Starting a small business in your 40s/50s? has anyone done it?

[ElectraBlue]

I feel like I have reached the end of the road as an employee and I want to try to become fully self-employed/start my own business. I wonder if anyone has managed to do it in their 'mature years' and how this worked out?

I have worked in the charity sector for 20 years, currently a team and project manager but I simply can't do it anymore. The last straw is that
, as I have a long term health condition, when I took the job it was put in my contract that I could work from home and spend one day in the office. But now the CEO is pressuring me to work in the office. I just can't battle useless managers anymore. I have had the same scenario time and time again: start a job with a charity, fine for a few months, then they start turning the job into something really different from what was advertised and they get to the point of bullying about my health condition which does not prevent me from work, just sometimes requires some adjustments. I also went through a traumatic event recently (assault by a partner) and again although they know this they have not been supportive in any way.

I have always wanted to run a shop, a market stall or maybe a coffee shop. I also like the idea of starting a social enterprise. I am already registered self-employed as I make and sell paintings but this is not enough for a full time income.

I don't want to just become a self-employed consultant, as a project manager for example, I just need a completely new start as I think I truly hate what I am doing now at this stage.

If anyone has any tips it would be much appreciated!

Do it! Open a coffee shop, display your art for sale at the same time! Take the plunge, you sound like you deserve every happiness, good luck x

I'm tired of the battle too. (Head of a large dept in a large school). Love the teaching but the dsikt death by a thousand cuts (mock marking, report writing that nobody reads, demands and frankly bullying of some of my colleagues by parents, ridiculous paper work and expectations re Ofsted.. And I'm in a nice school with supportive SLT) means I'm out as soon as possible. I have a small business (tutoring) and lots of transferable skills. I'm looking at hospital schools and prison Ed too. Not helpful in your situation I realise but you are not alone. There's something about being 50 that means I just won't beistening to the bullshit any more... Gooduck! 0

I'm in my late 40s and considering the same.
I'm burnt out. Also working in education/charity, where the job has morphed into something untenable.

Like you, I'd like to do something new and be my own boss.

What's stopping me? Mortgage, costs of living etc.
However, this stops me from ever doing anything and I need to make the jump by 50...

This things will require working a minimum of 84 hours a week for less than the minimum age for 40 hours for at least 3 years

No sick pay, no pension

Go and work as an employee in a flower shop or a coffee shops first. Lots of these businesses fold and people have romantic ideas about them

I mentor small business owners and the dream is rarely the reality.
It can be great but it is also very very hard work both mentally and in terms of time with quite often very little reward
I am not saying don’t do it but do your research, write a proper business plan with real numbers in and then decide whether it’s viable.
The main reasons I have seen failure are when people start a business mostly because THEY want to rather than the fact that there is a need for the service or product or that people are good at something and think they can run a business doing that thing

We started a small business a few years ago. It has required an excessive number of working hours, it nearly ruined our marriage, it has been successful financially but at what cost? So I’d say don’t do it because you need a break because it’s very likely you won’t get one.

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far.

I think at this stage I have little alternative but to find ways to be fully self-employed.

Hard work does not bother me and I will definitely only go for something which is viable but I simply cannot function anymore as an employee so I have to do something else, full stop.

I have already worked in retail and coffee shops (someone mentioned trying it out first) but it might be a good idea to do a few shifts in the type of business I decide to start to get some further insight.

The role I have now is a dead end anyway, even if it is a manager role, and offers little financial security or any chance of a comfortable retirement so I have little to lose from that point of view.

If you go for being a self employed consultant, it is better money though?

I am 45 and can't cope with mgmt either, but freelance was the most viable option. I am working on a couple of side projects but can't see them being as straightforward in terms of income.

Watching this thread with interest. I think with the economic squeeze the cafe type business will be less viable. Selling art work might work better.

That should say "is it better money" - as a question.

Running and working in a coffee shop is really really hard work. You say you have health conditions that mean you need adjustments at work. Don't you think you might find the physical work involved in a coffee shop just too much? It's not as though you can just stop at the end of the day either as you have to do your books, buy stock etc.

Look at the political situation. There are no pay rises. Costs are going up dramatically. The first thing people will stop doing is buying food and drink when they are out. I think if you open a coffee shop now you'll be closing it again within a year.

And you have recently been through a traumatic event where your employer did not provide support, I’m sorry you had to go through this but - owning your own business is the loneliest place in the world - if you have staff - you support them, they do not support you, when they are ill you have to pay them and work twice as hard doing their work as well as your own, deal with staff when they have performance issues, worry about how your going to pay their wages - it’s exhausting and if you don’t have any staff, when will you find the time to run your business, buy stock, build your business, operate your business when you are unwell, deal with aggressive, unpleasant customers.

It's doable, but I think your reasons are all wrong. The grass is not greener, by any stretch. Being self employed is the hardest job I've ever done. It's exhausting working 14 hour days and then having to come home and do your admin. Staff call in sick and you've got to do their job as well as your own. Customers being arseholes and pushing you to the brink. You are not your own boss when you are self employed, your customers are, and you have a lot of them, some lovely, some absolute tossers and some are just beyond vile. But you take it all, because they pay your wage. It's far worse than a bad manager, at least you go home at the end of the day and can switch off. You can't do that when you are running a business. It is relentless.
Then there is the current economic climate. I've run my business for over ten years. Last year was the worst year I've ever encountered, I spent months worrying about how to bring more money in, keep my staff and premises. I spent all of my tax money just staying afloat. A good Christmas rectified that, but now my tax bill is paid I'm back to square one, and with the cost of living going up, my business is one of those people will spend less on, so I'm going to struggle again. The businesses you are considering setting up will be affected in a similar way.
If you are going to do it, do something you know. Don't dive headfirst into a business you know nothing about. Working a little bit in a cafe does not count as knowing how to run a cafe. Neither does working in a shop teach you about running a retail business. As an employee you don't see 99% of what goes on.
Honestly, I've considered going back to being an employee hundreds of times. The only thing that's stopped me is I've worked damned hard to get to where I am and I don't give up easily.

