To close down my small business

[OCM19]

Hi

I am not sure if this is the right place to post. I have a small business selling pregnancy and new mum gift boxes. I also work full-time in a very high-pressured job and have a DS who is nearly 3.

I feel very overwhelmed right now, and don’t know whether to close the business down. So far this year, it’s brought in just over £5000 profit but we’ve got a lot of stock as asset too.

I work in our ‘study’ that would need to be a nursery if we decided to have another child and there wouldn’t be anywhere to put the stock other than maybe a garden room or a storage unit. It’s a gift box service so the room is constantly a mess because I do it around my full-time job.

Just not sure it’s worth it but it is a nice side income. I know only I can determine this, but is anyone else in the same situation or have any tips for managing it all?

Thanks

@OCM19 I’m in a similar ish situation, I have a website with around £12k RPI stock plus the website, silver jewellery, yoga items etc and have been toying with selling it, something keeps stopping me, I don’t have time to promote it, it kicks along, if you sell where are you thinking of advertising, there are loads of businesses for sale on EBay but I wasn’t keen on that so I’ll be interested to know where you are thinking of selling. I’ve got another consultancy business which takes up all my time.

Hi @FAQs, thank you for getting back to me. I was considering selling off the stock and then closing it down rather than selling it as a live business. I love it, but it’s so much work and I can’t see it being viable if we have another DC.

It sounds like you have your hands full too. It’s hard isn’t it, when you work so hard to build something up!

I don’t think I have the patience for that, it and yours might be good for someone looking to buy a set up business, do you have social media pages as well? It is a shame for sure, I’m trying to get a better work/like balance I think that becomes more important.

@FAQs I will definitely look into it, as we’ve designed our box sleeves and have social media pages but hardly put anything on them tbh! Like you, work-life balance is the issue here, along with a lack of time to complete things properly!

Sounds like a potential business is a box! Good luck with what you decide to do.

OP I've just posted more or less the same predicament!

@Irishgene oh really, what’s your business in? It’s such a tough one isn’t it when you’re also working a day job!

Can you drop down to part time in your day job? That's what I did and then ultimately dropped that job completely and went solely self employed. I did manage to move into a bigger house before that point though, and now I don't work from home at all.
If you don't think you will ever get a full time income from it, then as harsh as it sounds, there's no point killing yourself to make it bring in money. You work that hard with a goal in mind. What is your goal? Why did you set it up?

If I were you I wouldn’t make a decision until after Christmas, this time of year is overwhelming full stop but any small business needs constant attention and if you can’t give that it’s not enjoyable. I’d sell as a going concern rather than sell off in pieces.

Can you hire a college student or 6th former for a few hours a week ? Many would be happy to work say 5-8 two evenings a week.

I suggest evenings as you say that you do this on top of your full time job and it would mean you don’t spend your weekends doing it.

I would say it depends on what your day job earnings are. As in how does the £5k compare to your day job?

Also, as you say you have social media pages but rarely post, it sounds like you could get a lot more business if you engaged more, so there may be an option to grow it a bit more. In which case you would need to either consider dropping day job hours (if an option) or hiring someone to help.

As a pp said though, don't make any decisions just now as Christmas can be just overwhelming in general