Is starting a business impossible when you've got a wife and kids? Escape from Cubicle Nation asks the question and has some thoughts and suggestions for people trying to do it...
Agree with the advice. And I can't speak from experience on this issue, but I'm going to chime in on the discussion anyway.
I'm a single guy. I'm 35 and has had my own company since 1995. I worked odd jobs for the first 2-3 years, including stints as a phone psychic, a UPS guy, the orderly at a mental institution, and various sales jobs. I'd work a job, save up a few bucks, quit, try to do it on my own, and eventually have to go back to the job world, when I ran out of money.
I was miserable and this made it very difficult for me to be in a relationship. In fact, the fact that I was so unhappy and difficult to deal with during this time was one of the main factors in killing off a relationship I'd been in for six years.
Eventually, it became time for me to make the move and do it for real. My resume was a synonym for trouble. People didn't want to hire me, because they knew I had no interest in sticking with them for any length of time. So I walked out of my final job, knowing that I didn't have the option of going to get another.
I don't know that I would have been able to do it with a wife and family...especially in a situation where they were expecting me to bring in all the money.
And I don't know that I would have put other people into the situation that I was in. Any of you who have started a business know that the very beginning, especially on your first business, isn't always the best of times when it comes to income, time, and relaxation.
Can you really take the risks needed to start a successful business when you have others to worry about? I'm interested in hearing your stories about your situation when you started things.
Now for something which I'm sure will piss a few people off...
I definitely wouldn't have been able to do what I did had I been married to somebody who expected me to bring in all the money, but didn't want to help me do it.
I know a lot of male entrepreneurs and am always amazed at the number of them which have stay-at-home wives that don't get that working for yourself if a two-sided coin and refuse to help with anything that is business related. Yes, you can vacation any time of the year. Yes, you have opportunities those with a job working for somebody else don't have. But, unless you want to go broke, you've got to put in the effort when it's time to work.
This means answering the phone, fulfilling orders, creating products, doing marketing, etc.
I see my friends, who feel stuck in their relationships, not wanting to choose between the work they love and the women they married.
is this a way to live?
These guys are having trouble keeping an existing business going. Can you imagine starting up something in a situation like this?
Things would be much improved, for both parties, if they'd work together. Even somebody who doesn't "get" the business can answer phones to take messages or help with local deliveries, such as taking things to the post office.
The smallest things like this would cause a ripple effect, leading to more money and time for the husband...which I'm sure would come back to the family.
Again, curious to know how you started your business and what your situation was like. And I'd like to know what your situation is like now. How are you balancing work and home responsibilities? Feel free to share below.
