Author Topic: When to consider starting my own company? (Read 6897 times)

JAYSLOL · « **on:** July 03, 2023, 01:42:22 PM »

Hey all, some looming potential changes as well as recent career challenges have me wondering if or when I should consider self employment. Long story short, I started working for a commercial landscaping company around 14 years ago, and over that time moved from labourer, to crew leader, to field manager, to my current role in which I am now the company irrigation technician as well as project manager and do most of the crew management, HR work and equipment maintenance. Yeah, it really got away on me the last few years. I do enjoy the work, and the variety of roles I do helps keep things interesting, my employer is good to work for, although I do have a lot of responsibilities and am putting in some long hours these days.
Now there is a potential change in ownership of the company I’m working for, and I don’t know how that would go if that actually happens. The current owner isn’t full time doing company stuff, but he is still somewhat hands on looking at sites, doing quotes, management, projects and tree work and has a landscaping background, whereas the rumour is the potential buyer is more of an investment, doesn’t have a landscaping background, and wants to “run it as-is remotely” from a city 5 hours away. I don’t have the time or frankly the interest in taking on any of the current owner’s responsibilities, so if that’s the way things are headed, it makes me think I may as well just start my own company.
I don’t really have anything to lose by seeing how things go with a new person, but if things do look like they are headed south, I’d like to know what to consider when deciding if I should look for other opportunities or work for myself

clifp · « **Reply #1 on:** July 03, 2023, 03:40:12 PM »

It seems likely you could handle the operations of a new landscaping company.

One question is how are you at doing or overseeing the back end of the operations, invoicing, collecting receivables, accounting etc.

The bigger question is what experience do you have in the sales side? It is one thing to give quotes, it is whole another thing, to get the quotes in the first place. Develop and execute a marketing strategy, make cold calls, network, and all the other aspects of getting paying customers.

It is not uncommon when folks started a new company to take some of the existing clients with them. IANAL, but before going too far in pursuit of this, I definitely talk to a lawyer specializing in corporate law to understand, what type of legal risk you face, what's the best way of doing it etc. Understand the new owner is going to be pissed and possibly the old one also, depending on what sales agreement looked like. It is common that old owner will have to stay on as a consultant for 6-24 months, and very likely that the sales price will be contingent on the profitability of the company over the next year or two.

A change of ownership does give you some new opportunities since it is likely both old and new owners really need your help. If the new owner is investor, you could offer to take on some of the responsibility of the old owner, of course you will have to be compensated for it. (I'd suggest profit sharing, or getting an equity stake). You'll also need to transfer the least interest parts of your job to someone else.

Anyway, I wouldn't be too quick to jump ship, but this is an excellent opportunity, to learn other aspect of the business in case you want to open your own.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #2 on:** July 03, 2023, 04:26:01 PM »

Those are all really great points @clifp

The day to day getting the work done is what I enjoy and excel at, the back end pushing paper and accounting I’m less familiar with, and frankly know I wouldn’t enjoy or be as good at. The sales side I’m less worried about than the tedious tasks, there’s currently no shortage of work for professional companies, and I do end up dealing with a lot of clients as things are.

I have no desire to poach clients if I left, and I definitely wouldn’t want to screw over either my old boss or a new one, that’s not how I like to do things. Realistically though, I’m the most senior guy in the whole company, and that includes the current owner (I’ve gone through an ownership change once before), and leaving before spending a whole season training (likely several) replacements would absolutely cripple the company. I definitely don’t plan to jump suddenly unless my work conditions took a really sudden nosedive and things looked like they weren’t possible to turn around.

I’m not really sure if I’d like running a business, i frankly hate paperwork, but I figure if that kind of work is going to get downloaded on me anyway, I should at least consider doing that for myself rather than for someone else.

Michael in ABQ · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2023, 05:13:11 PM »

If the new owner wants you to basically be running the company day-to-day you need to be compensated appropriately. That means potentially a small equity stake or some sort of incentive structure based on profitability/growth.

Business listings often included language about having a management team in place and a smart buyer will do everything they can to make sure that team doesn't leave a week after closing on the deal.

