Aspirations for your business/why do you do it?

[avalore]

Hi all,
My mum has ran her own business for the past 15 years and certainly for the last 10 has been very successful (to her standards). She is regularly booked solid 4-6 months in advance, has a large cancellation list for people waiting for appointments.......
However she still does all the work herself and has no interest, whatsoever, in taking on employees and growing her business. The business can only be as busy as the amount of work she can do herself. I dont understand this and dont know why she wouldn't want to grow...but thats her choice. I could understand if she had time left for herself but she works incredibly hard regularly 9am to 9pm and then still has to organise appointments, do her bookwork, get supplies, etc.

So I guess I wanted to know what the rest of you aim to do, grow or stay small? And why?

Did you start your business with aspirations to grow big with lots of employees and multiple locations or did you start it to receive a nice income etc?

Just interested

Thanks

 

[thekitchendesigner]

I'm in a similar situation with the B2B side of what i do (basically act as a design consultant). Its hard managing shed loads of work plus all the accounts side of things etc etc, and i tried to take someone on - impossible! I soon came to the conclusion that no-one would meet my standards so stayed small, just me.

Some business models can grow easlily, some arent so suited i think. But sometimes you cant always predict which it is until you start doing it!

With my retail side, thats much easier in terms of how to grow, doing it wont be easy i'm sure though!

I'm aiming to give myself and the family a comfortable living, picking what jobs i do, and also having some time to do other stuff i've always wanted to

 

[avalore]

I understand when the business model isn't suited to expansion but when it obviously does why wouldn't you want to?

 

[thekitchendesigner]

Some people simply like keeping it small, and sometimes this is best. Expansion just isnt everyones bag. Theres also a hell of a lot of working out and cost involved with employing someone which can put people off, including me!

 

[Gill]

This is an interesting one I think.
I started my business, from the very beginning, with the intention of creating jobs for people locally. I do hope to be able to do this in the near future as just about all of the employment in this area is related to tourism which is generally (before everyone starts jumping up and down yes of course there are exceptions) minimum wage, split shifts, weekend work, seasonal - which is hardly family friendly.
One of the problems here is the lack of diversification of employment and I hope to create work which can be Mon Fri to fit in with school and which is unrelated to tourism. Why do I work (I have seven children I think if I wanted to say 'that is it I am staying at home' then nobody would shout at me, but I have to work - it is part of being me. I feel too that need to set an example to my children, I want to show them that if you want something you have to work for it, to get some idea of the value of things. It isn't always easy and I couldn't do it without fantastic support from my partner and my family but I utterly love what I do too. I used to have a well paid 'proper' job (and had to travel a fair bit to get to it) but whilst The Green Housekeeper is not as rewarding financially it is a thousand times more rewarding in so many other ways. I absolutely love what I do, I do not plan on taking over the world mwwoooaaahhhhh (plan laugh) but we have great plans to make small changes which we hope will make a big difference. Yes I want to grow this business, yes I want to provide employment and yes there are lots of strands to my business which I haven't started yet!!!!
I try to be strict with the work/life balance (I don't even like writing that as it implies work bad, and mine isn't) and enjoy my family and home, not always possible and often the family are roped in to help - but we'll get there, I feel sure.
Goodness me don't ask any interesting questions please, I can't shut up - this is my work time - now I down tools - thank you!
Gill

 

[spigwell]

Taking someone on after so many years going solo is a very difficult thing to do. It is very rare that you find someone with the same amount of commitment, skills and desire to succeed. watching others "hurt" your business whilst learning it is a hard pill to swallow.

I can totally understand why people do not expand.

Regards
Gary

 

[downsouth]

I'd likee the business to reach such a stage that either of the partners can look after it on a FT basis rather than alongside our FT jobs at present, although thats prob many years down the line, but with some ideas up me sleeve you never know.

I have been close on 2 occasions to joining forces with associates for my IT business but 3rd party decisions have shot those down. In those instances we would of employed 1/2 others on a sub contract basis.

