Am I completely out of my vulcan mind? I want to run my own business but....

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Errata wrote: »

You seem to lack focus, and your claim of being an EA and working abroad for a huge variety of companies over 15 years means what? You worked for an agency or you skipped from employer to employer?

Yes, I do lack focus. I've just started out with this idea, first time to putting 'pen to paper' as such.

Maybe my experience is not "huge" actually. However, when you're an EA you can transfer skills from one to another. Maybe 'huge amount' was the wrong choice of words, more a variety of industries. One company for 5 years, another for 5 years, another for 4 and now another for nearly 2. That's nearly 16 years actually. All in different industries, all in different countries. This means what? This means I've gathered skills from a variety of industries with all levels of staff, in different cultures and work places. A good understanding of ways of working. What about you?

OllysMum_2

I think we have to separate out "starting a business" and "self-employed". I agree that if you are looking to start a business, employe people, take a product or service to market then you're looking at a robust and tested business plan, some back up finance and most importantly a phenomenal drive to make it successful.

If you just want to sell your skills and time and make enough money to make a living then that's a different ball game. (as long as your expectations aren't too high!)

As an EA you'll have lots of skills someone will pay for. The challenge will be in identifying who that might be, and building relationships to ensure continuity of income. With internet marketing creating a presence is much easier and more cost effective than it used to be.

I've been self-employed for three years and wish I'd done it years ago. I'm now wrestling with the dilemma of hiring someone as I have to farm quite a bit of stuff out because I have too much on. There has been some difficult months (I find the larger the company, the longer they take to pay :mad: ) but overall I've always got close to or more what my monthly salary used to be. In some cases, a lot more. Biggest downside for me is being unable to switch off- you can't ignore emails and calls from clients when there's no one else to pick them up.

Only you can decide if you can live with the uncertainty and the demands.

A former colleague said to me that it must be great being my own boss and being able to suit myself every day. That is so far from the truth. The reality is that I have around a dozen "bosses" - all demanding - and my time is not my own at all. However, I love what I do, I love being able to do it my own way, and I love being in control of my own destiny.

tyllwyd

I've been self-employed working from home for 13 years now BUT I am the opposite to you - I have one very niche skill (copyediting for academic texts). It can be done but you have to start with your business idea and then see if it might work - what you have said so far is too vague for heplful feedback. Would working part time while you build up your new business be an option?

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Most business people I know are passionate about the thing that they 'do'.

So the question has to be - what thing are you good at that you are passionate about that you can offer as a product or service that other people will pay for?

Counting_Pennies_2

With not knowing when, where, what and how, worries me. Is it more that you have had enough of being an EA and want to escape to the country? Or is life boring you, after 16 years in the same job and you want to move on.

If so all very valid reasons to move on but not necessarily to set up on your own and get OH to give up his work too.

After 16 years of working is the biological clock starting to click, are you thinking of settling down with children soon? If you are starting a business up and having children does not always mix too well.

There are plenty of EA roles further out of the main cities, if you enjoyed that and want to move more rural it is perfectly possible to do, so you can test out if that lifestyle change would work. Being a half an hour walk from a shop, as opposed to a ten minute drive to them can make a huge difference, so you might just be wanting to get out of the city, but not in farm land.

If the need is more to start up your business it is perfectly possible to try something as a side line to your existing work now and see if it takes off. An internet business or something similar?

I think a house move, walking away from two well paid jobs and starting up a new business in this economy may be too many changes in one go.

hth

Caroline_a

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

Most business people I know are passionate about the thing that they 'do'.

So the question has to be - what thing are you good at that you are passionate about that you can offer as a product or service that other people will pay for?

Unfortunately OP, you don't seem to have passion, rather you are ambivalent about what you think you should go into. Your passion seems to be rather for the thought of being self-employed in a rural environment. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I don't think you are thinking this through properly. I had my own business with a partner a couple of years ago, and worked full-time too whilst it was getting going. I put the money up, we had an amazing business plan which everybody, including the bank, said was pessimistic. We eventually closed, but could have limped along had I put in double the cash that I had - and I ended up investing more than half as much again as the business plan said was needed! Without any money behind you for contingencies you are setting yourself up for huge money issues!

What kept us going was the passion for what we were doing - and we walked away not owing anybody anything, although I'd lost a chunk of cash. The main problem was my partner who lied about what she was doing, and never fulfilled any of her (business) promises. I was ok, I still had a full-time job.

I really think that if you truly want to work for yourself you need to have an idea that takes over everything. It may not work rurally - lots of people will tell you the drawbacks of living in the country - and that should make your decisions as to where to live, rather than 'we want to live here, now what business can we do?' It all sounds very idyllic, but I think you need a lot more to succeed in self-employment than a few nefarious ideas!

FBaby

My partner both looked at become self-employed and sought advice. We were told that the biggest mistake people make is to look into what they can do self-employed because they want to get out of their current lives and see being self-employed as more rewarding, rather than having a very good entrepreneurial idea, and decide to go self-employed to build on it.

He said the second error people make is that once they come up with an idea, they are so keen on making it work that they build their business plan on the basis that it just has to work. The reality is that a business plan aim is to assess whether the project is feasible to start with. It has to acknowledge that the outcome will be that it is unlikely to be successful and start again with another idea.

It all comes down to the mean to the end or end to the mean.

We thought hard about it, and felt that we indeed fell in the category of those looking for something to do to get out of our current situations, and even though my partner had a decent idea, so did others and competition was already ferocious. 3 years later, those who started such business have done ok-ish, but all those who set up around the time he was considering it have failed.

It then also of course come down to risk. Some business ideas seem very weak, yet, with a bit of luck with the market, and some good sale techniques, some have made it. They were prepared to take the risk of the business not getting anywhere. My partner and I have decided that we had too much to lose, so would only consider it if we did come up with a very strong business plan.

Maybe the key is time. You don't need to get going now just because you wish to do so. Maybe you could try to prepare the business as much as possible whilst still at your job, and make the move of giving up jobs/moving once the business has started to show some success? In any case, I do wish you good luck and look forward to you coming back and telling us how you made your business work.

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Thank you all. This is hugely helpful and invaluable advice from those who have 'been there, got the t-shirt'.

It really is food for thought and I'm glad I asked the question. As mentioned, this is really the first time I've actually spoken about this sort of thing out in the open and therefore don't have a business plan or any real hard core ideas as of yet.

Really helpful to hear your stories tho, many thanks.