You have a fair amount of leverage in this case. If you can't negotiate a fair deal then let the buyer and/or current owner know that you'll consider leaving to start your own business. It's doubtful they could really do anything if you did end up going after the same clients or employees unless you signed some agreement specifically prohibiting that.

SeattleCPA · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2023, 07:01:20 AM »

Quote from: JAYSLOL on July 03, 2023, 01:42:22 PM

the rumour is the potential buyer is more of an investment, doesn’t have a landscaping background, and wants to “run it as-is remotely” from a city 5 hours away.

Three comments:

1. I can't imagine that remotely managing a small business works. Especially if owner is new to industry and firm.

2. At least where I live and work, seems like there's tons of demand for this sort of service as long as person knows what they're doing. And it sure seems like you know the landscaping side. (I say this as a customer of such services, trying to get work scheduled.)

3. You're right you also need to learn the business side. But that's doable. In my category of public accounting, for example great resources about the 'business side' of things exist. The irony is most small CPA firms don't tap these resources.

P.S. There's a good book about running a successful landscaping service that my wife, an avid gardener, sometimes references. I'll try to get that author's name and post later.

ToTheMoon · « **Reply #5 on:** July 04, 2023, 07:26:43 AM »

Could you buy the company you are currently employed at? Sounds easier.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #6 on:** July 04, 2023, 08:01:08 AM »

Quote from: ToTheMoon on July 04, 2023, 07:26:43 AM

Could you buy the company you are currently employed at? Sounds easier.

I have considered this. It’s a bit more than I really want to take on to be honest, unless I could get a crazy deal on it and then downscale the client base and territory a little. I did tell current owner if this falls through and he still wants out I might be interested if he wanted to part out the company somehow.

calimom · « **Reply #7 on:** July 05, 2023, 07:46:23 PM »

Quote from: JAYSLOL on July 04, 2023, 08:01:08 AM

Quote from: ToTheMoon on July 04, 2023, 07:26:43 AM
Could you buy the company you are currently employed at? Sounds easier.

I have considered this. It’s a bit more than I really want to take on to be honest, unless I could get a crazy deal on it and then downscale the client base and territory a little. I did tell current owner if this falls through and he still wants out I might be interested if he wanted to part out the company somehow.

It's smart you put this out there. Who knows what happens in negotiations? It's clear that the potential buyer is attracted to the revenue of the monthly recurring accounts but I agree with @SeattleCPA a business like this is hard to manage from afar, especially for buyers with little to no actual industry experience.

Some years ago I purchased a similar company from a retiring owner. Instead of exterior service, it's an interior plantscape company -- think tropical plants in hotels, commercial building lobbies, hospitality and banks. It came with a part time employee, a rickety van, and some decent accounts. Except for a big business hiccup during the Covid lockdown, I've experienced a lot of success with it and have grown it several times over. I love what I do, and am good with the business sales and marketing as well as the hands-on day-to-day operations of installations, sourcing plants and employee management. You seem well suited to start your own concern as well as running it successfully. It's a lovely thing to like what you do and to do it well. I'll be interested in hearing what happens next for you.

Archipelago · « **Reply #8 on:** July 05, 2023, 09:24:11 PM »

Quote from: JAYSLOL on July 04, 2023, 08:01:08 AM

Quote from: ToTheMoon on July 04, 2023, 07:26:43 AM
Could you buy the company you are currently employed at? Sounds easier.

I have considered this. It’s a bit more than I really want to take on to be honest, unless I could get a crazy deal on it and then downscale the client base and territory a little. I did tell current owner if this falls through and he still wants out I might be interested if he wanted to part out the company somehow.

If the current company as it stands is more than you'd want to take on, then it's my belief that starting your own company from basically scratch is going to be much more than you're going to want to take on. Building a business from nothing is painstaking, risky, and takes countless hours and possibly years of hard work. If I could 'do it all over again', I would absolutely buy an existing healthy business over starting one from scratch.

