relationship as we're both adamant that we want to WFH for ourselves. I've managed it now. I have a proofreading business, plus a couple of monetised social media streams - you actually wouldn't believe how much you can earn from TikTok, it's mad.

DP is hoping to join me completely soon, but he's still working 20hrs a week away from the house as well just to give us that slight buffer in case something goes wrong. We're almost brave enough to take the plunge!

We own the house outright, no young children, and it's a small house with solar panels so the bills are low. If we were in a different situation I doubt we could have done this.

Whatever gave you that idea? 🤔😂

This has been a lifelong dream of mine but I’ve never done anything about it. I’m too old now but if you’re young enough I’d say do it but start a side business and slowly try and turn it into something full time.

my favourite daydreams are a coffee/bookshop that sells gifts, cards and fresh flowers. A deli, a small farm shop. A retreat somewhere sunny. When I’m more sensible a medical staff recruitment business! (Yawn), bit perhaps more profitable than the others.

I'd love to do something creative but I think I'd resent having to do it rather than doing creative stuff because I want to

I ran my own business for 35 yrs. I sold up 5 yrs ago and now work very part time for the new owner. I don’t miss being the boss one bit. From the outside it always looks so easy. It can be a bloody nightmare. Ultimately you are responsible for every penny, if a member of staff breaks an item if equipment the replacement or cost of repairs comes out of your profit/income.

You can never stop working, the best part of selling up was being able to walk away at the end of the day and not have to think about the business. Having meet the police outside the business at 3am because the alarm has gone off has happened multiple times I don’t miss it. Dealing with staff problems is an even bigger nightmare. Theft is often the biggest. You learn to trust no one.

And then there is the general public, the customer, who complain about everything. It can be soul destroying when you do everything to provide the best possible service only to receive poor reviews or just abuse. Often culminating in handing back money just to stop it escalating.

It can be a very fulfilling career but at the same time you have to prepare. A good business course is essential, don’t use a “coach”, I think your bank is the best source of advice re business management. Develop a business plan. Ask others who have started up and are running a successful business. Familiarise yourself with PAYE, VAT and tax, it catches most new businesses out.

Research, research , research. From energy supplier, accountants to wholesalers. If it is a food based business such as a cafe, do the hygiene training and look at the local council rules and conditions. When looking at properties check you can operate a cafe from it. Also look at other local businesses, my cousin opened a restaurant/bar which was initially very successful. They had built up a gastropub locally so already had an established reputation, they decided to step up, unfortunately the local restaurant mafia were not happy and created a social media based attack. The business ultimately failed because their reputation was damaged irreparably.

I'd love to own a cat cafe that I live above in a beautiful flat, a catio outside so the cats can have fresh air. The ones that dont get rehomed can live there forever.

The only problem is I dont have any money so have to work 36hrs a week to pay the bills! Am mortgage free though.

This is why we need UBI...so you can set up your business without financial worries.

I’ve run my own business for 28 years. I left a job I hated to start it when I was 30. It’s not a business that needed a lot of investment to get started though and I didn’t have any dependents at the time.

@TheDenimPoet How do you become a proofreader?

The best way to begin a small business is either as a side hustle to an existing job or when you have an income to fall back on, as in retirement. I was an academic and began tutoring as a side line while I was still employed. When I retired from employed work I gradually settled into post graduate tutoring. Nowadays I only take international students and strictly by word of mouth/private recommendation. It keeps my brain active and the £££ is very useful.

Yes, I'm thinking of starting something on the side of my main job, but it just feels a bit overwhelming!

We've had several (restaurants, retail and software), started on a shoestring and sold on for a profit after several years of profitable trading. Although I loved being in hospitality I wouldn't do it again as the hours were unreal. (My sleep pattern still has recovered several years after selling the last one!) We always made sure we had 3 years of savings as it can take that long to start turning profit. I don't think we ever did 9-5 and definitely not just a 5 day week with holidays.... You have to have both passion and drive to run your own business.

I never dreamed of it until I experienced burnout in my last job - now been running my own business for 6 years and I'd never go back. 30 hours a week - no evenings, no weekends - it's amazing.

I forgot I started this. I concluded it wasn't for me.

Partly because any idea I had was already being done and also I couldn't risk the investment needed.

What is your business @tiramisugelato ?

Nope! I couldn’t think of anything worse than having a business that relied on me and me only 🤣 I love being salaried, I love that it’s not all on my shoulders, I love that I can call in sick and still get paid etc etc

I'd like a property development business- possibly watched too much Homes Under the Hammer and have no DIY skills but would like to do up houses and rent them out to a housing association.

I’m seriously contemplating this
one child in secondary
2 primary
I’d just like a bit more flexibility, especially in the school holidays and not to have to fit in with so many people for annual leave and stuff
plus when they’re younger they can do Childers/ holiday clubs but 11/12 is young to be left for huge chunks of time, but also too old for younger kids childcare options so I’d like to be about more
toying with the idea of some self employed admin work