I Did It My Way: Small Business Owners Unite!

[Whimsy]

I thought it may be a nice idea to have a thread for small business owners to come to for advice- both getting and giving.  As a teeny-tiny business owner myself (not my full-time job), I am interested in learning from others who have similar businesses. 

In order to avoid this page just being filled with spam and website links- there is one rule (for now): NO posting your website link in this thread.  I will delete immediately.  Instead, link your page on your profile and if anyone is interested, they can visit your profile and click the link (see my profile for an example).

This thread isn't to promote your business- but to learn from other business owners and to help out with your own experiences.

[magicdog]

There's a business idea I've been thinking about but I wondered if it was feasible.

I'm looking to go back to school for a Masters in Education.  I have been told that I should be a teacher because of my educated background (though I do not have a teaching degree).  I personally liked the idea of homeschooling and wondered if I could set myself up to either be a private homeschooling tutor or perhaps a consultant who can help parents get started on personalizing lesson plans for their kids.  My sister, who happens to be a special ed teacher,  thinks I'd be better suited to being an "online teacher" for a charter school.  

The idea originally came about in part due to my dissatisfaction of modern public education in general (the schools in my area rank quite low nationally), the potential for kids to learn without having to be part of the school district's schedule (the one who's getting the material has to be held back for those who aren't), and bullying/peer pressure (which is an awful distraction) .   If I were a tutor working "in person", there would have to be safeguards to prevent accusations of inappropriate behavior, and I'd have to be able to prove results, which I'm not in a position to do yet.

Thoughts?

[DeLurker]

A quick google of teaching as a second career will give you some good resources and things to consider.  There are alternate options for getting certified for people who already have a degree and relevant experience in a subject.  I seem to recall that private schools may have different requirements than public schools too.

As for having to prove results for being a tutor, I doubt if that would be necessary unless you were focusing on the most advanced students.  As for safeguards, just set up sessions at a public place - most libraries have some available rooms or maybe a community center.

Perhaps it would help if you had some in-the-classroom training.  If the schools in your area are underperforming and resources tight, they would probably be open to having you volunteer as a classroom aide.  In my area, anyone who wants to do so has to fill out an application and they run a background check on you, including criminal.  That might help you refine your areas of focus and age groups that you would like to work with.

I'd love to hear more about this if you move forward.

[magicdog]

Getting classroom experience wouldn't be too hard - the district is always looking for substitutes, although they get none of the bennies an official teacher gets.  They get paid about 90 bucks a day.  My current schedule at my job (overnights) would make it tough to do since class starts around 7am-ish and I won't be out until 8am at the earliest.  I also worry about dealing with the political end of things.  My sister had her share of stories (bitchy principals and the incompetents who cozy up to them), and I'm worried I wouldn't be able to teach what needs to be taught or lose control of the classroom.

 

I did find a tutoring certification group, although it may not necessarily hold the gravitas of a college degree for some prospective clients.

[SunnyBeBe]

Any real estate people around here? I'm considering trying it as a second career. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

In addition to @forumfish's original suggestions, my advice for anyone starting a small business is about privacy. If you will be freelancing or working out of your home (meaning you will not have a storefront or an official office space), get a PO box and use that address for your business correspondence so that you don't have to use your home address on all of the official paperwork for your business license, filing for a fictitious name, mailing lists (many online mailing list services require you to provide a physical mailing address and that information is included in every mass email sent to your client list), etc. It may sound paranoid, but you may find down the road that you don't want your home address to be on so many documents that are easily accessible to the public. Set up a separate phone number for your business. Even if that just means using a google voice number (rather than getting a second cell phone), it's the same principle. It may seem fine to hand out your personal cell phone number when you're starting out but later you may not want that information floating around. It's also a good way to set boundaries for your personal and professional life. If you have a separate phone number for your small business, you can turn it off.

[magicdog]

Any small business owners here who got screwed by the SBA loan program?  Seems they ran out of money pretty fast, not to mention how many restrictions prevented owners from getting the loans they needed.

[Mountainair]

We own a small business. Labor intensive. My husband does all the work so no employees and we don’t pay ourselves.  Our business has been in operation for 10 years but due to a toxic relationship between my husband and his mother we had to split the company at the end of last year. We let her keep the existing company name and we took on a new name. She got $3,000 from the loan program and naturally we got nothing. Thankfully (or not) we took out a HELOC on our home in order to float us financially when we split the company so we have money to get by but because our line of work requires home visits and installs people are pushing off work until the crisis is over. 