Another thing to consider: if you're the owner's 'right hand person', and it sounds like you are, and given your glimpse into the next owner's dealings, then you're in a position of massive leverage. If you've added enough value to the business and are a key component, you have a lot more power than you think. Even more so if you have adequate reason to believe the business would crumble without you. Companies need the right people running them. Asking for an equity stake and performance incentives is completely fair game. Which would be a nice thing that you're paid more and own a percentage of the company, but not enough skin in the game to get completely screwed over if the business fails.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #9 on:** July 29, 2023, 09:25:17 AM »

Thanks for the replies, a little update so far, looks like the deal is going through and new owner should be taking over in the next few days. Old owner has agreed to stay on with the business for at least a year to help transition, which has alleviated some of the concerns I had. I should be able to meet the new owner this week. I’ll keep everyone updated

@Archipelago Part of the reason I wasn’t keen on taking on this business in full was the amount of risk involved, I don’t know specifically what this business would be worth, but I’m sure I’d need to take on a pile of debt to be able to buy it, and payroll alone would be probably on the order of $70k/month going out, it’s a lot of stress and risk to take on when I’ve got a family and Im not someone with venture capital levels of wealth. So starting smaller and building seemed like a better way to go. I’ll also be having a meeting with new boss and old boss to set a new (higher) salary, I do get informal performance bonuses as things stand, they aren’t directly tied to company worth, but I usually get an extra 10-20% of my base salary in the occasional bonus check when we complete major projects etc and the money comes rolling in.

@calimom That sounds like a really cool business! I like all things horticulture related, and hotels and other businesses are great places to have interesting indoor plant displays that would be too big to have in your own home, it would be really cool to be able to have spaces like those to get creative!

Chris Pascale · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2023, 09:29:52 AM »

If you have the funds, the gear, and some customers already, I bet you'd do a great job.

sonofsven · « **Reply #11 on:** October 06, 2023, 06:07:03 PM »

Quote from: JAYSLOL on July 29, 2023, 09:25:17 AM

Thanks for the replies, a little update so far, looks like the deal is going through and new owner should be taking over in the next few days. Old owner has agreed to stay on with the business for at least a year to help transition, which has alleviated some of the concerns I had. I should be able to meet the new owner this week. I’ll keep everyone updated

@Archipelago Part of the reason I wasn’t keen on taking on this business in full was the amount of risk involved, I don’t know specifically what this business would be worth, but I’m sure I’d need to take on a pile of debt to be able to buy it, and payroll alone would be probably on the order of $70k/month going out, it’s a lot of stress and risk to take on when I’ve got a family and Im not someone with venture capital levels of wealth. So starting smaller and building seemed like a better way to go. I’ll also be having a meeting with new boss and old boss to set a new (higher) salary, I do get informal performance bonuses as things stand, they aren’t directly tied to company worth, but I usually get an extra 10-20% of my base salary in the occasional bonus check when we complete major projects etc and the money comes rolling in.

@calimom That sounds like a really cool business! I like all things horticulture related, and hotels and other businesses are great places to have interesting indoor plant displays that would be too big to have in your own home, it would be really cool to be able to have spaces like those to get creative!

Any updates, @JAYSOL? How are conditions under the new owner?

I think you're smart to not buy the stressful business. Owning and running a business and doing the actual hands on work are very different occupations.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #12 on:** September 30, 2024, 09:38:02 PM »

Quote from: sonofsven on October 06, 2023, 06:07:03 PM

Quote from: JAYSLOL on July 29, 2023, 09:25:17 AM
Thanks for the replies, a little update so far, looks like the deal is going through and new owner should be taking over in the next few days. Old owner has agreed to stay on with the business for at least a year to help transition, which has alleviated some of the concerns I had. I should be able to meet the new owner this week. I’ll keep everyone updated

@Archipelago Part of the reason I wasn’t keen on taking on this business in full was the amount of risk involved, I don’t know specifically what this business would be worth, but I’m sure I’d need to take on a pile of debt to be able to buy it, and payroll alone would be probably on the order of $70k/month going out, it’s a lot of stress and risk to take on when I’ve got a family and Im not someone with venture capital levels of wealth. So starting smaller and building seemed like a better way to go. I’ll also be having a meeting with new boss and old boss to set a new (higher) salary, I do get informal performance bonuses as things stand, they aren’t directly tied to company worth, but I usually get an extra 10-20% of my base salary in the occasional bonus check when we complete major projects etc and the money comes rolling in.

