Self-employed - is it time to admit this just isn't working

[SparklyOwls]

I have been self employed for about four years. I have worked so hard to build a business model and it's taken a lot of time, energy and investment to get going. But I am constantly met with "time-wasters", people who want my service but disappear, people not paying invoices, it's difficult keeping everyone happy.

I am just exhausted with it all and the constant struggle to find new reliable customers.

I do have a totally different idea for self-employed work which I think would work better and would take about £1k of investment to get up and running.

My question is, have you been self employed and just had to admit that what you are trying hard to do just isn't working?

Being self employed is hard. Being successful and self employed is even harder.

id recommend working out how much you are earning an hour, then how much flexibility being self employed allows you/ what being your own boss adds to your well being, then see how these factors balance out.

harder to give more detailed suggestions without further info.

Thanks Mantis

The business works well with the right type of customers, but there are a hell of a lot of time wasters which add a hell of a lot of unpaid time to the week. I am exhausted working with the public.

My new venture involves very little interaction with public directly, but I can use years of knowledge to build it.

Yes many years ago I reluctantly registered for dole and never looked back
It was a small step back for muc bigger gains and stability
Unpaid time should be factored as a higher cost for those that employ your services. You need to be much more selective