Would this be a crazy idea?

[Currentlywatchingshrek]

For background, I am late 20's with a toddler DS.

Currently studying at uni a fairly high pressure course. Will lead to a decent job at the end (starting salary approx £25K with progression up to about £40K but would take many years to get there. Would also be unsocial hours and shift work)

At the moment I'm feeling so ground down with the pressure of this and I'm just dreaming of being able to have more flexibility in my life. I don't want other people dictating my schedule, I'm fed up of the stress and just feeling very overwhelmed with it all.

I'm thinking of quitting uni and starting a baby / toddler group where there's weekly sessions, people pay to come and do activities etc. Think like Jo Jingles type of thing. There's hardly any baby groups in my area (have looked this up and from own experience when DS was younger) and the one or two there was there was a waiting list so I feel like there must be demand for this?

Would it be totally insane to give up uni and a stable career in the future to do my own thing?

The point I’m making for is that I think she’s talking nonsense and we shouldn’t be engaging with anything illegal per MN policy.

You really think it is more likely that @Cazzovuoi is either a drug dealer, high class hooker or a liar rather than someone who owns a small, successful service business in something to similar to SEO @Elieza?

I gave you a very simplified version of how/why I started my first business straight out of university after I spotted an opportunity at a holiday job. It's not that hard to start a service business as there are low barriers to entry eg you don't need premises or a huge amount of equipment. Although, obviously starting a business doesn't guarantee success and it comes with risk...

There are about 6 million micro businesses in the UK (less than 10 employees) but only 8000 large businesses (with more than 250 employees). That's a lot of small business owners. Plenty of them are on MN or do you think they are all liars? Why do you think "high rollers" don't use social media? What about doctors or corporate lawyers? They probably work longer hours.

I think you'd be crazy to do this tbh. Ok so it's hard at the moment, but it's short term pain for long term gain.

Setting up your own business is hard. It isn't just rocking up to a church hall and chucking a few ikea bells at toddlers.. You'd have to do so much admin. worry about your pension. worry about a stable income. You haven't even done any research, looked properly into demand. And as a pp says, you're interested in it because you're at that stage. But when your dc is older, the last thing you'll want to do is spend time with a load of toddlers.

I think get qualified and then if you don't like it, think about an alternative. Properly think about it.

“You really think it is more likely that @Cazzovuoi is either a drug dealer, high class hooker or a liar rather than someone who owns a small, successful service business in something to similar to SEO @Elieza?”

Na, I ruled out hooker. Thought I’d explained that.

Since you seem to have a good grip on starting up your own business why don’t you pm the op and give her some advice on what business you set up and how it all worked out for you. It could really help.

Perhaps there’s a way she could spend an hour or two a month doing something like SEO stuff or whatever and earn a couple of grand. That would surely help cheer her up as she goes through the next couple of years of the hard work for the qualification she needs.

Or perhaps @cazz could pass on her wisdom.

Consider the outgoings..

Advertising, equipment, insurance, rental.

It is normal that a new business does not turn a profit for at least the first year, probably longer.

I would spend time doing your market research, costings, business plan, AND finish your degree.

Then if you still want to do it and it is actually financially viable you can decide if you get a job AND do this until it will support you, or if you dont want to do it, want to do something else.. whatever.

I think you've got a case of 'the grass is greener' going on here because your degree is hard, but self employment IS hard, its precarious in the first few years as well, and can be very lonely!

@Elieza

“You really think it is more likely that *@Cazzovuoi is either a drug dealer, high class hooker or a liar rather than someone who owns a small, successful service business in something to similar to SEO @Elieza*?”

Na, I ruled out hooker. Thought I’d explained that.

Since you seem to have a good grip on starting up your own business why don’t you pm the op and give her some advice on what business you set up and how it all worked out for you. It could really help.

Perhaps there’s a way she could spend an hour or two a month doing something like SEO stuff or whatever and earn a couple of grand. That would surely help cheer her up as she goes through the next couple of years of the hard work for the qualification she needs.

Or perhaps @cazz could pass on her wisdom.

I've given OP some advice. She is welcome to ask questions but she hasn't even been back to the thread today.

I know nothing about her, her skills, abilities and experience. It would be a total waste of my time to PM her suggesting different career paths that she may not suit and may not suit her. If she is looking for something to supplement her income while studying, there is plenty of advice on the money threads here or MSE.

I doubt Cazzovuoi will want to publicly broadcast her exact business idea if she has found a lucrative niche...

This is why I fucking HATE trying to help on here. I went from being a prostitute, to dealing drugs to running an MLM and engaging in illegal activities?!

Fucking heard it all now.

My business is training SME businesses how to optimise their use of SEO and social media to grow organic leads. I run training programs over 5 days for employees to learn advanced skills.

Each place on the program costs €2500 for 5 full days.

Each course has about 15 to 20 participants, per week. You do the fucking maths.

Best of luck to you, OP, whatever you decide to do but from memory when mine were wee, many of these groups don't run in the school holidays. This could have a financial impact on you. Mind you, you could then look at running holiday clubs

Got far off are you getting your degree?