@calimom That sounds like a really cool business! I like all things horticulture related, and hotels and other businesses are great places to have interesting indoor plant displays that would be too big to have in your own home, it would be really cool to be able to have spaces like those to get creative!

Any updates, @JAYSOL? How are conditions under the new owner?

I think you're smart to not buy the stressful business. Owning and running a business and doing the actual hands on work are very different occupations.

Decided to pop by and give an update since it’s been about a year, sorry for keeping everyone waiting. New owner did take over, and has been more hands on than I expected, and actually moved to the area to be closer to our crews and clients, although I don’t think that was originally in his plan. While his being more involved has been good in some ways, he has been much more ambitious than the previous owner, and has gone after a lot more work without actually having the crews and equipment in place beforehand, and hasn’t always had the experience to know what kind of expectations to give to clients, which puts pressure on everyone. He did hire someone to take on the irrigation side of things to free me up to manage crews and projects, but it hasn’t really panned out for a variety of reasons and I’ve still needed to take care of almost all the irrigation work along with projects, which has left crew management largely ignored causing some quality and professionalism issues. Even if I had time to manage crews and sites this year, the new owner has done most of the hiring, and I feel less empowered to try to shape things up when the new crew members weren’t given the type of thorough orientation I would have tried to, and aren’t aware they are doing things unprofessionally. Overall, I still like the actual work, but it’s been pretty chaotic this year and I’d like a little more focus and less chaos and worrying about others needing management when I’m not set up to.

I did get a small bump in pay, but not significant. Really the main thing keeping me here is definitely that I get a deal on the house I’m renting, we are in a fairly HCOL area and if the business wasn’t running mostly out of the place I rent, it would be borderline unaffordable here with what we bring in. Which brings me to the new owner mentioning that he doesn’t see wanting to continue renting this place much longer, which would put me out into the open market for a place to stay. I very much doubt he’d be willing to pay me the equivalent of what that’s worth to me (like a 40% raise), so I’m also feeling uneasy about that going forward. We are pretty well settled here, kid in school, friends, parents even bought a place to be nearby, so I don’t love the idea of moving away.

So I’m not really sure what to do. I feel like the owner will continue to chase ambitions instead of building something solid and I’ll always be on my toes waiting for the next thing to blindside me, which might even include losing my home. More and more I think I might need to weigh the option of starting my own business and take on some reasonable work that I can control, or finding some other job with a more focused role.

SeattleCPA · « **Reply #13 on:** October 01, 2024, 06:05:34 AM »

Quote from: JAYSLOL on September 30, 2024, 09:38:02 PM

More and more I think I might need to weigh the option of starting my own business and take on some reasonable work that I can control, or finding some other job with a more focused role.

Again, I think the idea of owning your own business is good. Lots of work. Risky, sure. But the rewards both financially and intellectually can be pretty big.

Maybe sort of like a marriage.

Archipelago · « **Reply #14 on:** October 01, 2024, 11:29:52 AM »

I'll post again with some thoughts later. Bookmarking this post again.

gavint · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2024, 08:55:18 AM »

Hi @JAYSLOL , I went through a similar process in 2016 in the same industry, went for self-employment and haven't looked back. It was a great financial decision and good for my soul too.

Landscaping is great because of low barriers to entry and enormous flexibility in what spectrum of services you can offer. You CAN start super small, like work by yourself from home small. The bookkeeping at that level is pretty easy, and your overheads at the start are super low too.

If you've got a bit of a nest egg saved up, can invest in a (used!) truck and a few pieces of key equipment, are a self-starter, can smile at customers and answer emails, go for it.

Do a bit of market research - you must know what your boss is billing you out at - use that rate to do the math to figure out how many hours do you need to bill per month to make it doable. If you've got skills, and it seems like you do, you don't need to undercut your boss, skilled people are in demand like nobody's business.

Let me know if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to help.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2024, 02:11:45 PM »

Quote from: gavint on October 05, 2024, 08:55:18 AM

Hi @JAYSLOL , I went through a similar process in 2016 in the same industry, went for self-employment and haven't looked back. It was a great financial decision and good for my soul too.

Landscaping is great because of low barriers to entry and enormous flexibility in what spectrum of services you can offer. You CAN start super small, like work by yourself from home small. The bookkeeping at that level is pretty easy, and your overheads at the start are super low too.

