Massive downsize and life change - 5 year plan
Discussion
In march I have been trading 20years, some good times some bad but times but managed to survive - grown to have lots of lads but recently cut back to 5 and then 3.
Well those guys have handed their notice to set up together, don’t get me started on them buying me out but they aren’t and it’s all gone quite sour.
Anyway at 40 I have gone back to college to get my electrical qualification with a long term plan to get out of manufactured joinery and be more of a property maintenance type guy who dabbles in property renovation or even get a part time job, even looked at teaching!
Currently at college 2.5days a week (ish) and then working 3.5days - still getting 40hrs in, with the boys working their notice until the end of October.
Got 5 years left on the workshop lease and towards the end of that I am hoping to wind up the business and sell off all the gear.
I have removed myself from a lot of big contracts with all the customers being fantastic (currently don’t have any work from November to February as that was one large project!)
But going to just go on my own with an odd bit of help occasionally and get back to where I started doing smaller more bespoke pieces.
Luckily we have holiday let apartments that cover all of our personal outgoings and within the next 5years will be nearly mortgage free.
I’m just fed up of the whole aspect of running the business and cannot cope with the thought of doing it for another 20years. My children will definitely not want to carry it on either - and I wouldn’t want to push it on them.
I’m pretty nervous but just having a basic plan in place has really helped me relax and feel much happier about life!
Well those guys have handed their notice to set up together, don’t get me started on them buying me out but they aren’t and it’s all gone quite sour.
Anyway at 40 I have gone back to college to get my electrical qualification with a long term plan to get out of manufactured joinery and be more of a property maintenance type guy who dabbles in property renovation or even get a part time job, even looked at teaching!
Currently at college 2.5days a week (ish) and then working 3.5days - still getting 40hrs in, with the boys working their notice until the end of October.
Got 5 years left on the workshop lease and towards the end of that I am hoping to wind up the business and sell off all the gear.
I have removed myself from a lot of big contracts with all the customers being fantastic (currently don’t have any work from November to February as that was one large project!)
But going to just go on my own with an odd bit of help occasionally and get back to where I started doing smaller more bespoke pieces.
Luckily we have holiday let apartments that cover all of our personal outgoings and within the next 5years will be nearly mortgage free.
I’m just fed up of the whole aspect of running the business and cannot cope with the thought of doing it for another 20years. My children will definitely not want to carry it on either - and I wouldn’t want to push it on them.
I’m pretty nervous but just having a basic plan in place has really helped me relax and feel much happier about life!
I can understand, I have a small manufacturing business, it was much bigger but the pandemic and changes in customer type have really altered it.
There is no easy answer but at least if your staff leave, it means no redundancy and lower overhead. On the business unit, can you sublet or something to reduce the draw.
It depends on where you are but decent jobbing handymen do okay but it is a wage so limited to how many hours
Really scrutinise your costs, we had Pi insurance and product design insurance but now everything we make is based on client’s design and we saved a significant sum, the amount of small things in a manufacturing business that sap money every month is frightening so really look at that.
It’s about cutting your cloth and stopping unnecessary outgoings and to be honest nothing and no one is beyond consideration, I was slow on the insurance and equally slow with the accountants, I looked around and got prices and they begrudgingly matched them.
It’s probably what sets people apart but I was never strict enough on cost until it was a case of survival
There is no easy answer but at least if your staff leave, it means no redundancy and lower overhead. On the business unit, can you sublet or something to reduce the draw.
It depends on where you are but decent jobbing handymen do okay but it is a wage so limited to how many hours
Really scrutinise your costs, we had Pi insurance and product design insurance but now everything we make is based on client’s design and we saved a significant sum, the amount of small things in a manufacturing business that sap money every month is frightening so really look at that.
It’s about cutting your cloth and stopping unnecessary outgoings and to be honest nothing and no one is beyond consideration, I was slow on the insurance and equally slow with the accountants, I looked around and got prices and they begrudgingly matched them.
It’s probably what sets people apart but I was never strict enough on cost until it was a case of survival
Why don’t you keep the customers and the orders and give the manufacturing to the three deserters, or another trade joinery and just make a margin. I did this with bespoke kitchens - let someone else have the manufacturing headache, employed a sub-contract fitter and I just did the design, managing the project and the schmoozing. We had a studio, so very low overhead (albeit in a shop we owned, hence the low costs) and had a couple of factories producing the furniture. We also did minor building works which it feels like you could do and made good money. You can obviously do the sales, you have the customers, so cut out the hassle part and I’d bet you won’t look back!
Employing people is usually the worst bit of running a business see how you go on your own you sound like your in a great position. You'll be totally unemployable if you've had your own business. I mean that from your side not from an employers perspective. You'll not want anyone telling you what to do!
I'm at a bit of a crossroads I've been self employed on my own for 4/5 years having had staff prior to that. I'm pondering scaling up again and just having 5 mental years and then just retiring or just plod on as I am at a steadier pace. You might be quite surprised how well you do on your own without the overheads. In my sector (car sales) there are a lot of busy fools that have all the big overheads and make less money or similar money but have 4/5 employees. A couple of mates with businesses have recently shed staff and seen profits jump. People are very expensive these days and don't often earn anything for the business.
Good luck anyway sounds like you've done the hard work just do what suits now!