I did this a few years back. But as a ‘pocket money’ sort of business, whilst my DD’s were small, and alongside another part time job. I did it not just for some spare cash, but to provide some decent classes that were well needed in my area. However, it took up a LOT of time. Just running one group for 1.5 hours took up most of a day. Setting it up, packing it all away and cleaning, locking up. I planned activities to do, had to go out to buy the refreshments and spent a huge amount of time advertising on social media. I had to pay £80 ish insurance per year, £25 to hire my chosen hall for the morning, plus an extra £20 a month to store everything. Paid for refreshments out of that, activities and cleaning things. Had to do a lot of paperwork. Have health and safety policy etc. It was basically a lot of work and not gaining a huge amount of profit either. I would do it again as I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t give up a uni course, or another job. It’s a huge risk IMO

Setting reality aside for a moment @Cazzovuoi, how was your post helpful?

You haven't given the OP the magic recipe for earning that much a month, nor any of the rest of us.

How does knowing you earn an impossible sum of money per month, seemingly training people with no overheads at all, for an eyewatering price... help her decide if she should give up part way through her degree and start her own baby/toddler group?

Setting reality aside for a moment @Cazzovuoi, how was your post helpful? You haven't given the OP the magic recipe for earning that much a month, nor any of the rest of us..

Why is it so hard to believe that a woman can start a successful business and become wealthy? Has it never happened in the history of women everywhere? Do you all believe that a wealthy self made woman is some sort of magical unicorn?

Let me list a few self made women business owners for you seeing as you think we can't possible exist:

Oprah Winfrey
Dolly Parton
Sarah Blakley
Rihanna
Marie Forleo
Diane Hendricks
Judy Love
Doris Fisher
Whitney Wolfe ... I can go on and on and on.

There IS no magic recipe that is the point. You have an idea and you take action. THAT IS IT. There is no silver bullet, no magic potion or pill, no secret club that will tell you how to do it. You just start and fail and improve over and over until it works. That is what I was telling the OP. Take your idea and run with it and it can be successful. It's simply the truth.

Is it jealousy or envy that makes you all think I am lying? Why is it so hard to believe that I am telling the truth?

Just because you don't believe in yourself enough to do it doesn't mean the OP should miss out.

Personally, I think that if you're close to getting your qualification (one or two years off or so) then you should continue to do it.

If you stop near the end then you have put in A LOT of work, time, money, effort and for what? No qualification at the end? It's like you have put in most of the hard work and none of the reward!

I know someone who went to uni for 4 years and left with no degree. So all the debt and time and effort with no degree - so so pointless.

Irrespective of your future career, the qualification will look good on your CV, as it shows you have drive and achievement.

Regarding PP who sites successful business women, yes, there are extremely inspiring women who have done so well for themselves and they're an inspiration.

However, those women will have worked extremely hard and planned their moved very carefully and strategically.

Giving up a qualification for a toddler group because you're tired doesn't seem like a particularly strategic move to me.

You also need to think about how much emergency fund / savings you have to see you through if the business goes wrong. Make sure you have a good cushion before doing anything drastic, as people can get into a real pickle with things like this.

@Cazzovuoi. of course it's not hard to believe women can be successful. Successful women are all around us.
whether or not what you claim to earn is true, the idea that anyone can take any idea and earn 100k pm is just ludicrous, so your advice to op is really not very sound. how would she make that sort of money. .or indeed any reasonable wage from running baby groups?
I think it's because of your unsound advice that people will assume you are either lying, bragging, trolling etc

@Cazzovuoi

Setting reality aside for a moment @Cazzovuoi, how was your post helpful? You haven't given the OP the magic recipe for earning that much a month, nor any of the rest of us..

Why is it so hard to believe that a woman can start a successful business and become wealthy? Has it never happened in the history of women everywhere? Do you all believe that a wealthy self made woman is some sort of magical unicorn?

Let me list a few self made women business owners for you seeing as you think we can't possible exist:

Oprah Winfrey
Dolly Parton
Sarah Blakley
Rihanna
Marie Forleo
Diane Hendricks
Judy Love
Doris Fisher
Whitney Wolfe ... I can go on and on and on.

There IS no magic recipe that is the point. You have an idea and you take action. THAT IS IT. There is no silver bullet, no magic potion or pill, no secret club that will tell you how to do it. You just start and fail and improve over and over until it works. That is what I was telling the OP. Take your idea and run with it and it can be successful. It's simply the truth.

Is it jealousy or envy that makes you all think I am lying? Why is it so hard to believe that I am telling the truth?

Just because you don't believe in yourself enough to do it doesn't mean the OP should miss out.

So because I've questioned the usefulness of your brag as to how much you earn, doing an entirely different thing...

I clearly don't believe in myself?

I do, thankyou, self employed and very happy with it, and what I earn.

But it isn't easy, and thats why my advice to the OP is not to jack in what she's achieved so far, but to do her research and take her time.

Cazzovuoi's post was cheering OP on. I don't agree with her that OP's business idea is a good one but Cazzovuoi hardly deserves such a pile on and all the accusations of lying or being a drug dealer

Sorry I didn't mean to start a debate 🤦🏻‍♀️

Thank you everyone for their comments, I've read them all and taken them all into consideration.

I'm not ruling out starting my own business in the future, but I do think I'm having a hard time with my course right now and looking for an escape. But it would be a shame to get this far and then give up, so I'll keep going for now. Thank you everyone for your help