Alright everyone. This is going to be a wall of text, so I apologize in advance. Just looking to see if anyone has any valuable input for my situation.
My wife and I currently live in the greater Seattle area, we will be moving to Phoenix sometime later this year or early next year. I think that will be a perfect time for me to jump into my own business feet first.
However, I have a really good job with good benefits right now, and we often talk about having a baby before we move so that we still have insurance through the pregnancy. On the same note I feel it would be very silly to leave a good paying job with benefits when we have a child to care for. However I donât want to give up our desire to move to a sunny/warm place and starting my own business. The thought of trying to support a family while also build a business from the ground up terrifies me. And also Iâm sure there will be a long time where we donât have insurance, and thatâs if we ever have insurance again since I will have my own business. But we also donât want to put off having a baby too long. We are both 26 years old and both like the idea of having a baby soon. But I just feel itâs too many hurdles to try to jump at one time. Does anyone have any advice, I hope this all makes sense.
i was 26 with a toddler and a pregnant wife when i started my business. it was in 08â when the market tanked.
so i didnât do it because it was my dream but rather out of necessity.
if i was in a situation similar too yours with a good job still. i would squirrel away enough for roughly a years expenses and plenty of startup cash for equipment and marketing materials
A lower stress option is to buy a preexisting business and/or routes. If this will require financing probably much safer to do it whil you already have guaranteed income from your current job.
Hi mike, thankyou for your input. Out of curiosity, if you donât mind sharing, how did you handle medical bills when starting your business having a pregnant wife? I can only assume you didnât have insurance when you were starting outâŚ
Why not keep your job and start your business part time. Quit your full time job once you feel confident you can buy health insurance + maintain a good salary from the business?
Your cocky reply tells me you think you have this all figured out, and you simply are looking for someone to slap you on the back, and to tell you âYou got thisâ.
When in reality, I think you have NO CLUE what you are thinking about doing. The advice of starting PART TIME, is actually pretty smart advice. You are planning on moving to a market you donât know, with wife and child (children) in tow. No clue how you will insure them, if something were to happen. No clue as to how much money you can provide for them. Just YOUR dream, right?
Then when you land there, and plop out your shingle, youâll realize there is already a lot of competition. You have NO name, OR brand recognition there. Youâll soon see why the struggle is REAL for newbies. Youâll soon see just how much WORK really goes into getting a business off the ground (despite a mile long list of videos, books, and blogs that tell you about making 500 bucks a day and how any fool can do it!).Youâll lay in bed at night and ask yourself what the eff you were thinking, and how the hell are you going to make it.
THEN that cockiness will fade away. Youâll realize that guys that just drops everything to start a business, or those that started one out of desperation, and MADE IT, are rare birds. It takes a lot of planning and making smart decisions to get a business going and to KEEP it going. The very thing that MOST new businesses donât have, because they FAIL.
I am happy for those that didnât plan and made it. I think anyone who can start a business and make it something, are the backbone of innovation and creation in this country. But lets also realize that WAY MORE businesses fail, then succeed. Not everyone has what it takes to own/run their own business, and there is NOTHING wrong with that.
This is a great reply full of great advice. However Iâm confused as to why you think Iâm cocky just because I asked for peopleâs advice? If youâre referring to me asking the gentleman to reread the paragraph, that wasnât meant to come across as rude or anything and I apologize if it did.
To be honest, yes it did come across as rude. Maybe itâs just me that took it that way, who knows.
Another bit of advice for you:
I donât know what kind of lifestyle you live now, how much you/your wife make a year, or any of that. But consider something. IF you are making 50K a year as an employee, youâll need closer to 100K to replace the income/benefits for that job. As a business owner, you will be paying ALL your own taxes, for ALL your own insurance, putting ALL your money into retirement, and paying for ALL your own perks (like vacation, sick days, etc.) That all adds up pretty quick.
This is only talking about income. Then there are all the business expenses to pay for (overheads) like business insurance, licenses, tools and supplies, vehicle, tires, marketing and a list longer than my arm.
You are exactly right. Someone once asked me the same question, why I donât clean windows full-time and that was the answer I gave them. Health insurance is outrageous these days and my retirement plan is worth itâs weight in gold.
So true, unless your wife is on board with some very lean times as you try to build something that isnât âin one hand and out the otherâ you will be battling two fronts - happy-or-unhappy wife, and can we cover mortgage this month.
I was a teacher until January 8th of this year. I purchased a friends business. It has had a very good income for a couple decades (boy did I pay for that! :)) This business has run my life for the last 5 months and I can honestly say that the advice given is spot on. I worked in business management for 14 years before becoming a teacher and it is a VERY different beast to own and run your own business. I still donât have insurance and my retirement is now self-funded and not coming form all of you
Follow the advice- save a yearâs income plus expenses or buy an existing business. I am working with a great guy that is starting his own business and helps me when he can. I would dare say it has been mutually beneficial. Also, Iâve met with AWESOME guys from the forum in person and these men and women are giving really good advice and really care about making sure you are getting the best info. You will be successful if you use the knowledge correctly and take the right opportunities (lady luck favors those that take opportunities rather than risk). $0.02
As @Bruce once wisely said, there is only so much glass in any market, that people are willing to PAY to have cleaned.
Apparently, lots of people in Phoenix are wiling to pay to have windows cleaned, according to over 100 current window cleaning businesses there. Starting a business there now or even in a year, means you move to the bottom of the list and get to fight your way up the ladder.
Against established businesses.
Against businesses with happy clients.
Against people who have BEEN in the game and know who to talk to and what they expect.
) This business has run my life for the last 5 months and I can honestly say that the advice given is spot on. I worked in business management for 14 years before becoming a teacher and it is a VERY different beast to own and run your own business. I still donât have insurance and my retirement is now self-funded and not coming form all of you 