[LetsStartTalking]

I was a small buisness owner from 1987-2011, selling luxury gift items / personal care. I was very successful,  got a lot of recognition in the media, started out very small, and then grew bigger in my 9th year (bigger location, better neighborhood economically).  I loved every minute of it, but three months before my lease was to be renewed again (June, 2011) I knew it was time to call it quits and start 'stage 2' of my life at the age of 48. The economy was not great for job-hunters at the time, but the economy and internet was slowly eating away at my business, and I wanted to end on a 'high note'.

Feel free to ask me anything! From business loans to leases, to  competition, to retail in general.  BTW, if anyone is thinking of opening a retail store these days - don't do it. The internet will kill you these days. So many independent retailers have closed in the past nine years, like I did.

[magicdog]

On 11/7/2020 at 4:58 PM, LetsStartTalking said:

Feel free to ask me anything!

I am looking to start a freelance writing business.  I also have been considering a vending route to make more money and fire my boss.  Any thoughts? 

[LetsStartTalking]

9 hours ago, magicdog said:

I am looking to start a freelance writing business.  I also have been considering a vending route to make more money and fire my boss.  Any thoughts? 

Freelance writing business is your best bet. You have a lot of opportunities with that, and the pay is pretty lucrative depending on the job (I've been doing something similar for a friend who does internet ads for local businesses - I do the copy writing for him, as well as the quarterly newsletters. I charge differently for each job).

A vending route - that I can't recommend. I've never done it, but two close friends have done it in the past and absolutely hated it. The pay just didn't match the work and time they had to put into it. Hope this helps.

[magicdog]

1 hour ago, LetsStartTalking said:

Hope this helps.

It does!  Thanks!

I am looking to do some copywriting as I've always had a way with words.  I studied Marketing in college but couldn't get nayone to hire me.  Before the internet, I figured it was a foregone conclusion.  It's nice to know that I don't have to get hired in a typical office job when I  can work from home.  What I'm not always sure about are prices (hourly vs flat rates).

 

[Jextella]

On 11/7/2020 at 6:58 PM, LetsStartTalking said:

I was a small buisness owner from 1987-2011, selling luxury gift items / personal care. I was very successful,  got a lot of recognition in the media, started out very small, and then grew bigger in my 9th year (bigger location, better neighborhood economically).  I loved every minute of it, but three months before my lease was to be renewed again (June, 2011) I knew it was time to call it quits and start 'stage 2' of my life at the age of 48. The economy was not great for job-hunters at the time, but the economy and internet was slowly eating away at my business, and I wanted to end on a 'high note'.

Feel free to ask me anything! From business loans to leases, to  competition, to retail in general.  BTW, if anyone is thinking of opening a retail store these days - don't do it. The internet will kill you these days. So many independent retailers have closed in the past nine years, like I did.

I have some ideas brewing but nothing far enough along to ask questions, but I appreciate your offer. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get to the point where I can take you up on it!

[BookWoman56]

On 11/9/2020 at 11:15 PM, magicdog said:

It does!  Thanks!

I am looking to do some copywriting as I've always had a way with words.  I studied Marketing in college but couldn't get nayone to hire me.  Before the internet, I figured it was a foregone conclusion.  It's nice to know that I don't have to get hired in a typical office job when I  can work from home.  What I'm not always sure about are prices (hourly vs flat rates).

 

Freelance marketing copywriters average around $24-25/hour, with regional differences. I don’t have any ideas on how to break into that specific field. If you can handle some technical content, you might have better luck doing freelance technical writing work. That field generally pays better (average around $33/hour) and is also much more accepting of work from home without a pandemic going on. 
 

For either field, you might consider checking out any websites for freelance writing, and also seeing if you can get a short-term gig through a staffing agency. Frequently those are for three months or so, and give you the opportunity to build a writing portfolio, which is often requested for marketing jobs. It’s been long enough that I don’t know the websites any longer, but a few former colleagues who did freelance work had a portfolio on their website so potential clients could see work samples. 

[ParadoxLost]

On 7/8/2016 at 1:00 PM, Whimsy said:

I thought it may be a nice idea to have a thread for small business owners to come to for advice- both getting and giving.  As a teeny-tiny business owner myself (not my full-time job), I am interested in learning from others who have similar businesses. 

In order to avoid this page just being filled with spam and website links- there is one rule (for now): NO posting your website link in this thread.  I will delete immediately.  Instead, link your page on your profile and if anyone is interested, they can visit your profile and click the link (see my profile for an example).

