Are You / Were You Self-Employed?

Yes, I was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, inherited from a long line of self-employed family members, including dad and maternal grandfather. Was selling, ice cream off of a bikecycle ice truck as young as age 10. :D I was buying, selling tees, clothes and other items out of a suitcase, legally. I moved on was the only woman with a space at this huge fleemarket which had opened up in Stamford,CT. At first I used to travel with all my goods in large suitcases by metro,till another vendor offered to share a ride to and from, unfortunately when n I called the wife thought I had to sexy a voice and so she insisted her dad accompany us on those trips, dad reported back and no more rides for me. Anyway I continued making the trips on my own it was over all a very interesting experience.

There were other ventures here and there, event planning, speed dating events, can we say nightmares and never again , imagine someone like Tony Soprano wanting a piece of the business, not kiddial the way,from jersey,wanting to invest, as a silent partner, was kind of glad that's when I started having serious medical emergecies. I have to say , though even now I read up on ideas about starting a new business even though its nor likely I can come up with something to accommodate my health issues, that would let me devote the kind of dedication needed to be successful, doesn't stop me from trying to find a way though. Last effort was the pet sitting, but that didn't work out to sell,it exacerbated some health issues.
 

Ruth n Jersey said:
I was never self employed but my son has his own high end cabinetry business. Took it up in trade school, worked with someone for a few years,then bought him out. Doing very well and said he would never work for someone. He works extremely hard, and is very disciplined. Has many problems, one of which is trying to get reliable help. I asked him one time if he had the chance, what would you really like to do. He replied that he is doing it. I doubt many can say that. So many out of college today don't end up in the field of their choice.
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You're right about not many being able to say that - not many at all.

I won't say he's a lucky man - he's worked his tail off - but I envy him his success and happiness.

As for college - as one who spent far too many years and dollars getting his PhD in Metaphysics - unless you study law, medicine, engineering or computer science, your degree probably isn't helping you in the job world. If it is, you're one of the lucky ones.
 
Debby said:
I would imagine that your type of business was extremely competitive too wasn't it with customers always asking you to 'sharpen your pencil' which is code for 'don't charge me so much or I'll find some guy to do it really cheap'.
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You got it.

Except, for perhaps the first time in my life I stood up to them (for the most part!) an showed them how the cheaper places did inferior work and would, in the end, cost them much more because of recalls to "get it right". I worked my guys to the bone, had all the best equipment, and still the clients wanted more.

That's why I sold the business - burn-out.

And between the insurance costs and Workmen's Comp., you're right, nightmare time. We had one guy who was told repeatedly before he went to the job that they were replacing a section of glass on a over the sidewalk awning, to watch out for the hole and wear his safety harness. We had to pay for the ambulance to take him to the hospital because he didn't wear his harness and when he stepped through the 'hole', he hit a handrail and broke his back. That cost us.

Then we had another guy (also on an awning) who was also told 'remember the harness', who figured that his 20 years of window cleaning meant he was invincible, except the Workmen's Comp inspector didn't agree and that cost us about $17,000.00 despite our employee admitting to the Compensation guy while at the scene, that 'yes, he'd been told several times by his boss to remember the harness'.

So yeah, the aggravations in order of importance, the employees not doing what they're told, customers demanding more than is reasonable and then the weather.
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Getting good help is SO hard, isn't it? LOL
 
AprilT said:
Yes, I was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, inherited from a long line of self-employed family members, including dad and maternal grandfather. Was selling, ice cream off of a bikecycle ice truck as young as age 10. :D I was buying, selling tees, clothes and other items out of a suitcase, legally. I moved on was the only woman with a space at this huge fleemarket which had opened up in Stamford,CT. At first I used to travel with all my goods in large suitcases by metro,till another vendor offered to share a ride to and from, unfortunately when n I called the wife thought I had to sexy a voice and so she insisted her dad accompany us on those trips, dad reported back and no more rides for me. Anyway I continued making the trips on my own it was over all a very interesting experience.

There were other ventures here and there, event planning, speed dating events, can we say nightmares and never again , imagine someone like Tony Soprano wanting a piece of the business, not kiddial the way,from jersey,wanting to invest, as a silent partner, was kind of glad that's when I started having serious medical emergecies. I have to say , though even now I read up on ideas about starting a new business even though its nor likely I can come up with something to accommodate my health issues, that would let me devote the kind of dedication needed to be successful, doesn't stop me from trying to find a way though. Last effort was the pet sitting, but that didn't work out to sell,it exacerbated some health issues.
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Wow, April - what adventures you've had! Kudos to you.