If you've got a bit of a nest egg saved up, can invest in a (used!) truck and a few pieces of key equipment, are a self-starter, can smile at customers and answer emails, go for it.

Do a bit of market research - you must know what your boss is billing you out at - use that rate to do the math to figure out how many hours do you need to bill per month to make it doable. If you've got skills, and it seems like you do, you don't need to undercut your boss, skilled people are in demand like nobody's business.

Let me know if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks, I’m leaning towards a focus strictly on irrigation (start up, repairs and winterizing), and working just on my own, as it’s easier to charge more for that over just regular landscape maintenance and I don’t have to worry about hiring and keeping employees etc. I have a rough guess at what I’d need to charge to make it viable, looks like I’d have to bill out about 25 hours a week to pay myself my current salary and cover the extra costs of running my own vehicle and other business costs. So in theory, I could work around the same hours I already do and double my salary. As it happens, I have a small used truck already, as well as a small cargo trailer. Not sure that I consider myself much of a self-starter lol, I do prefer just getting a list of work and then going and doing it rather than making calls and finding the work myself, but I do fine with clients and might be able to manage that once I get into the rhythm.

One big challenge of starting my own thing would be that I lose the place I’m renting if I quit. It’s a pretty expensive market here, and very hard to find rentals, or a place to buy. I’d love to buy our own place, but that would be really tight even if I wiped out our savings.

Archipelago · « **Reply #17 on:** October 11, 2024, 11:55:39 AM »

Apologies for the late reply. Better late than never!

I'm looking at this:

Quote

Which brings me to the new owner mentioning that he doesn’t see wanting to continue renting this place much longer, which would put me out into the open market for a place to stay. I very much doubt he’d be willing to pay me the equivalent of what that’s worth to me (like a 40% raise), so I’m also feeling uneasy about that going forward. We are pretty well settled here, kid in school, friends, parents even bought a place to be nearby, so I don’t love the idea of moving away.

So I’m not really sure what to do. I feel like the owner will continue to chase ambitions instead of building something solid and I’ll always be on my toes waiting for the next thing to blindside me, which might even include losing my home. More and more I think I might need to weigh the option of starting my own business and take on some reasonable work that I can control, or finding some other job with a more focused role.

Followed by this:

Quote

One big challenge of starting my own thing would be that I lose the place I’m renting if I quit. It’s a pretty expensive market here, and very hard to find rentals, or a place to buy. I’d love to buy our own place, but that would be really tight even if I wiped out our savings.

It sounds like the new owner may stop renting the place and you'd lose the house regardless. So even if you don't quit, you might still lose your housing situation. Have you sat down with the owner and laid your hypothetical cards on the table? If you're THE irrigation guy, you have leverage. Could you work out a deal to stay on and build the irrigation side of the business? In that case, could you work your housing into the equation? If you've started to form a decent relationship with the guy, he might hear you out especially if you start talking with language that aligns with his ambitions.

Other things I'm thinking about:

1. If you go the full self-employment route, I really like the idea of niching down into irrigation.

2. It's my belief that the issues you've mentioned with current company are all things a competitor (you) can instantly do better by default. Being professional, showing up when you say you're going to, doing good quality work, and being good with customers are all things you can charge a premium for. With local service businesses, you're getting away from competing on price. You're competing on these qualities. When you start checking these boxes, you become a premier player in the area, and then you charge accordingly.

Quote

I’ve still needed to take care of almost all the irrigation work along with projects, which has left crew management largely ignored causing some quality and professionalism issues.

3. Can you form your own company and carve out the irrigation customer base from your current company? Can you work that sort of deal? You send old company referrals for landscaping. Old company would send you referrals for irrigation. Having both parties niche down this kind of work could be valuable, and a win-win scenario.

4. Something to consider with self-employment specifically related to housing. If you become self-employed, banks want to see income history of at least 2 years. If you buy a house, it might be tricky to get a lender to use your SE income. But I think it could still be done if you're able to show a clear transition from several years of employment at a company to starting your own company in the same industry. An easier route to take might be buying a house while still with your employer, THEN starting a business after the house is bought. If you find another place to rent, this should be less of a problem.