This thread isn't to promote your business- but to learn from other business owners and to help out with your own experiences.

So this thread is dead.  Fourteen posts in five years.

I don't own a small business.  I have no knowledge about starting a small business and no idea that I'm passionate enough about to think about starting one.  But small business are dying.  And even people that work for big businesses are out of work.  And its sad that even the dream of making a viable enterprise that puts you in control of your own future seems to be out of reach due to covid.  Maybe that's not really true but I feel like it is.  Today I'm just in a mood.

You see, I need a TV to replace one that broke.  And I've sworn off lots of the usual suspects because of how they treat their workers and killing small business and etc.  So I'm looking around for where to buy a TV and find that the big blue box store that Chuck was based on has decided this month to respond to "spectacular" earning results by "adapting to an online world" by executing layoffs in a way that seems to be under reported in the media in terms of numbers and nastiness and basically makes moot the idea of going into a store to find someone who knows something about the products (according to some vblogs I've watched).

Since I can't think of a place to buy a TV that doesn't contribute to a trend I'm really depressed about in general, and today in particular, I guess I'm not buying a TV. I don't really need another one anyway.  I still have two (down from four, it was ridiculous really).

But this got me to thinking about small businesses.  I know this isn't supposed to be a thread to promote businesses but and I get that there would be a lot of problems if it just became one big listing of spam websites.  But it would be nice to have somewhere for people to promote small businesses, their own or others.  

Even if its just stuff like what are some tricks to finding local small businesses in a world where everyone has been social distanced and word of mouth is harder and venturing out to explore what's out their is bordering on impossible. Or here is this cool thing I bought from a small business that I never knew existed and never thought I needed.

So that's my spiel.  And during my time writing this I found a business registration website for my city that has a spreadsheet with all the businesses in my city and their addresses and websites.  So after my initial burst of "yay, spreadsheet" (because I'm weird like that) I've decided to spend today plotting to do my small part in saving the world through consumerism.  Or at least putting more of my dollars towards my neighbors' ventures.

[magicdog]

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

  I have no knowledge about starting a small business and no idea that I'm passionate enough about to think about starting one.  But small business are dying.  And even people that work for big businesses are out of work.  And its sad that even the dream of making a viable enterprise that puts you in control of your own future seems to be out of reach due to covid.  Maybe that's not really true but I feel like it is. 

I'm still working on my ideas for working from home.  Working remotely seems to be the way for the moment.   So far I have the basics of what I want to do (I've been messaging those who might be of assistance) and what would be needed to get it up and running (state business license, someone to help me create and maintain a website, etc.) and how to advertise it.  Covid, IMO is an excuse.  You should not be discouraged.

I'm lucky that I still have a day job but I want to become independent - especially due to Covid.  Traditional small businesses (brick and mortar) are being squeezed, that's true.   I noticed signs all over town for office space because many offices are operating remotely, or have gone out of business completely.  That doesn't mean it's impossible.  We did a local story about a guy who worked the habachi at a local Japanese restaurant, but got let go when Covid shut things down.  He decided to take the plunge and get a food truck and make his living that way.   Many other people in the food business have done this.  Another local guy who lost his job started a car detailing business and is doing quite well (driving to clients to clean their cars).  

I'm a writer so I'm trying to make a go as a freelance writer, although I'm also passionate about education (kids are out of school still and the "long distance learning model" is not cutting it ) and looking to become a tutor for homeschoolers.  I still need to iron out a few wrinkles.

Forget the TV.  There's not much on these days and you'd be better off without it.  The TV news makes me mad, and any TV show made after 2010 makes me cringe!  I don't know which state you're in or what the lockdown restrictions are (since they vary from state to state) but I think there are opportunities,  It just takes a bit of thinking outside the box.

[auntlada]

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

And during my time writing this I found a business registration website for my city that has a spreadsheet with all the businesses in my city and their addresses and websites.  So after my initial burst of "yay, spreadsheet" (because I'm weird like that) I've decided to spend today plotting to do my small part in saving the world through consumerism.  Or at least putting more of my dollars towards my neighbors' ventures.

I don't know how it is everywhere else, but in my state, I'd check with the local chamber of commerce for a list of businesses. It will list ones that are not locally owned, but you can usually tell which ones are -- especially if you are in a smaller city or town. Of course, if you're in a small enough town, you know the businesses anyway.