Shame they never came off as it was all sorted and financially would of started us off in a very good position

 

[Online Trader]

Started it to:

1, Make money

2, Grow it so it makes more money

3, Sell it for lot's and lot's more money

 

[noidea]

Hi all,
My mum has ran her own business for the past 15 years and certainly for the last 10 has been very successful (to her standards). She is regularly booked solid 4-6 months in advance, has a large cancellation list for people waiting for appointments.......
However she still does all the work herself and has no interest, whatsoever, in taking on employees and growing her business. The business can only be as busy as the amount of work she can do herself. I dont understand this and dont know why she wouldn't want to grow...but thats her choice. I could understand if she had time left for herself but she works incredibly hard regularly 9am to 9pm and then still has to organise appointments, do her bookwork, get supplies, etc.

So I guess I wanted to know what the rest of you aim to do, grow or stay small? And why?

Did you start your business with aspirations to grow big with lots of employees and multiple locations or did you start it to receive a nice income etc?

Just interested

Thanks

Probably because she is a control freak? Employing staff means a lot more work to do... employing someone else to take over is losing control.

 

[HelenSH]

I started mine because I loved taking photographs but soon learnt thats not enough to be a successful photographer.

I would like to think that I can get more and more recognised but its not just making money, theres the technical skills that are constantly evolving, also now with the advent of digital and the world and his wife buying DSLRs its more about producing creative art as well as a lasting memory and not just churning out pictures.

I see hopefully in a few years the business growing to take on a few staff, but at the moment I am happy and able to do everything myself.

 

[the white rose]

So I guess I wanted to know what the rest of you aim to do, grow or stay small? And why?

A great thread imo avalore.

I formed a publishing company because to get published by a large publisher you need an agent, and agents take 15% commission. Also, if you go with a large publisher you could be waiting up to two years from them accepting your book to it hitting the shelves. You will have no say in the editing, or the design of the cover or the layout of the pages (one top agent told me she was interested in taking me on if I cut one of my books by a third. I politely declined.)

Then, for new authors (and even fairly established ones, actually!) you will have to work your guts out doing your own PR. I read a great quote a few months ago in a highly respected publishing manual, and it was that Publishers publish. Publishers aren't PR companies and they ain't gonna hire an expensive PR company to promote you if you're an unknown quantity and starting out.

Then, after all that, your book only gets a few weeks on the shelves in the major bookstores before being whipped off to make way for newer releases, if it hasn't performed well enough. It could soon be out of print...

And after all that, you get a tiny royalty. The JK Rowling stories are wonderful little miracles, not the norm.

I wanted to design the cover, I wanted to choose the font for the body text, I wanted to know that I could write a book and have it on sale within a few months. And I didn't want anyone else taking the lion's share of the profit for what is a truly marathon effort - writing a book.

I don't want to become a large publisher. I'm not interested in making lots of money either. I know some very wealthy, deeply unhappy people. Money doesn't bring happiness, bringing your passion to fruition means far more. I want to write books and get them to readers, full stop. And that's what I'm doing.

I started mine because I loved taking photographs but soon learnt thats not enough to be a successful photographer.

Nice one Helen, good luck with it.

 

[thekitchendesigner]

Taking someone on after so many years going solo is a very difficult thing to do. It is very rare that you find someone with the same amount of commitment, skills and desire to succeed. watching others "hurt" your business whilst learning it is a hard pill to swallow.

I can totally understand why people do not expand.

Regards
Gary

Couldnt have said it better!

 

[jwilkes]

A very interesting post. For me I wanted to grow a business but also have a totally unique lifestyle. I remember reading the 4-hour work week and having my business paradigm totally changed.

I now still want to grow my business but I want to be able to run it from anywhere in the world so I have built it accordingly with a virtual team around me. My friend and I are going to live in Argentina in January and still be running our UK business helping other create information products.

I think you have to do it for love because it's not always easy!

Great post!
theinfoproductprofessionals.com

 

[easyasit]

Strangely over the past year i saw an opportunity to mix business and pleasure, my robotic telescope business is not strictly mine, but i help out. I make a small commission on each sale, which is recurring, and i also get control of the telescopes myself if i want to do any work.
I already mix with, and am associated with other astronomers, so marketing is easy enough.
I create the training videos for it, and the brochures. I do it purely for my love of astronomy, so its not really classified to me as work. www.skylive.it if anyone is interested

As time goes on, i hope to invest some of the money made and promote astronomy in my area via star parties etc.

