To be petrified of leaving my job and starting a business

[Moomoomango]

I have been trying to start an online business for about 6 months now but I find with two children (one of which never sleeps through the night despite being 2) , a partner who is disabled and a part time job I'm left with no time to Persue my dream. We dont rely on my income (what I earn gets taken off income support I get for being dh carer - brain tumour 10 years ago led to left sided semi paralysis so essentially he has limited use of the left side of his body) so if I left my part time job we'd be roughly on the same money.

I've worked hard all my life, sort of person who can't take a holiday - constantly on the go ( like most of us eh?!)

Anyway, I hate being on benefits. I know I'm on them because I'm looking after disabled dh but still it kind of makes me feel low. Pre dc and children I worked multiple jobs at once and enjoyed being successful. Now with my home work load there is no way I can persue such careers at this point.

Anyway, my job is another caring profession, in an emotional caring field rather than physical - but its something I'm passionate about (working with other mums) but I'm kind of spent looking after everyone. I look after dc, dh and can take on the emotional weight of the mums I work with sometimes. I work with an amazing team of uplifting and inspiring women but realistically even if I worked full time it would never be enough to sustain the 4 of us.

The only way I will ever get my online business off the ground is if I have the time to do it. The only room in my life is to ditch the job. The only way I will ever be able to finally sustain my family is by earning more than £9ph. I have a great business idea and am really passionate about it. Realistically it's a gamble as with all new businesses I'm not naive to think it's a golden path. I have a finance and business degree - and more importantly a strong sense of how I could develop and grow the business. It would take relatively little start up costs.

However something is holding me back, it seems crazy to give up a job in this day and age - even if I don't earn anything from it - with cuts to disabled benefits at least it's nice knowing I'm employable as I have been in a steady job.

Ultimately I am desperate to be able to provide for my family financially and persue my dream - am I right to go with my gut or stick to security of things plodding along?

What is your proposed business? Have you sought advice from anyone?

Do you have savings? how long would it take before you would earn enough to be able to live on? Can you earn enough, quickly enough, to build up a cushion if income dried up?

I'd be very nervous about giving up a steady income, especially if I was the only breadwinner in the household. Is there anyway you could create that space elsewhere - work part time? outsource some of the household tasks?

I don't think you've got much to lose OP? I ditched my job and started my own business 3 years ago but I wasn't on benefits so we relied on my contribution to the pot and we would have been in trouble had it failed - but luckily it didn't/hasn't! And it's the best gamble I ever took.
If the start up costs are low is there no way you could start it up and just see if takes off before actually giving up the job? Even if it meant extra work for you initially it might make sense to try and get a firm sense of whether it would take off. Or would it take you a lot of time to even get it off the ground?
I think you've got a brilliant opportunity to do it if I'm honest, almost nothing to lose, and yes finding another job in this climate is difficult if it doesn't work out but again your situation makes this easier to handle if it takes a while.
You only live once OP/you never know unless you try.... And all the other cliches I can think of!

Anyway, I hate being on benefits. I know I'm on them because I'm looking after disabled dh but still it kind of makes me feel low

At the moment I am paying pretty substantial taxes. I think it's great you are caring for your loved one. And I may need assistance at some time.

We are Sapien. We rose to walk the Earth and explore the stars through cooperation and mutual aid.

If your business is through something like Younique, don't do it. It isn't worth it.

If it's anything else, the others had good advice!

without knowing what the business is, what investment in raw materials you have to make, what your market is etc its really impossible to give any sort of decent business advice.

you are right to be nervous but you can get round these nerves by getting all of your ducks in a row in terms of business plan, cash flow forecasting, marketing plan etc. and yes you do need these even for a single person business.

there must be a small business advisor in your area, sometimes through the FSB, make use of them to help you to plan this properly. fail to plan, plan to fail.