Hi there,
Today I think that I must be mad.
Having worked for the same multinational company for 17 years, I have found what I want to do next and am due to sign for a franchise in my local area. The industry is senior care. The numbers all stack up. I'm confident in the business model which is working for hundreds of other branches. The ethos is just what I'd want for my company, the work is meaningful, it makes a difference which is unknown to me with my prior IT background. I love the weeks I've put into this so far. I can run this business. I can make it work. But the personal implications are giving me major reservations today:
- I'm the bread winner with three primary-school children. I will not be winning any bread for 18 months, we'll be living off my redundancy package (lucky me that this is an option, but it terrifies me that I could do this and still fail). I won't be using the house as security for any lending. I will still have a pot of savings for emergencies.
- I've always had a good degree of flexibility if anything was needed for the children, worked part-time regularly since DS1 was born 10 years ago - work from home, time off for school events. Now, I'll be my own boss and can still come and go to a degree - but need to be in the office and round the community every day (9-5, sometimes 9-3) for the first few years to make this a success. I can't do much about it if I feel antsy or the children need me at home more.
- I am recently separated, and although coping with the emotional fallout, there could be more to navigate which I'd have to do side by side with running a business.
Is there anyone who has taken the leap amid similar reservations? I would love to hear what you did.
Or anyone who would say, Woah!, because from your experience it's a bad idea? My alternative is to find another corporate job, away from home 7-7 Mon to Fri, and I would rather take a huge fat risk than do this.