Career Advice - Tell Me Straight

Ms_Chocaholic

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time or if you have no spare time what would you enjoy if you had more spare time? This might lead you to look at what career path you wish to follow.

theoretica

PennyBun wrote: »

Whatever happens I think I want to be my own boss. I've always had aspirations to start my own company ...

Very many of the self employed people I know aren't 'their own boss' instead they have a cycle of clients as 'bosses' many of whom are fairly inexperienced at hiring people. Do you have the desire and tact to gently lead clients into being good bosses for you?

trailingspouse

You're in the perfect position, I would say. You've got a job (not a perfect job, but not many people have one of those), so you're not going to starve immediately.


Give yourself a year to do all the research - find out everything (EVERYTHING) you possibly can about anything and everything business-related. Stuff related to employment law, bookkeeping, VAT, insurance, marketing and anything else you can think of. Find accountants and solicitors that will give you a half hour of their time for free, and ask all the questions (including the ones you think are stupid...) It's boring, but it's essential. Most businesses that fail don't fail because it was a bad idea, they fail because the person running the business didn't know how to run a business.


Other things to consider - how does your partner feel about this? They'll also be taking a risk along side you - they could also lose their home, for example, if it all goes pear shaped. Are they able to work to keep things ticking over while you get set up, or would they be able to work in the business (or they may have their own career plans that don't include working in the building trade).



And forget about the money from the early inheritance for a moment. Imagine you were needing to borrow the money - how much would you actually need? The chances of the 'inheritance' being exactly the amount you would need is very slim - you need to know if it would be anything like enough (or if it would be far too much!).


And after the year is up - you'll know what you need to do.

Smodlet

Totally as trailingspouse has said, OP. OH once ran his own business as a sole trader; he worked all the hours the gods sent and did really well. Then he became ambitious, went into partnership with a couple of (seemingly really good) contacts he had made... Once upon a time, we had the dream house in my dream location; now we live in a chav-riddled hole oop where it's grim.

You may well fly really high with your ambitions and I hope you do. Please just be prepared and get yourself a parachute in case you do crash; that is all I am saying. Rely on yourself and you won't go far wrong, in my experience.

Don't be afraid to pursue your dreams, please. If OH had listened to me, we would still be living in a council flat! Just please be careful before you leap.