[BookWoman56]

I don’t have much to contribute about ideas for creating and running a small business, other than my own very limited experience about 20 years ago. I ran an online bookstore, selling some collectibles but mostly just titles that might be out of print or hard to find in brick and mortar bookstores that are obviously more focused on new releases and reliable/established titles. I went into this with far too little capital to support myself while I was building my inventory and sales. I did enjoy the absolute freedom it gave me over my schedule, but I realized fairly soon that I couldn’t support my daughter and myself on the earnings. It would have been a nice little sideline if I had a day job, but it wasn’t generating enough steady income. I was just at the point of considering leasing a small space for a brick and mortar used bookstore, offering a small reading area with coffee, tea, and treats, when I got a job offer that came with way more money and professional growth opportunities, so I shut down the online business and liquidated my stock. Prior to that, I tried doing both the new day job and doing the online business in the evenings, but was exhausted all the damn time. 
I still daydream at times about doing a brick and mortar used bookstore after I retire from my current job. The idea of having a bookstore where a few people can come in and read for a bit while having a nice cup of tea and some scones is incredibly attractive to me. But it’s a romanticized idea in my head that most likely will have little connection to the reality of running a small business, no matter how much I love books and reading. 

[magicdog]

Well I'm about to take my next step into being a consultant!

I filled out a SMART form to better gather my ideas and contacted a local women's group which helps offer free advice to entrepreneurs. 

After ironing out a few more things, I made an appointment with an attorney to set up the paperwork.  After that, a professional website then advertising and business cards.  I was advised to add a phone line to my cell phone - I haven't had a chance to look into cost for that.  Anyone know how much extra that would be?  

[Stats Queen]

7 hours ago, magicdog said:

Well I'm about to take my next step into being a consultant!

I filled out a SMART form to better gather my ideas and contacted a local women's group which helps offer free advice to entrepreneurs. 

After ironing out a few more things, I made an appointment with an attorney to set up the paperwork.  After that, a professional website then advertising and business cards.  I was advised to add a phone line to my cell phone - I haven't had a chance to look into cost for that.  Anyone know how much extra that would be?  

First and foremost -awesome going out on your own!!!

What do you mean by a phone line to a cell phone? Do they mean someone answering your phone?

Back in 2008 when I went out on my own into consulting, I needed a “non-residential”address for snail mail, so I had to pay a virtual office for that service. Business isn’t done that way anymore. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank goodness the times have changed, because, at least in my profession, a physical address isn’t important - I am either on site or working remotely.

[magicdog]

On 7/25/2021 at 7:17 PM, Stats Queen said:

What do you mean by a phone line to a cell phone? Do they mean someone answering your phone?

They say I shouldn't use my home phone or regular contact cell number for business.  They say to contact my provider to have another line added to my current cell.  Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to get a burner first.  

 

[magicdog]

Well, it's been a long time but my website is almost complete!!  Just putting on the final touches before putting the word out!

I'm so excited about this and I'm looking forward to making this a success.  It's been about the only thing I can think about for months!

[magicdog]

Website is now complete!  Next - advertising!

Anyone know the best way to advertise to parents of school aged children?  Or even ones with younger then school age but considering the future of education?

[magicdog]

Well, I have my business cards!!  I went to Vistaprint and got a nice stack of cards I was able to design myself.  I found the perfect one which works for the business I'm in!  People seem to take me more seriously when I whip a card out!

 

Now I'm still working on advertising.  I am having my SEO done monthly (and that's not cheap!) and they tell me it will take 5-9 months to get my site at the top of the page in the search engine.  I want to be able to advertise with a national radio host (he lives here but broadcasts nationally) but I'm struggling to raise the cash.  To air my ad locally (where I live and to begin to build a customer base) it will cost me $2500/mo with a three month commitment!  I applied for a grant geared towards women owned businesses so I hope to get it.  If so then I can take the radio spot and hopefully grow from there.  Nationally, the same talker charged $7500 per month (with three month commitment)!  My business could go national someday but that much money will be tough to get right now!  

[theredhead77]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:09 AM, magicdog said:

Website is now complete!  Next - advertising!

Anyone know the best way to advertise to parents of school aged children?  Or even ones with younger then school age but considering the future of education?

Instagram? You'd probably need to create content and engage with your followers.

[BlackberryJam]

I mentioned this in the Royals thread, but I told my employees it was either Juneteenth or 4th of July off, not both. My employment contract lays out the paid holidays, and provides nothing for a new paid day off for creation of a new federal holiday. I even said they don't have to answer phones today. 