I still have my CBT sideline which i will expand (starting this weekend)

So its all good stuff.

 

[the white rose]

I do it purely for my love of astronomy, so its not really classified to me as work. www.skylive.it if anyone is interested

Wow, that is well sexy, easyasit. I love astronomers and I could sit there all day watching Patrick Moore on The Sky At Night. I'm not a scientist but I read The New Scientist cover to cover every week (we subscribe to it) in order to learn more. My partner is from a science background though and sometimes blogs about astronomy at www.brianlt.blogspot.com

I love what you're saying about doing it purely for your love of astonomy, so not really classing it as work. I am the same with writing. I have to write anyway, I don't have a choice, it is just what I am driven to do, and I worship books, always have done, so if I can make money out of writing and books all well and good.

As time goes on, i hope to invest some of the money made and promote astronomy in my area via star parties etc.

That's a great idea, star parties, oh I love it! I was talking to an astronomer at a beer festival last year and he said that there are a lot of astonomers in Yorkshire doing more and more collaborative work involving inviting the public in for open days at their observatory. I can't remember the name of it now, I may be seeing him again soon so I'll come back and post the link to their site when I find out.

 

[cleverblagger]

Hi

I feel that I can relate to your mother quite well with my own motivation for being self-employed. This may come as a shock to many that some of us really do not enter into business for purely financial gain. I suspect your mother, quite rightly in my opinion, values the sense of freedom that self-employment brings far more than any monetary reward . She does her own thing and very effectively by the sounds of it. Expanding and taking on employees would make your mother responsible for them and their actions of course and then she wouldn't be 'free' any more.

Your dear old Mum sounds extremely well balanced to me. She has a full life of her own choosing and does what she wants, when she wants, with enough earnings to live a comfortable life. That sounds like a winning combination to me!

Ironically, it is the lack of a financial motivation that makes your mum successful in business as well as in life.

 

[easyasit]

in order to learn more. My partner is from a science background though and sometimes blogs about astronomy at www.brianlt.blogspot.com

.

If ur interested i will b blogging more of what i do on www.myspace.com/astrotiger

I will be adding far more here as time goes by.
Particuarly as i have some iimages to process and put on there ;-)

Keep you informed

BTw, you might also be intersted in www.robotictelescopes.co.uk
This explains better about skylive

many thanks

ps, i will view that blogg of urs later, looks really interesting! thanks for sharing

 

[the white rose]

If ur interested i will b blogging more of what i do on www.myspace.com/astrotiger

I will be adding far more here as time goes by.
Particuarly as i have some iimages to process and put on there ;-)

Keep you informed

BTw, you might also be intersted in www.robotictelescopes.co.uk
This explains better about skylive

many thanks

ps, i will view that blogg of urs later, looks really interesting! thanks for sharing

Cheers easyasit, I will pass these details onto my OH as well Nice to make your aquaintance

 

I like the flexibility of working for yourself, and being able to get a better reward for the harder you work.

 

[Moneyman]

Some companies just have a happy size where the work comes in and you dont have to push it. The hard part of expansion is that you end up doing the admin while someone else does the work you might enjoy. Expansion is stressfull and dangerous and i love it, but it isnt for everyone. However 12 hours per day sounds like overdoing it. 4-6 month bookings sounds very good and i would definitely expand on that kind of figure but then i am a greedy whotsit.

 

[zooz]

I always preffer to grow, but I totally understand your mother, because it might be difficult sometimes to trust other people to do the work for you in your own business. Plus, it means she needs to learn how to be a manager in order to grow. Not so simple as it looks...

Good luck to the both of you!

I'm in a similar situation with the B2B side of what i do (basically act as a design consultant). Its hard managing shed loads of work plus all the accounts side of things etc etc, and i tried to take someone on - impossible! I soon came to the conclusion that no-one would meet my standards so stayed small, just me.

Some business models can grow easlily, some arent so suited i think. But sometimes you cant always predict which it is until you start doing it!

With my retail side, thats much easier in terms of how to grow, doing it wont be easy i'm sure though!

I'm aiming to give myself and the family a comfortable living, picking what jobs i do, and also having some time to do other stuff i've always wanted to