Archipelago · « **Reply #18 on:** October 11, 2024, 12:06:07 PM »

A few things about self-employment that might lend some courage:

1. Self-employment has given me a great lifestyle. I can work 10-15 hours/week and earn a comfortable wage, no employees. I have practically unlimited time off and can pick my hours. I can sleep in until 9:00 AM and go to the gym 4 days/week. It took a while to get there, but it can be done. I think 'lifestyle design' is the #1 thing I value in self-employment.

2. Self-employment is not all or nothing. You can work your current job while still building your own business in the background. It can be a gradual transition. It took me 2.5 years working a corporate desk job while juggling building a business. It can be done.

3. Self-employment is the ultimate betting on oneself. There's some risk involved i.e. if business fails. But the upsides are also significant.

If you do end up starting your own company, please do let us know. I'd like to share a brief checklist of things to do that I wish I had known back when I started a business!

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #19 on:** October 11, 2024, 02:29:23 PM »

Quote from: Archipelago on October 11, 2024, 11:55:39 AM

Apologies for the late reply. Better late than never!

I'm looking at this:

Quote
Which brings me to the new owner mentioning that he doesn’t see wanting to continue renting this place much longer, which would put me out into the open market for a place to stay. I very much doubt he’d be willing to pay me the equivalent of what that’s worth to me (like a 40% raise), so I’m also feeling uneasy about that going forward. We are pretty well settled here, kid in school, friends, parents even bought a place to be nearby, so I don’t love the idea of moving away.

So I’m not really sure what to do. I feel like the owner will continue to chase ambitions instead of building something solid and I’ll always be on my toes waiting for the next thing to blindside me, which might even include losing my home. More and more I think I might need to weigh the option of starting my own business and take on some reasonable work that I can control, or finding some other job with a more focused role.

Followed by this:

Quote
One big challenge of starting my own thing would be that I lose the place I’m renting if I quit. It’s a pretty expensive market here, and very hard to find rentals, or a place to buy. I’d love to buy our own place, but that would be really tight even if I wiped out our savings.

It sounds like the new owner may stop renting the place and you'd lose the house regardless. So even if you don't quit, you might still lose your housing situation. Have you sat down with the owner and laid your hypothetical cards on the table? If you're THE irrigation guy, you have leverage. Could you work out a deal to stay on and build the irrigation side of the business? In that case, could you work your housing into the equation? If you've started to form a decent relationship with the guy, he might hear you out especially if you start talking with language that aligns with his ambitions.

Other things I'm thinking about:

1. If you go the full self-employment route, I really like the idea of niching down into irrigation.

2. It's my belief that the issues you've mentioned with current company are all things a competitor (you) can instantly do better by default. Being professional, showing up when you say you're going to, doing good quality work, and being good with customers are all things you can charge a premium for. With local service businesses, you're getting away from competing on price. You're competing on these qualities. When you start checking these boxes, you become a premier player in the area, and then you charge accordingly.

Quote
I’ve still needed to take care of almost all the irrigation work along with projects, which has left crew management largely ignored causing some quality and professionalism issues.

3. Can you form your own company and carve out the irrigation customer base from your current company? Can you work that sort of deal? You send old company referrals for landscaping. Old company would send you referrals for irrigation. Having both parties niche down this kind of work could be valuable, and a win-win scenario.

4. Something to consider with self-employment specifically related to housing. If you become self-employed, banks want to see income history of at least 2 years. If you buy a house, it might be tricky to get a lender to use your SE income. But I think it could still be done if you're able to show a clear transition from several years of employment at a company to starting your own company in the same industry. An easier route to take might be buying a house while still with your employer, THEN starting a business after the house is bought. If you find another place to rent, this should be less of a problem.

I certainly do need to have a sit down with him and go over my concerns, I haven’t done that yet. I do have a decent relationship with him, but I’m also a little unsure how that would go over, so I’m still pondering how to approach the topic. He does want to build the irrigation side, but I’m not really convinced that wouldn’t just be more of the same chaos and stress.