@delilahbucket ''It's doable, but I think your reasons are all wrong.''

I am going to strongly disagree with that. I have been self-employed for 10 years now alongside my paid employment (which is part-time) so I know that this is what suits me. Being and employee has been a disaster for me and this is not going to get any better.

I can't say too much but in my current job I work in a mental health related services and deal with people who have spent decades in prisons and/or have severe mental health conditions, so I am used to handling difficult 'customers'...

I am at a stage where I want to be self-employed full time but I am looking at what is the best way to make this happen.

It might not be a coffee shop, it might not be a shop, it might be starting a social enterprise that help the type of people that I currently support or it might be art-related.

But the actual principle of being self-employed is the right one for me and I am exploring ideas to make this happen.

I think as a pp said you may be very naieve. I do accounts for many small businesses. 3 of my friends run businesses : coffee shop, hairdressing salon, flower shop. Many close regularly because they just can't make ends meet. How are you going to make this work. Surely you should try this whilst you still have your other job?

@ElectraBlue okay then, as you were.

OP now you've said more, I can see why you want to leave that line of work altogether

Hopefully posters with more experience can advise you.

Best of luck in your journey, I hope you are right about everything - the buck will stop with you - you'll no longer blame the management. It'll be customers, suppliers, delivery companies, staff, accountants, lawyers, landlords, HMRC, the weather, the economy... the list goes well beyond the frustration of management when you run your own business.
I thought this was an interesting article.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/24/a-new-start-after-60-i-was-a-banker-who-finally-took-a-risk-and-bought-the-village-shop

if you have staff - you support them, they do not support you
This is so true and can’t be stressed enough. The worst people I have ever worked for have been those who fancied a nice little business but didn’t get that principle..
My DP has a small restaurant. He’s had a few hospitality businesses, and has been in the trade about 25 years. He purposefully chose a tiny premises so he can keep costs and staff to a bare minimum, but the flip side of that is he can’t be Ill, he rarely takes a break, and never has cover.
I used to be full time self employed and I did something I’m great at BUT I quit because the thing I charged for was only a small part of my work. The rest was trying to get the work in the first place, and business development was so much harder and more time consuming than anything. Add to that no paid holiday, no sick pay, and you never really switch off.
The best thing for you might be to grow your art business on the side and maybe reduce hours in the job you don’t like, or better, become a consultant, even though that idea doesn’t fill you with joy, it would be a field you know and you would have autonomy.

@Oblomov22 To be called 'naive' is uncalled for and unhelpful.
@delilahbucket I tend to ignore advice from people who are deliberately unpleasant...

Nobody would ever start a business with some of the attitudes displayed in this thread...

There is a big difference between being realistic, doing your research and some careful planning and looking at the feasibility of your project, which I completely agree anyone should be doing before starting a business and the attitude that 'you are going to fail anyway, so why bother'' display by a few too many posters.

I am happy to take advice from the people who display caution and have some positive suggestions to make but I am not interested in a shower of negativity and criticism.

I have absolutely no interest in continuing in the sector I am at the moment or becoming a consultant in that field. This would be a guaranteed failure as you need to have passion for what you do to convince people to hire you.

I am done with the charity sector and project management. I am not asking for anyone's permission to start a business, what I wanted was hearing about people's experience.

Thank you to those who share their experience without judgement or making assumptions about what I am like as a person...

You came on, asked for advice, got it in droves from experienced business owners with most saying the exact same thing, decided you didn't want to hear it and flounced. Your attitude speaks volumes about the type of person you are. No one has been unpleasant, just honest about the reality you are facing, and you are being very naive indeed. That isn't to say what you propose isn't possible, but you need a much stronger backbone.

There is a big difference between being realistic, doing your research and some careful planning and looking at the feasibility of your project, which I completely agree anyone should be doing before starting a business and the attitude that 'you are going to fail anyway, so why bother'' display by a few too many posters.

You are right, but you don't seem prepared to do any research because you think because you've sold a few paintings over the last ten years you deem yourself self employed and know how to run a business, and with staff as well as you are not proposing doing anything you can do alone.

If you were really interested in researching your options you would be taking all the advice you have received here on board, not spitting your dummy out because we've told you it's actually hard work, far harder than being an employee could ever be.

As I said, the grass is not greener, and your experience is not sufficient for you to know it is. You are a hobbyist currently, not a business owner. You don't rely on your self employed income, and dealing with angry people as part of your paid job is a very different kettle of fish to dealing with an angry customer who could ruin your whole business in an instant because it's your name above the door and it means more when you need that business to pay your bills, as do your staff.

Steve Jobs founder of Apple
Creates of Google

Creaters

Oh dear.

Shit, sorry wrong answers for the wrong question....they were start ups but not in 40's

Bye bye for now, seeing myself out.......