The hateful silence in the office right now is to the point I'm ready to make them stay until 5pm as well. And I got asked for a mid-year bonus last week. 

I am going to edit this message throughout the day with the petty that is going on. Just now, I was told that one of my instructions wasn't clear. I pulled up the email instruction and said, "what isn't clear about this?" because it was. It said, "Do X" and employee wanted to know if she was to "Do X or do Z." 

[AnnMarie17]

19 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I mentioned this in the Royals thread, but I told my employees it was either Juneteenth or 4th of July off, not both. My employment contract lays out the paid holidays, and provides nothing for a new paid day off for creation of a new federal holiday. I even said they don't have to answer phones today. 

The hateful silence in the office right now is to the point I'm ready to make them stay until 5pm as well. And I got asked for a mid-year bonus last week. 

I am going to edit this message throughout the day with the petty that is going on. Just now, I was told that one of my instructions wasn't clear. I pulled up the email instruction and said, "what isn't clear about this?" because it was. It said, "Do X" and employee wanted to know if she was to "Do X or do Z." 

Ugh, I have zero tolerance for passive aggressive...it brings out my "actual aggressive".  If someone doesn't agree with something I welcome feedback and respectful criticism, we can have a discussion and I'm willing to bend whenever I can, when it makes sense...but the silent treatment and playing like you don't understand clear direction is not going to move me in your favor.

Hang in there, BBJ.

[BlackberryJam]

Now it's, "I planned to get estimate for my car and so I'll be late back from lunch." I said "fine" and she then told me she'd planned for three estimates but now only has time for one. I shrugged. That's the car accident that she had at lunch last Thursday. Yes, I get it. Someone hit her. But, her lunch hour turned into 2.5 hours and then she was "shaky" when she got back and spent an hour texting her husband about it.

Many days, she's a great employee. She does great work. But today is going to be all about being passo-aggro and punishing me for not giving her an extra day off. 

No one has even asked me how my weekend was today, when they know I'm in the middle of a hellish kitchen remodel. 

[JTMacc99]

Unless you're a government employer who tend to give all the federal holidays, you can give or not give people whatever holidays you want. My place of work gives us office workers exactly 7 holidays. (New Years, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas)  That's it.  Some of the people who work directly with customers will be working some or all of those days as well, with extra pay of course.

Just out of curiosity @BlackberryJam, do the employees have pretty much every federal holiday off, and it's just this one they're not getting?  I guess that might explain why they feel like they're entitled to the holiday, even though they really aren't.

8 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

No one has even asked me how my weekend was today, when they know I'm in the middle of a hellish kitchen remodel. 

How did your weekend go?  

[BlackberryJam]

3 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

Unless you're a government employer who tend to give all the federal holidays, you can give or not give people whatever holidays you want. My place of work gives us office workers exactly 7 holidays. (New Years, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas)  That's it.  Some of the people who work directly with customers will be working some or all of those days as well, with extra pay of course.

Just out of curiosity @BlackberryJam, do the employees have pretty much every federal holiday off, and it's just this one they're not getting?  I guess that might explain why they feel like they're entitled to the holiday, even though they really aren't.

How did your weekend go?  

We are a law office, so there is the mentality that if the Courts are closed, we are closed. But we aren't. On top of that, someone had put in "Closed" on the calendar, meaning the Courts/post office/banks were closed, and it was clear because that's what is put on the calendar when Courts are closed. If the Office is closed, we put Office Closed. But on Friday when someone said something about a long weekend, "I said, we don't have a long weekend. It's the 4th that is our long weekend." And then the spluttering, "But the calendar says..." And now the calendar passive aggressively says, "Courts closed, but office open, but no client appointments." Seriously.

They don't know that MomJam taught me the vicious art of passive aggression. When they are out to lunch, I am going to email the lists of things to do, so they get it when I leave for lunch. Bwahahah. 

[JTMacc99]

3 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

We are a law office, so there is the mentality that if the Courts are closed, we are closed. But we aren't.

Got it. So they feel that they're "owed" the day off, and they are having tantrums about that not being the case.

[BlackberryJam]

3 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

Got it. So they feel that they're "owed" the day off, and they are having tantrums about that not being the case.

Yep. Business has been good for the pandemic, but no one would put up with the crap I put up with in the office. I spoke to some other attorneys and we are requiring are staff members to send things out today, so all of them know they are in the office and it's not just one bitchy boss. 

