Former business owners going to work for the Man

As the title implies, any former small business owners close-up shop and go to work for someone else? How's the transition from being the man to working for the man? I'm about to become another statistic to the economy and have a job lined up, but after over fifteen years of owning my own businesses, I'm about to go work for someone else. Not sure how I feel about it. I know its going to be tough transition to have to account for all of my time for someone else besides me. Losing the freedom is going to suck, but it's a job.

 

Happened to me last May. I had been the VP of a large union construction company and in 2005 I sold my share and went out on my own. DId OK up until about 2009 and then work dried up. I soldiered on until my wife had basically had enough of her earning all the money.

Ends up that the dad of a kid that I coached owned a drywall and acoustical ceiling company and I asked him if he needed another project manager. He said sure so I have been here for almost a year now.

Actually I love it. I was always a structured person and I kind of missed a regular grind. Oh I did enjoy the 5 years on my own, but this is a pretty laid back company. As long as I get them work I have a pretty free reign.

 

"it's a job" ouch and btdt

I was self employed for 16 years from the 80s to the late 90s. We would lay in bed at night and I would say "I've got to get a job".

On one hand, I only had to focus at the tasks I was assigned instead of wearing the hat of everything. I was a top performer and received all kinds of accolades. But the corporate world of Wall Street performance, short term goals, penny pinching every single one of them, risk mitigation of client satisfaction vs. off-shoring, really dumbed down the morale and constant looking over the shoulder, plainly sucked ass.

Now, I don't know if I could forge out on my own again. With the benefits and constant paycheck, family commitments, all have to be taken in to consideration.

When working for the man, I had the great pleasure of some really outstanding managers, but just flip the coin over, and I had to deal some folks that I have no clue how they got the position, much less kept it. Serious dumbf@cks.

Good luck and one thing for sure, level set your expectations.

 

I've been self-employed for the better part of the past 15 years. I've gone to work for others and... it's just not my cup o' tea. After leads for my construction business dried up, I tried working for another company, but have instead decided to start another business. I'm not a fan of working for the man; if you're an entrepreneur, you're probably going to have that independent streak in you for life. Good luck adjusting to being an employee.

 

What he said.

If small business owners could just a bit of a tax break it would help.
KY kills me in taxes

 

+ 1

I also think everyone should pay sales tax when buying over the internet

 

That is one the few things I'm looking forward to, no longer having to be the HR, Safety, Payroll, Insurance, Office Manager, Project Manager, Fleet Manager, etc.

 

I was on my own for 9 years as a contractor. Had a large general contractor go belly up owing us nearly $100,000. In turn we and a couple others went belly up.

I went to work for the local school district. Seemed like a dream job. 7 years I spent there trying to figure out how to get through the day. The pace was sloooooow. People would keep telling me to slow down. People sleeping on the job, nobody doing anything. It was brutal.

I spent the last 4 years of that gig building my motorcycle business online until I had it to the point we could open our shop. Burned up 6 weeks of vacation and sick getting the shop put together and open then turned in my notice.

I make 1/2 the money but I'm twice as happy. I would have a hard time working for someone else again.

 

My girlfriend quit her job of 18 years and we just built a beauty salon. It opens tomorrow and it better work 'cause all of our friggen money is tied up in that place.

 

Good luck Putter! If I lived closer I would be a customer.

Wanna make a fortune? Look up bikini cuts in utah. Those guys went from broke ass to wiping their asses with $100 bills in a summer.

 

Same deal with me. I had a large contractor from St. Louis sub a bunch of Hardee's renovations in Georgia, Alabama and Indiana to me. The jobs were great, about $10K apiece and took my brother and I 3 days to do. I did about 30 of them and the money was coming in fine until they started paying slow. I was fortunate to only get screwed out of 2 jobs, but that was still 20 grand and it really hurt the cash flow. That plus a scumbag brother in law that didn't pay me 8 grand for a job.

I am enjoying working for someone else just fine.

 

Thank you sir!

 

Thanks for the incite. I'm in a familiar boat, a sub went under and left us holding the bag, tried to make it but it just isn't going to work.

Good luck to you Putter.

 

Putter,
I need a haircut. When can I get in?

Ken

 

Tough call. I sold out to the man about 2 yrs. ago. Little bit different circumstances though, we were doing fine but I was just soooo burnt out on doing the business stuff. It got in the way of what I'm actually trained for. Now I answer to corporate people who I can't relate to at all.
It's really hard to ask for all these Fridays off to go racing when you're just used to packing up and leaving.
Don't discount that freedom, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.
It is.

 

+1000.

This would really help keep local shops going.

I always pony up the extra 5 or 10 bucks for the local dealer, etc., but like everybody else, my paycheck is starting to not stretch as far either.

 

Some people go back as a consultant/contractor and make it work. That really depends on what line of work you are in though.

In the last 5 years, I can't think of a year we didn't get stiffed on at least 20K. When you throw a few days of corporate lawyers into the mix, it's usually better to just say fuck it and hope for the best.

Thank god all our equipment is paid off or we would've sunk a long time ago.

Here's a good story for you.

We did a job for Collins & Aikman Plastics back in heck, 05 or 06', something like that. Was about a 15K job if I remember right. We get paid about 3 weeks after invoicing. A month after that they file bankruptcy.

We're thinking sweet..... glad we got paid. About 3 or 4 months go by and we get this official letter from some law firm out of New York. Says basically due to Michigan law, we owe the company's main bank back all of the money we were paid because they defaulted.

We call our lawyer, sure as shit, they can ask for the money back if you're paid within I think 90 days of filing for bankruptcy. We ended up settling for around half if I remember. Still fucking bullshit.

If I'm gonna lose money I'd rather do it on the golf course or at a strip club. There's no sense doing it in workboots, covered in mud, and beating up all your equipment.

You REALLY gotta be careful who you extend credit to these days.

 

I started an oilfield equpment business in 1989 and just sold it this past June to a large corporation with the agreement that I would stay on for three years, its been ok as I like the folks I work for but I have 2 years 3 months to go and I can't wait !!

 

After 18 yrs of being self employed it would be hard to go back to working for someone else. We have have been blessed that business is so good. This economy actually helps my business as people are holding on to older equipment and repairing it instead of buying new.

 

I don't think I could do it...... I WOULD if I had no other choice, but it would definitely be a last choice and I would have to be desperate. I haven't worked for anyone for 18 years now. And yes its more headache and stress when you own a company or two (people don't realize the hours you put in and the stress you go through). But its still worth it.

I had three companies over the years offer to buy me out. I almost took one of the offers but they all insisted I work for them for at least 1 year as they transition and add my company to their own. I was like uh no...... I will sell, you can have me for a month or two tops. Then I will go start another company someplace else. One company wanted to buy my company just to get me and have me run both companies. I was tempted again , but same thing. I would be working for somebody else and having to go along with their ideas even if i didn't agree with it.

The only good thing if you do go work for somebody else is when you leave work you don't have to think about work at all till your back. Unlike the rest of us that sometimes constantly are working (much to my better half's frowning) no matter what else we are doing.