Go Back to Work for Corporate America or Open Own Business?

If you do not have a certain market for your services, then don't open a business. I forget the statistic, but the majority fail within the first two years. You will end up sinking your savings into it and there are no "boundaries" when it is your company.

30 years ago my father walked away from a lucrative career with RJ Reynolds to buy into my mother's family business. I will tell you that there were months when they were paying company bills out of their personal savings. My parents "loaned" the company money on several occassions and this is a business that has now been around for nearly 60 years. You also don't get to leave the office- your phone will ring at all random hours and you have to answer b/c you can't lose the client. You will be doing paperwork until all hours of the night and on Saturdays.

My parents wouldn't have it any other way and are very successful financially , but it is a difficult lifestyle to live.

If you don't have a stock of cash and excellent credit to get a business loan AND a real market to sell your services- go corporate.

If your children are still in school, corporate is the only choice. Having your own business sucks up so many energies and so much time, you end up never stop working, cause it's YOUR money and YOUR future on the line. I think once you realize the toll it takes on your free (and carefree) time, being your own boss will get old real quick. Especially if you have customers who are not paying and you still have to pay your suppliers. Just saying. If it's just you and hubby and you have a good saving that will cushion an hypothetical failure if you decide to go through with it, by all means, try your fortune, but don't forget the investment is not just material, it's emotional too, and you don't want to blame each other in case things don't go as expected. It's a shaky terrain to debate upon.

What kind of business are you looking at? I own 4 franchises on the internet and love it. I would be happy to fill you in.
Message me for more info.
Good luck with your decision.
:)

The most important factor here is your capacity for risk. Being an entrepreneur can be a dream come true. You're your own boss, you make your own hours, etc. BUT. there are huge downsides as well. You have to be willing to risk money, credit, and sanity as it is a high-risk, high-stress job. Unless you're supremely lucky, you have to be willing to put in a lot of hours and sweat into making your venture work and you have to be mentally and financially OK even if your idea doesn't pan out and belly flops. So it's really a very personal decision. If you think you have an idea that would work, do some research on teh internet to see if there is a market out there for it, ask around, do surveys, crunch out the numbers etc. Like I said, if it works, it'll be awesome. I've dreamed about it myself several times but I just don't have the stomach for it. I went to business school and in my entrepreneur classes, the professors kept saying teh average entrepreneur has 2 bankruptcies and 2 divorces before making it big. That's not to say that'll be the case for you -- just gives you a picture of how hard it can be though. Do research! Good luck!!!

If you would rely on this paycheck to make ends meet, then no I would wait for sure. Owning your own business is a lot of hours to make it sucessful. Just having a good idea is not enough to make a sucessful business. You might want to get more current experience in your field first.

K.:

Do you "have to have" your paycheck as a solid income to help support the family? if not - then start looking around your area and find out if there are any businesses that are like what you want to do - if not would there be a market for it?

If there are businesses like what you want to do - how you would set yours apart from the pack?

You can set yourself apart from the pack in many ways...just need to know what you want to do...

If your salary is family dependent, then I would get back into certification classes and bone up on my skills for developing and get cooking on that and land a great job!!

YOU CAN DO IT!!! EITHER WAY!!

If you're still interested in doing programming or working in the computer science field, I'd suggest getting your foot in the door by doing temp work. It will give you the opportunity to get your feet wet and get some experience under your belt. Once you've had a few temp positions you'll get a better idea of what kind of work you're interested in, and you might even get a job offer. Whenever I've done temp work I've gotten lots of job offers!

As for going the entrepreneurial route, just make sure you have enough start up money to get over the first year or two. The reason so many start-ups fail is that they don't have the resources to weather all the bumps that happen while getting established.

Good luck!

Personally, if given the choice and there is a somewhat limited risk factor that is covered by your husband's career....I'd start my own business.

I'd rather be Da Man than work for Da Man. :)

True, many don't make it but some do. Kind of like finding a buyer for a house in a bad market--all you need is O. buyer. You need O. good idea that appeals to a certain niche of your potential customer base. Do you have that nailed down?

Maybe talk to someone at your bank or an attorney friend/acquaintance to discuss the legalities as a place to start. AND, there's always the option of doing both--working AND starting a small biz of your own to see where it goes.

I will be curious to read your answers. My husband is in corporate America, but has been writing a business plan to open our own business. We would run it together as we trained in the same field. He keep going between sending his resume out and staying working for someone else...but he really wants to be his own boss.

I figure the bank will ultimately decide for us...if we can't get a small business loan then it will be answered for us.

My son lost his job. He had a degree in computers and could be an I.T. professional in the computer field. But he graduated 10 years ago and never got a job in computers. He went and bought books he needed to upgrade his education. He earned his certificates and was just hired to work using his newly acquired certificates.

Find out what certificates you need and pass the tests to earn the certificates. Then apply for jobs. Become an intern if necessary to get into the field of your choice. My son took almost a 50% pay cut, but he saw future opportunities, so to him, it was worth it.

Good luck to you and yours.

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I'd wait on opening your own business until the econmy is stronger. Stay with a large company now.

If you have it in you to open your own business GO FOR IT! You are you, and until you try you won't know what you are capable of! Good luck!

It depends on your personality. Do you need the security of a regular paycheck and affordable benefits with a retirement package or can you fly by the seat of your pants? Do you like the corporate world and the dress codes and mind numbing meetings that sap your time and you can't get your real work done? And all the little spies and back stabbing?

As you can probably see I hate working for someone else. My religion is Wicca and I have to put up with rude comments from customers and co-workers, Wiccans do not have to follow dress codes, my holidays are never honored and I was actually told I would be written up for not coming in on a Saturday (normally a day off) because I had to perform a wedding.

IF I can possiblly work thing out so I never have to work for someone else ever again that is what I will do. But it's just me, my kids are grown and I only have to worry about myself for insurance ect.

I've been in coporate America for 12 yrs, and I've never been concerned with losing my job. My company emplooys 7000 people, and we continued hiring even in the downtown. (We're an IT company, too.)

With all the funding drama and failure rates for small businesses these days...I'd stick with a large successful organization that will keep you employed. You can do research, as you pursue opportunities. But in your neck of the woods, Cisco, HP, etc...are always hiring and are not going to disappear or downsize overnight.

Just my thoughts.

Depends on how consistent the amount of money you need to make is. I have always wished I could find someone who owns a roving, mobile computer repair business.

It is so difficult to load my desktop in my car and shlep it down to the shop that I will use my laptop and try to live without my desktop for months.

Not sure you have expertise in virus removal and the like but it seems like it wouldn't take any investment and the hours would be flexible.

If you want to open your own business, you have to be very, very driven to do it.

I have never owned my own business, but I have worked for a small, single-owner company for years and the stress and hours involved can be unbelievable. We have had years where we were quite vibrant and growing, but the past few years we have downsized to practically nothing. The expenses and taxes for small businesses can be exorbitant and the paperwork can be overwhelming. I do a lot of the operations/accounting work and I will tell you it is quite eye-opening from that perspective. My boss is always in the line of fire for all kinds of liability and he has to loan personal money into the business constantly. Sometimes I don't know why he doesn't just pack it all in and walk away, but he really is a through-and-through entrepreneur and I don't think he could ever work for anyone else.

Give it a lot of thought, especially in this economy. You may want to go corporate again for a while.