When the Mob moves in - yeah, that could be dangerous. It's like joining the Crips or Bloods - you're in for life.

I'm a great cheerleader for online businesses - I believe it's the wave of the future. Have you ever thought about that idea? It would be much easier to accommodate any health issues, and wouldn't necessarily require huge investments (or any at all, but that's a lot tougher). I sell my books, do online one-on-one Taoist-based counseling (!), sell my writing - if one source dries up I have the others. All from home in my jammies, too! :)
 
SifuPhil said:
Wow, April - what adventures you've had! Kudos to you.

When the Mob moves in - yeah, that could be dangerous. It's like joining the Crips or Bloods - you're in for life.

I'm a great cheerleader for online businesses - I believe it's the wave of the future. Have you ever thought about that idea? It would be much easier to accommodate any health issues, and wouldn't necessarily require huge investments (or any at all, but that's a lot tougher). I sell my books, do online one-on-one Taoist-based counseling (!), sell my writing - if one source dries up I have the others. All from home in my jammies, too! :)
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Yes, Phil, for sure, I've considered on-line ventures, still weighing options, unfortunately, its not just the physical that's a hindrance these days, I'm not yet giving up though I'll think of something, I can't sit idle much longer, its just not my nature. :)

Thanks for the ideas, I even think have the fun for me these days is the planning and research.
 
AprilT said:
Yes, Phil, for sure, I've considered on-line ventures, still weighing options, unfortunately, its not just the physical that's a hindrance these days, I'm not yet giving up though I'll think of something, I can't sit idle much longer, its just not my nature. :)

Thanks for the ideas, I even think have the fun for me these days is the planning and research.
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Planning and research is great, but for me I found that it can become an end in itself. I found that, because of the low cost of entry, I could try out a LOT of different business, and in running them discover if they were the right ones.

Although, to be honest, some of them - like the whale-sitting business - weren't exactly a good idea and were doomed from the beginning, although they seemed to be a good idea at the time ...
 
SifuPhil said:
Planning and research is great, but for me I found that it can become an end in itself. I found that, because of the low cost of entry, I could try out a LOT of different business, and in running them discover if they were the right ones.

Although, to be honest, some of them - like the whale-sitting business - weren't exactly a good idea and were doomed from the beginning, although they seemed to be a good idea at the time ...
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LOL! Whale sitting, hysterical. I think for me the research and planning are enough to to fulfill an itch for now, I think for me I've begun to respect my limitations and if all I ever do again is dream, keeping my brain stimulated with the possibilities fulfill that need to be in the game to a degree.
 
AprilT said:
LOL! Whale sitting, hysterical. I think for me the research and planning are enough to to fulfill an itch for now, I think for me I've begun to respect my limitations and if all I ever do again is dream, keeping my brain stimulated with the possibilities fulfill that need to be in the game to a degree.
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Understood, and I was always a nut on planning and spreadsheets and dreaming, so I know where you're coming from. Dream on!
 
I gave self-employment a go back in 1985. Main lesson learned from that venture was never go into business with friends or relatives. I had the skills to pass the mason contractors test, but my younger brother had better masonry skills. He was a drug addled alcoholic that I thought I could control, HAH! I passed the test, we formed a contracting partnership, I kept books he was going to run the jobs. The Challenger disaster made me rethink the venture & kept me from submitting my resignation, our area was very dependant on Thiokol. It took 3 more months in 1986 to force me into bankruptcy. He spend most of his time in the 19th hole at the local country club drinking away any profits. I haven't any association or contact with him since our father passed away in 2005, only contact since 1986.

Follow up to that story, my brother was a former fraternity brother of one of Joe (Joe Bananas) Bonanno's grandsons and he was claiming all over town it was all my fault and he was going to have them put out a contract on me.
 
SifuPhil said:
Wow.

You hear so much about these 5-generation companies, but you rarely hear the true stories about REAL family businesses.
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I worked on and off (about five years total) for one of my sisters and two of her husbands (no....not two husbands at the same time....consecutive husbands). I used to come home and say to my husband, "You would NOT believe what that asshole boss of mine and her husband did today....oh, wait...that's my sister and her husband."
 
jujube said:
I worked on and off (about five years total) for one of my sisters and two of her husbands (no....not two husbands at the same time....consecutive husbands). I used to come home and say to my husband, "You would NOT believe what that asshole boss of mine and her husband did today....oh, wait...that's my sister and her husband."
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LOL!

It gets so you can't even kvetch about the boss!

When you're your own boss, you get to curse yourself out on a regular basis.
 

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