#1 Same, I’d like more focus and less trying to fit in a million different jobs. This year alone I’ve done everything from cleaning gutters, to building retaining walls, to hydro seeding, to arborist work, on top of working on vehicles and equipment, crew management, and all the irrigation work. I’m not opposed to doing to occasional mowing job or cutting down a tree in the start of running my own thing if I don’t have enough irrigation work to keep me busy, but it would be filler work, not work I have to do while neglecting the main work I do want to do.

#3 I doubt I could, I don’t have the intention to steal any clients, possibly a few would follow me anyway, but the vast majority of the contracts they have the irrigation is included in the maintenance contract. I also doubt he would want to sub contract it out to me, he wouldn’t be able to raise prices enough for that to make sense I wouldn’t think,

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #20 on:** October 11, 2024, 02:38:29 PM »

Quote from: Archipelago on October 11, 2024, 12:06:07 PM

A few things about self-employment that might lend some courage:

1. Self-employment has given me a great lifestyle. I can work 10-15 hours/week and earn a comfortable wage, no employees. I have practically unlimited time off and can pick my hours. I can sleep in until 9:00 AM and go to the gym 4 days/week. It took a while to get there, but it can be done. I think 'lifestyle design' is the #1 thing I value in self-employment.

2. Self-employment is not all or nothing. You can work your current job while still building your own business in the background. It can be a gradual transition. It took me 2.5 years working a corporate desk job while juggling building a business. It can be done.

3. Self-employment is the ultimate betting on oneself. There's some risk involved i.e. if business fails. But the upsides are also significant.

If you do end up starting your own company, please do let us know. I'd like to share a brief checklist of things to do that I wish I had known back when I started a business!

#1 that does sound pretty awesome, congrats!

#2 given my current role keeps me working at 10-12 hour days for most of the season, I don’t really have much time or energy to build a business on the side, though I do spend a few weekends a year doing the occasional side job, I’m not really able to tackle much more than that.

I’ll definitely come back and let everyone know if I do decide to go for it, thanks for the replies

gavint · « **Reply #21 on:** October 18, 2024, 09:11:41 AM »

Hi again,

you said: 'I do prefer just getting a list of work and then going and doing it rather than making calls and finding the work myself, but I do fine with clients and might be able to manage that once I get into the rhythm. '

This is something you need to really be okay with. It takes A LOT more time than you think it does - site visits, follow-ups, drawings, job planning, writing offers, dealing with the government, suppliers, repairs, writing invoices, doing the scheduling and bookkeeping. I was shocked this year when I signed up for a digital timestamp service for my new employees, and started keeping track of my own working time and not just billable time...

I'm sure that there are ways to streamline all of this, but it's the personal touch that generates customer loyalty, and therefore business stability.

@Archipelago had a good suggestion - #3, that perhaps you might have misunderstood - Stealing customers is shitty, so don't do that. You want to outcompete your former boss on a fair playing field, not be a weasel. The suggestion is, you talk to the guy and come to some sort of arrangement. It would be difficult for him to be able to offer a professional irrigation service without you, so he just feeds you the work as a subcontractor, and you send the stuff you don't want to do his way. Scratch each other's backs. Be perfectly honest with the guy, if he's reasonable, could work out great and take a ton of stress out of your start-up situation.

JAYSLOL · « **Reply #22 on:** November 06, 2024, 09:37:29 PM »

So, things have taken a bit of a turn for the worse with my current job, and unfortunately will also affect my housing. The new owner of the company I’ve been working for has rapidly expanded things over the last year, and despite me being open with him about my concerns about running so many extra vehicles out of the residential property that he’s renting from the previous owner of the company, of which he rents the yard and shop, and I rent the house at a reduced rate, he’s continued to do that and has landed the company in hot water with bylaw due to upset neighbours and has been told to shut down operation out of this property. So in short, at some time in the next few months I’m going to lose my house. I’ve been on the fence about continuing to stay on as things were going as it was, and the main thing keeping me has been the place we get to rent since it’s otherwise a very unaffordable market here for renting or buying. Even if the new owner were to offer some kind of increase to me to help offset having to go out and rent something else or buy a place at market rate, I’m not sure I feel like I should continue working with them. Which of course would make me unemployed and homeless soon, which is not the most awesome combination.

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Author Topic: When to consider starting my own company? (Read 6897 times)