Would you choose to start your own business again?

[Fallinleaves]

If you run your own business, with employees, would you choose to do it again, knowing what you know now?

I say with employees, because I think this creates additional legal requirements and stress, which doesn’t occur if you’re a one-person business.

Currently working my way through financial issues, new insurance requirements and other external requirements, which, whilst I recognise the importance of dealing with them, takes me away from what I enjoy doing. Feeling a bit overwhelmed to be honest and I’ve been doing this for 12 years. Sometimes I wish I’d stayed employed and not have the responsibility.

YABU - I love running my own business

YANBU - I wouldn’t start my own business again

I will always have my own business but moved away from employing people several years ago. Far too much stress!

Nope. Not in a million years. Not in the current economy.

Are you running your own business at the moment?

Yes...but my god, it has it's moments.
We have great employees, but being an employer is so stressful. Add in constantly working and little time off, it's hard.
The financial return is great, but it's very worked for. I sometimes wonder if at the end, we will wonder if it was all worth it.

No, unfortunately not. It folded spectacularly roughly 18 months ago after 7 years. Independent retail. Niche, lifestyle orientated. Was a partnership with my late DP, then I tried to go it alone for two years. Ended up ten grand in debt and am now under a DRO. Just about made a living for around a year, then COL plus online competition slayed me no matter what I did. Only needed to take 200 a day for it to work, but a huge Chinese platform was far more attractive to my oh so sad customers when I gave up the ghost. I even had people photograph items on my shelves and Google them to find them cheaper in front of my face.

My price range was from 0.99 to maybe 100.00 with plenty at the lower end of the market.

People are poor, and fickle....

Still a bit bitter.....

Dh and I have a family business. Absolutely, it’s not my main work (I’ve largely been employed elsewhere as I have a career in a different industry), but it is for Dh. Yes, he would never want to go back to being employed and I would certainly hope we have the business a long time and sell before we retire.

Employ maybe 5 employees, depending on time of year. Business has exploded since COVID and CoL crisis. Brexit and rising raw materials costs have been a challenge, but well off people have not stopped buying nice stuff, which is generally our market.

Employees are generally okay. They’re treated very well (much better than me at my big professional job 😂). Dh cooks them a bbq or they go to the pub every so often. Dh takes them away for a weekend for their Christmas do. They get a half day every Friday, so finish up at 12 every weekend. I think that makes a difference.

And it’s afforded us a nice lifestyle and a lot of flexibility.

I'd start a business again, but not with staff. I started my current business 25 years ago and it grew rapidly so I employed a few staff for a few years. An absolute nightmare. Not the admin etc as I'm an accountant, so can do that no problem as I do it for clients, but, Jeez, dealing with staff was an absolute nightmare. I wound down the business back to a level that I could cope with on my own and the staff were let go or left over a couple of years. I've been on my own for around 15 years now and it's absolute bliss. When I'm busy I sub-contract a bit of work out which is far better as if they turn out to be crap or unreliable I just don't use them again, whereas if they're good, I'll keep giving them work as and when I can. But actual employees - never again! And, no I'm not talking young/minimum wage/underpaid kind of people - one was a middle aged fully qualified accountant who was absolutely hopeless - it was a lottery whether he'd actually turn up to work and then a lottery as to whether the work he did was right - I had to check everything he did - he didn't last long - I gave him loads of chances but he didn't give a toss so I had to get rid after about a month. I was having to spend longer hours working when I had staff than when I didn't, in managing them, dealing with their training, planning and reviewing their work, etc - what an absolute nightmare, not to mention the costs - the total costs were barely affordable, what with paid holidays, sick pay, pensions, training, etc. No thanks, never again, I still have nightmares!

DH and I have a business together. It's just getting too hard, with the minimum wages increases etc we've had to let our unskilled staff go and working without support staff has made it all a fair bit harder. Especially as a fair bit of it has fallen on me. We've also got one very difficult employee to manage, and I'm finding that really difficult. They're very skilled but take up more time than the other 6 put together. We've got 2 due to retire soon and attempts to replace them aren't going well...... they're so skilled and it's a changing industry in many ways. DH wants to retire in the next 5 years and I can't wait. I'll carry on working but will enjoy working for someone else and having time off/holidays!

