Who here has started their own business?

You will still be slaving away...but I’m with you in thinking that if it’s for myself I’ll feel better about it.

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You'll spend nights worrying about finding good help or keeping it if you find it.

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Spend more time in the hiring process - triple what you normally do and don't hire simply based off of skill set. They have to be a great cultural fit as well. Check references. Post an attractive job description. Find out what is important to them before you tell them what is important to you. Set proper expectations and ensure that you have a great on-boarding process. Check in every 30 days initially for an expectations vs. reality conversation. Do all of these very well and you can reduce turnover considerably.

Recognize that 20 % of your employees carry and produce 80 % of the quality of work. Reward and recognize your top performers - and it doesn't necessarily have to cost you a lot of money either. Be sure to cut your bottom employees. Every organization has them. Your employees will respect you more.

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Get used to being in debt. It pretty well comes with the territory.

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Which is the reason why many small businesses fail within the first five years. They are undercapitalized, take on too much debt, don't have a plan and can't figure out how to adjust. Don't be "normal.". Do something different. Find a need and create a better solution built around it.

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I’m getting tired of slaving away making money for other people.

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What do you think you'll be doing for your customers? If you run your own business you will be working much more and will be much less able to walk away from it.

Don't get me wrong, obviously people can have a very successful and enjoyable career that way but don't think you won't be slaving away even more than before.

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What do you think you'll be doing for your customers? If you run your own business you will be working much more and will be much less able to walk away from it.

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I can’t possibly work much more than I am working now.

I’ve started two. If you know your stuff inside and out (and I don’t mean just what your business does) you can be successful. You have to have a passion for it. If not, it’s just a job and you’re holding the purse strings. I’ll post more tomorrow.

I'm in the early stages, but slaving away is exactly what you will do in starting your own business. The only saving grace is if you're doing it for the right reasons, it won't feel like work. I sacrifice a lot of time with my wife and daughter to build my side business. I also say side business for a reason. I hate my day job, but it covers the bills, health insurance, 401k, etc. I'm not even close to leaving it, maybe someday, but at least taking steps.

Based off your post, my suggestion would be 1) Actually evaluate why you want to start your own business 2) Figure out what you can offer that others don't, not just mine is better 3) Go do it. Users and revenue are all that matter. Don't be a Charlatan. Go do it if you think you have the stones.

It's mostly common sense. Taking the attitude that "I can always go back to what I did before" is a recipe for a failed business. You have to be willing to pour your heart and soul into it. It's a cliche but the only option is to succeed. That's the attitude a business owner has to have.

Treat employees well
Treat customers with respect
Live within your means
Grow into business not Go into business

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Retrograde

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I began an insurance agency two years ago, and since have opened another one and a small digitally marketing agency after seeing the need for one.

My sincerest advice for you or anyone:
-Be prepared to lose money for the first couple months/a year or two.
-Focus on what will separate you from the competition. Hammer on that.
-Build your brand. Spend some money and boost on social media and digital ads who you are and what you do. Tell a story.
-Organically network. What I mean by that is get involved in the community and grow naturally, not through chamber events.
-Have fun. There is a reason you're going on your own. Make time to enjoy life.
-Be consistent in your approach. Have a system and a process in place for everything.

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Retrograde

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Who here has started their own business?

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As evidenced by the responses here, many have. Myself included. July will mark the 2-year point for me.

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I’m getting tired of slaving away making money for other people.

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When I made my decision to do what I'm doing now, there was never any question about whether I'd quit my current day-job. I never dreamed for a second that I would. I've been working nights, weekends and lunchbreaks when I'm not working at my current job.

If I weren't working fulltime at the current 9-5 (or should I say 8:30-4:30?), I'd be working similar hours (fulltime, nights & weekends) for what is still for now my side hustle.

As others have said, prepare to be a slave to whatever business endeavor you embark on. You need to treat it like a baby. Unless you have the capital to invest in a passive-income generator scheme, whatever business you start or launch will require both monetary and mental capital (read: focus, time and CAREFUL attention).

I'm lucky and a bit different from others in that I have a job and side hustle that-in combination-allow for me to do both, excel and grow in each. I am also a one-man-band with the side hustle in that I don't need employees and-unless I make a huge leap in scaling up-won't need any over the short term (1-2 years). Over the medium term, not so sure.

My advice is-if you can-make or set goals for your business that are conservative. Rome wasn't built in a day. Don't go in with expectations of closing your laptop after making $8,000 during a 2-hour morning conference call, trading FOREX from an air-conditioned bamboo hut with a thatch roof and a see-through floor where you can watch the fish in the ocean in Bora Bora.

The reason? You might fail. You might grow incrementally. Which is to say: SLOWLY. If that's the case then you don't want to get discouraged because it's taking longer than your poorly managed expectations.

But if I were you-again-I'd stay working fulltime, build a business during my time, and get ready to put your head down and work way harder than you have been. If you're about to burn out now, I'm worried about your ability to do that going forward.