I'm at a bit of a crossroads I've been self employed on my own for 4/5 years having had staff prior to that. I'm pondering scaling up again and just having 5 mental years and then just retiring or just plod on as I am at a steadier pace. You might be quite surprised how well you do on your own without the overheads. In my sector (car sales) there are a lot of busy fools that have all the big overheads and make less money or similar money but have 4/5 employees. A couple of mates with businesses have recently shed staff and seen profits jump. People are very expensive these days and don't often earn anything for the business.
Good luck anyway sounds like you've done the hard work just do what suits now!
Interesting thread which resonates with me at the moment.
I'm a one-man-band comms agency that looks and acts more like a fully-staffed outfit that helps it to punch well above its weight in terms of clients and the type of work I do. I have a band of trusted collaborators that I sometimes white-label but rarely feel the need to hide the fact that it's just me. I like the freedom and total independence this gives me. Low overhead means we're able to be highly competitive so we rarely loose work on price.
The only downsides is that I have nothing I can exit from easily and am sometimes found to be working probably a bit too more than is ideal.
Like others I'm sure, I was trained in the thought that if your business isn't growing, it's in decline. But, I started to refine this thinking a while back.... what's wrong with earning a good living doing something that you like that you're good at?
I'm a one-man-band comms agency that looks and acts more like a fully-staffed outfit that helps it to punch well above its weight in terms of clients and the type of work I do. I have a band of trusted collaborators that I sometimes white-label but rarely feel the need to hide the fact that it's just me. I like the freedom and total independence this gives me. Low overhead means we're able to be highly competitive so we rarely loose work on price.
The only downsides is that I have nothing I can exit from easily and am sometimes found to be working probably a bit too more than is ideal.
Like others I'm sure, I was trained in the thought that if your business isn't growing, it's in decline. But, I started to refine this thinking a while back.... what's wrong with earning a good living doing something that you like that you're good at?
Interesting, how are you finding the learning? I suspect my middle aged brain wouldn't learn anything complicated these days.
How are you paying for the tuition, is it expensed at all?
I was planning on keeping the ltd company on fumes, just because it's more tax efficient to extract the money that way assuming you don't have another income.
However if i did have another small income it might make more sense to just close it down.
Friends have suggested i hire, train, manage a new manager (well, they didn't mention the hire and training bit) but i've given so much of my life to this industry, I don't think it can another chunk of me unless it's for a very high price
How are you paying for the tuition, is it expensed at all?
I was planning on keeping the ltd company on fumes, just because it's more tax efficient to extract the money that way assuming you don't have another income.
However if i did have another small income it might make more sense to just close it down.
Friends have suggested i hire, train, manage a new manager (well, they didn't mention the hire and training bit) but i've given so much of my life to this industry, I don't think it can another chunk of me unless it's for a very high price
Thanks for the replies and answering a few questions;
I have thought about farming the work out, and is something I might look at in the future - but definitely not to the lads who are leaving. The way they have acted over the past few weeks has really made me question them and our relationships over the past years (around 13 and 9 years!)
I do have other income streams from holiday lets that just cover all of our personal outgoings, so in theory I wouldn’t really need to work.
I am fully paying for the course, not the company.
The practical side is very easy for me, I have rewired numerous houses and workshops with a friend signing everything off.
I am struggling with the classroom side, I had to have a one on one lesson on how to use a scientific calculator. But I am enjoying the challenge - I haven’t felt really challenged for a long time.
I am actually quite looking forward to being on my own, almost full circle to 20 years ago!
In the workshop I am fine, a wardrobe would be in 10small pieces in the workshop. But when I get to site it turns into one big piece, but I have lots of people I can call on to help me.
I have thought about farming the work out, and is something I might look at in the future - but definitely not to the lads who are leaving. The way they have acted over the past few weeks has really made me question them and our relationships over the past years (around 13 and 9 years!)
I do have other income streams from holiday lets that just cover all of our personal outgoings, so in theory I wouldn’t really need to work.
I am fully paying for the course, not the company.
The practical side is very easy for me, I have rewired numerous houses and workshops with a friend signing everything off.
I am struggling with the classroom side, I had to have a one on one lesson on how to use a scientific calculator. But I am enjoying the challenge - I haven’t felt really challenged for a long time.
I am actually quite looking forward to being on my own, almost full circle to 20 years ago!
In the workshop I am fine, a wardrobe would be in 10small pieces in the workshop. But when I get to site it turns into one big piece, but I have lots of people I can call on to help me.
I did something similar about 8 years ago and have never looked back. After running a building company with three or four sites on the go at any one time, it's now just me doing odd jobs. Everything I earn is mine and I haven't got to keep ploughing it back into the business. I drive an old vehicle which I intend to keep running until I retire, I can choose when and where I want to work, there's no stress and customer relations are excellent with follow-on work in abundance. I earn more now than I ever did. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.
fouronthefloor said:
I did something similar about 8 years ago and have never looked back. After running a building company with three or four sites on the go at any one time, it's now just me doing odd jobs. Everything I earn is mine and I haven't got to keep ploughing it back into the business. I drive an old vehicle which I intend to keep running until I retire, I can choose when and where I want to work, there's no stress and customer relations are excellent with follow-on work in abundance. I earn more now than I ever did. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.
This all day long. There's a huge market for reliable, trustworthy trades (of all sorts) who will just rock up & do a good job.With regard to having 5 years left on your lease - demand for small industrial units remains strong and rents have risen significantly over the last few years. A sensible conversation with your landlord may mean you can exit your lease earlier - they get to secure a longer term lease with a new tenant paying a higher rent and you get to walk away from your financial commitment - win win.
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