Self Employment and feelings of guilt? (employee, apply, profit, owner)
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A few months ago my division at work was shut down. This is the 3rd time in the last 6-7 years I was a victim of circumstance in my career and lost a good job because of upper management's overall business decisions eliminating whole divisions and not my individual performance.
So I decided to branch out and work for myself. I've worked in an industry that allows me to simply broker deals and build vendor relationships. I have a large nest egg, and my wife's income alone covers all our bills. You'd think it would be the perfect situation but for some reason I am overcome with guilt.
I'm still trying to get things up and running and I'm not making any type of steady income yet. The potential is there, but there's no way of knowing how long it will take. I love the freedom, but almost feel like I can't enjoy it because I feel I'm not bringing anything to the table for our household. My wife is beyond supportive, I just keep thinking I should stop this and try to find another job asap. But the thought of getting a another job makes me feel like someone who's been in multiple abusive relationships and will never fully commit to another. I'll always be waiting for the HR meeting letting the division know it's being eliminated.
I'm wondering if anyone else who's self-employed has ever gone through similar feelings of guilt? Was there anything you did to help overcome those feelings other than becoming successful?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When I moved my family here I bought a business that had been neglected with an absentee owner. His most recent tax return showed only $70k gross revenue, and there was only one employee. After the sale I let her go, and brought in my own part-time helper, but with 3 kids my wife only worked part-time. After a few weeks I took a part-time job evenings/weekends. For close to 7 months I closed the business at 5:00, drove about 5 miles and worked until 9pm. With some marketing and good word-of-mouth, by then I managed to get busy enough to make ends meet and was up to $159k sales. It was close to two years in that I hired my first full-time employee, and another year for the second. A the peak I had 3 full-time employees, $250k sales, and moved into a larger space. Yes, there were feelings of guilt, but then I did what I had to until it became profitable.
You have to give it time, a successful business takes time. Your wife says she is supportive, which is very important. Do you feel you can grow the business or is this as good as it's going to get? If you don't think things will improve, start looking for a job, if you think you can get more clients, then go for it. Nothing wrong with Hemlocks idea of getting a part time job & still doing your own thing. DH was self employed for many years. It was hard in the beginning, but then we made some money.
Do you need to give yourself a deadline? A year? At some point you have to be making something to help out and cover expenses, even if it is not a full time salary yet. Otherwise, your wife has a job and you have a full time hobby.
When I moved my family here I bought a business that had been neglected with an absentee owner. His most recent tax return showed only $70k gross revenue, and there was only one employee. After the sale I let her go, and brought in my own part-time helper, but with 3 kids my wife only worked part-time. After a few weeks I took a part-time job evenings/weekends. For close to 7 months I closed the business at 5:00, drove about 5 miles and worked until 9pm. With some marketing and good word-of-mouth, by then I managed to get busy enough to make ends meet and was up to $159k sales. It was close to two years in that I hired my first full-time employee, and another year for the second. A the peak I had 3 full-time employees, $250k sales, and moved into a larger space. Yes, there were feelings of guilt, but then I did what I had to until it became profitable.
What a success story! Very impressive!
I've been slowly seeing improvements. More requests for meetings and additional information on what I have to offer. With what I do you can literally close 1 deal a month and you're doing okay. When I worked for corporate America I'd close 1-2 a week once my book of business was properly developed, so the chance to make good money is there, the ramp up period is just brutal. Working a few months without a paycheck doesn't help either, but you just have to focus on the big picture I suppose.
Love the chart you posted! That's going up on my office wall.
I'm self employed and started my business blind (meaning I just jumped into it with fingers crossed that it would work out). I was busy within six months and am about to hit three years and counting. I still have A LOT of growing/learning to do. It just takes time.
Partner and family contribution isn't all about money. If your wife is truly supportive then go after your dream.
I've been slowly seeing improvements. More requests for meetings and additional information on what I have to offer. With what I do you can literally close 1 deal a month and you're doing okay. When I worked for corporate America I'd close 1-2 a week once my book of business was properly developed, so the chance to make good money is there, the ramp up period is just brutal. Working a few months without a paycheck doesn't help either, but you just have to focus on the big picture I suppose.
The hardest part of being self-employed is that no one finds the customers for you....you have to do it yourself. Once you have the customer base, then you can just work, like in a day job. Do you have an actual business development plan? Have you done any market research?
The hardest part of being self-employed is that no one finds the customers for you....you have to do it yourself. Once you have the customer base, then you can just work, like in a day job. Do you have an actual business development plan? Have you done any market research?
I found what to charge was by far the hardest for me to figure out. As an employee I thought my boss was insanely overcharging and making a ton of money. Then once I became the owner I was in for a shock. It is very expensive to own/run a small business.
Never once felt any guilt. Then I already owned the business when I got married. There was definitely slow times over the years but I never got worried about it.
The hardest part of being self-employed is that no one finds the customers for you....you have to do it yourself. Once you have the customer base, then you can just work, like in a day job.
This is true, to a point. It's taken time, but now customers come to me. Rank and reputation on Google is a big source of new customers, but the biggest is word of mouth and referrals. This may or may not apply depending on the type of business - sounds like the OP's will be service-based, not product-based. Networking is important. I occasionally attend a local business owner networking meeting and have gotten new customers from that as well.
And don't count on customers staying with you forever, they come and go, sometimes you never know why. I think it almost always comes down to money: they found a better price elsewhere. You have to grow a thick skin and be able to deal with rejection. If you get around 80% of the projects/orders you quote, then you're doing good.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,553 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57728
Quote:
Originally Posted by heavymind
This is true, to a point. It's taken time, but now customers come to me. Rank and reputation on Google is a big source of new customers, but the biggest is word of mouth and referrals. This may or may not apply depending on the type of business - sounds like the OP's will be service-based, not product-based. Networking is important. I occasionally attend a local business owner networking meeting and have gotten new customers from that as well.
And don't count on customers staying with you forever, they come and go, sometimes you never know why. I think it almost always comes down to money: they found a better price elsewhere. You have to grow a thick skin and be able to deal with rejection. If you get around 80% of the projects/orders you quote, then you're doing good.
Yes, and I can give an example. I had a really good customer in Kansas, ordering $3,000-4,000/month. Even back then the shipping for the heavy boxes was costing them about $40/box. After about 18 months they were kind enough to let me know that they had found someone else in the city next to them where they could pick up the orders and save a couple of thousand a year in UPS charges. AT least I knew the reason, and it did make sense, but that left a hole in my revenue.
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