I do the payroll for a few dozen clients. The turnover of new staff is awful - so many newbies are taken on and leave or are sacked within the first couple of weeks. If they last a couple of months they tend to last for the long term, i.e. years, but that's the minority. Eg, one client who already has some convenience stores opened a new one a couple of months ago. The basic staffing is 5 part timers and a full timer as he has a standardised rota and structure for each shop. He's already gone through about 30 starters and leavers in the first two months - only one of his new starters from the first week is still there. It's about 50-50 as to whether he has to sack them or whether they leave or just disappear with no contact never to be heard from again! It's not him, either. In one of his other shops, he still has the exact same 6 staff this week that he had 2, 3, 4 years ago - no movement in staff at all. It drives him mad that so many new starters are completely incapable or don't give a toss, and that's after he's wasted hours of time doing interviews for people who are clearly just "ticking boxes" to keep their UC awards, who turn up drunk, on drugs, reeking of BO, etc.

Voted YABU

our family buisness started with a one off investment of about £20k....

DH running it from his parents garage with a computer in his bedroom, and working a "normal" FT job (as his income) as well.

20 years later he turns over millions, has a 4 acre site with 40,000 square foot of premises (bought out right and owned by his company), and another 20,000 square foot of new build buildings being built as we speak.

We employ lots of people, and its our pension.

It allows us to live in a beautiful home, privately educate our children, take lots of holidays etc etc.

(although I often despair at the rediculous hours DH works, at least 2 hours a day at home both before and after his 9 hour day AT work) and a few hours every Sunday too.

Absolutely not. DH and I started trading cars during Covid (he’s been in the motor industry 30 years employed and me just a couple before then). We started at home just trading, not retailing cars with about £500 a month overheads. We now have a showroom, 80 cars in stock, 10 employees and overheads of £65000 a month. It’s beyond stressful, with rising costs and more and more compliance to manage it’s harder and harder every month to make money. We are glad to break even most months.

Our payroll has just increased by £4000 a month due to the NMW and employer NI increases. Our insurance is our second biggest overhead at about £15,000 a year.

What sort of business is it?

Currently aiming to close our family business in the next couple of months. And no, never again and that’s after many years of running said business.

Me and dh have our own business in the UK holiday sector. Things are tough going but hopefully they will pick up 🤞

I wouldn't change anything and do it all again.

We did until a few years ago, but no never again. We grew to the point that we had over 80 f/t staff, but at points we were barely breaking even. I can remember paying the PAYE bill on our personal credit cards. They were scary times.

We wanted to chuck it in because we were both working 80 hours a week for no wages for months at a time, but you can’t when so many people depend on you. Everyone thought we were rich but we had the shittest cars out of all our staff, and we were lucky if we got a week away each year in a caravan.

We eventually won a government contract which significantly improved the value of the company but our hearts weren’t in it, so we sold up. I would never do it again.

Sadly what @Anonym00se said.

Never ever again. Most people we know who run a business are taking home less than their staff.

I’m sorry to hear this. I know of a toy shop owner who also has people google things in front of her to buy cheaper - it’s so rude and heartbreaking at the same time. I hope you are finding some benefits to being out of it now.

Congratulations for finding something that works so well, it’s starting to sound a rare find!

I'm only a year in, but it's incredibly difficult knowing people are relying on me to pay their bills. I struggle with it.

sadly, the rewards mean I couldn't go backwards k if o wanted to because I was in a minimum wage role before, and I love it really.....despite the stress and pressure.

Yes, this. I have to say our employees are generally great, but it’s having the employees telling you what they’re spending their money on that cuts deep. It’s well deserved, they earn their money, and I can’t tell them that I earn nothing in comparison.

Yes the responsibility is a lot to bear!

But edited to add, well done on finding something that is financially rewarding you ☺️

I'm 12 years in, if you'd have asked me pre Covid I'd have said completely rosy but the last 5 years have been a show.
Made enough money to keep us afloat, have the odd holiday etc and give the staff a few perks however the stress, every changing legislation, staff becoming more and more entitled, red tape for doing things let alone the horrendous increases we've endured. It's been awful, not sure why I'm carrying on, in the hope things will turn around again I guess.
I do around 70 hours a week on average but also allows me to be fully flexible so I can walk out at 2pm and go to school if needed.
A better work life balance is needed, just don't see it happening right now. Something needs to be done about the staff, people are getting a lot lazier, don't give a toss attitude, any new staff we employ we have to go through 5 to find a good one
grateful to have some brilliant staff who have been with me since the start, feel so bad for them picking up the slack as you can't just sack someone who is a waste of space anymore, the hoop jumping is endless.

Nope!!! Selling up and we will get 'normal jobs' been too close to a mental break down! We are done!!

Agree @Lost77 100000%