Business owners, Looking for inputs.

[xgerstandtx]

Hey guys,
I am getting out of the service(USN) in the next 6 mos.
My wife and myself have a great chance to purchase a pre-existing business. This is something that I have been very passionate about for my entire life. We are going to be purchasing a bicycle business.The business it's self is very solid, it has felt the effects of the economy in the last three years but we still find it to be profitable and a worthwhile adventure. This has been confirmed by a CPA.

I guess we are just having anxiety of being self employed, even though that is the overall goal we set for ourselves 5 years ago.
What is your thoughts on being self employed? What do you do for insurance for your family? Any advice is always appreciated and reassurance on my next life adventure. You are more than welcome to PM me if you have anything. Thanks guys Matt

[jason]

Originally Posted by xgerstandtx

What is your thoughts on being self employed?

It's a TON of work, and you NEVER truly get a day off.

Originally Posted by xgerstandtx

What do you do for insurance for your family?

Your best bet, although it probably isn't what you want to hear is to have one of you, either yourself or your wife go out and get a full time job somewhere else that has benefits. This will do 3 things. 1. Get you benefits without paying an arm and a leg for them. 2. Help protect your family by giving you a guaranteed paycheck, if the bike business has a bad week, you'll still be getting a check to feed your family. 3. It will give the 2 of you some time apart. Working together as husband and wife is never a good idea because then you end up spending 24/7 together, add to that the stresses of running your own business and you can pretty much seal the fate of your marriage.

Originally Posted by xgerstandtx

Any advice is always appreciated and reassurance on my next life adventure. You are more than welcome to PM me if you have anything. Thanks guys Matt

Hopefully that helps give you a couple of ideas?

[country_crawler]

Originally Posted by jason

It's a TON of work, and you NEVER truly get a day off.



Your best bet, although it probably isn't what you want to hear is to have one of you, either yourself or your wife go out and get a full time job somewhere else that has benefits. This will do 3 things. 1. Get you benefits without paying an arm and a leg for them. 2. Help protect your family by giving you a guaranteed paycheck, if the bike business has a bad week, you'll still be getting a check to feed your family. 3. It will give the 2 of you some time apart. Working together as husband and wife is never a good idea because then you end up spending 24/7 together, add to that the stresses of running your own business and you can pretty much seal the fate of your marriage.



Hopefully that helps give you a couple of ideas?

Ditto Living it right now.

[Difuser]

Ditto what's been said already.

Also remember that cash-flow and profit are 2 different things. I have seen too many friends lured by all the $$$ rolling past and then realize they have nothing to pay the bills.
Also put those profits away for the lean years and inventory buying. You shouldn't be financing the biz by Visa. And include your salary as part of the equation when you look at the biz with the CPA. It might look rosy to pay all of the biz bills but you dont work for free....

Looks like you're local in Seattle pm me if you want to meet and discuss. Glad to help with what I can.

[Slowkrawl]

Originally Posted by jason

Your best bet, although it probably isn't what you want to hear is to have one of you, either yourself or your wife go out and get a full time job somewhere else that has benefits.

Hmm....I just recently started contracting through my own company...This is a good idea, maybe I need to start looking for an ol' lady LOL.

Like I said, I am a noob to being "self-employed" but the one thing I like about it is I get to keep more of what I make. I don't get paid overtime, but I am also not filling the govn't pockets as much. One of the other contractors I work with said he made about 100k last year, but only paid 10k in taxes....

As far as accountants for the business go, most of them (up here anyways) charge $200-300 an hour. They told me probably about $3000 to do my income tax. I found an independant accountant that will do EVERYTHING(books,taxes ect ect) for $1500 or so a year. It's worth your while to look around.

[roadman440]

I would agree about the accountant. I have had my business for about 2 years now and a good accountant makes you life a whole lot easier. One huge suggestion I would have is to keep your business life and your personal life separate. Work with your wife, but keep it professional. When you clock out make sure you dont take work home with you.

I would say go for it and good luck. It's a lot of work but well worth it.

[jsowens]

I agree with Jason. If it's possible, one of you could have a full time job on the side for extra income and insurance. Another thing to consider is the fact that a bike shop is very much a seasonal business in most areas. Here in VA, the business at the shop I work at drops quite drastically between October and Early March. There are some days we won't see a single customer in the shop. Only other advice I have is to avoid getting overwhelmed with inventory. It's something my shop struggles with sometimes and we usually end up with too much of a variety when we should focus on certain things.

[xgerstandtx]

Originally Posted by jason

It's a TON of work, and you NEVER truly get a day off.



Your best bet, although it probably isn't what you want to hear is to have one of you, either yourself or your wife go out and get a full time job somewhere else that has benefits. This will do 3 things. 1. Get you benefits without paying an arm and a leg for them. 2. Help protect your family by giving you a guaranteed paycheck, if the bike business has a bad week, you'll still be getting a check to feed your family. 3. It will give the 2 of you some time apart. Working together as husband and wife is never a good idea because then you end up spending 24/7 together, add to that the stresses of running your own business and you can pretty much seal the fate of your marriage.



Hopefully that helps give you a couple of ideas?

Some of the better advice we have gotten. She is successful as a graphic designer and has quite a bit of managment history. We have discussed this and I believe after a little time(the first 6mos) she is going to pry look into some other options. But we will see. Spending too much time together is deff. a concern.

It will be a lot of work, something I'm not scared of. It just seems surreal that it is unfolding the way it is. More planning than i anticipated, and paper work is silly.

This is business is setup as a sole propriership while we are debating transferring it over to a LLC. We have gotten great feedback on the subject and there is just more and more work to be done.

Thanks for the kind words. I always like to hear from other people their opinions.

I

[Slowkrawl]

While we are at it, what is the main differences between sole proprietor and incorporating? I just did what my accountant told me LOL. I'm just a dumb welder tryin to make a buck, not a business man.

[MnRockCrawler]

I have been self employed since 1999 and absolutely love it. It is ALOT of hard work, especially when your first learning the ropes of business, but it will eventually get easier and run smoother as you go.
I don't think I will ever work for anyone else again. Or at least hope I dont have to.

[MnRockCrawler]

BTW, what is the sellers reasoning for selling? I know that bicycle sales have been declining since the late 90's/early 2000's. I have a buddy here in Mn. that owns a chain of bike stores and he has had to add other aspects in his shop such a kayak's, camping stuff, skateboards, etc.. Might be something to check out.