I forgot to answer.  My weekend? I had a handyman in who spent six hours doing things with light fixtures, outlets, mirrors and he was wonderful. My marble countertops that were installed last week have the faucet hole in the wrong spot. The entire marble slab needs replaced. No one returned my calls that started Wednesday until this morning.  On Tuesday, my master bath is being ripped out. I had to deal with a family cookout on Sunday. My father is gone, MISS YOU JAMDAD!, but it was to celebrate brother in law, nephew (who has steps), niece who is about to have steps, and blah blah. It was a waste of three hours I could have spent reassembling my kitchen.

I have huge dark circles under my eyes and look like crap. I wore my scrubby jeans, sneakers into the office, which I never do, and I've clearly had a bad few days. 

How was your weekend?

How was everyone's weekend? And I hope no one else is having a bad staff day. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by BlackberryJam

[JTMacc99]

3 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

Yep. Business has been good for the pandemic, but no one would put up with the crap I put up with in the office.

Understood. I find that as time goes by, I lose my willingness to put up with BS in exchange for good work. Everybody (other than the occasional exceptional person) can be replaced. 

At least you had a good experience with the handyman. Not a total loss, despite all of the other stresses. I can see why the last thing you needed was a bunch of childish behavior at work greeting you on Monday morning.

9 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

How was your weekend?

Me? I had a nice lunch with my brother and dad on Saturday. I had to drive my daughter to a party like 45 minutes away Saturday night, so I saw Top Gun to kill the time until it was time to pick her up. That was actually pretty nice. I don't get to many movies.

Sunday was really nice out, so did some yardwork. My ex-wife wished me a happy Father's Day, as did my old friends with blanket "happy father's day to each other."  Still waiting on my two teenagers.

[BlackberryJam]

1 minute ago, JTMacc99 said:

Understood. I find that as time goes by, I lose my willingness to put up with BS in exchange for good work. Everybody (other than the occasional exceptional person) can be replaced. 

At least you had a good experience with the handyman. Not a total loss, despite all of the other stresses. I can see why the last thing you needed was a bunch of childish behavior at work greeting you on Monday morning.

Me? I had a nice lunch with my brother and dad on Saturday. I had to drive my daughter to a party like 45 minutes away Saturday night, so I saw Top Gun to kill the time until it was time to pick her up. That was actually pretty nice. I don't get to many movies.

Sunday was really nice out, so did some yardwork. My ex-wife wished me a happy Father's Day, as did my old friends with blanket "happy father's day to each other."  Still waiting on my two teenagers.

The problem is the struggle to find a replacement. I don't live in a huge metropolis. Finding a good paralegal is rough. A friend of mine hired a new one who was fantastic, and the woman just didn't show up the next week. They called her to see what was up and she said she'd rather work as a waitress because the office was too restrictive. They've now hired a woman who does great dictation, but sits in her car at lunch and gets high. It's the best they can find. 

I know there will be a swing soon and I'll start getting resumes, but right now, I'm stuck. 

Happy Father's Day!

[Lady Whistleup]

BBJ, I wonder if your office workers think that by working Juneteenth, you are saying that POC aren’t important? I know that used to be a thing when MLK Day was new. I’m sure it’s not intentional, but I could see them thinking that.

[JTMacc99]

15 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

Finding a good paralegal is rough.

I think this is the case here as well. (We're about a two hour commute out of NYC.)  Our legal department has (if I'm counting correctly) eight attorneys and a support staff of about a similar number. Some of the support staff have been with the company forever. The rest of the team has a very high turnover rate. I'm not sure if it's because good people are hard to find, or if new employees feel that the job requirements aren't in line with the pay.  

Probably a combination of both.

5 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

BBJ, I wonder if your office workers think that by working Juneteenth, you are saying that POC aren’t important? I know that used to be a thing when MLK Day was new. I’m sure it’s not intentional, but I could see them thinking that.

From what I'm hearing, they expect this day off exactly the way they expect to get off for Columbus Day. 

Courts closed = Day off.

[BlackberryJam]

@Lady Whistleup I have more of a problem with my staff in the other direction. This is ALL about wanting a paid day off.

@JTMacc99 There is little job loyalty and I get it. People want more money, more leave time, etc. I also give 120 hours of paid time off. When I went to lunch, I passed by a desk and notice that the leave time sheet was left out on someone’s desk. I never look at the leave time sheet when anyone else is in the office. 

[magicdog]

@BlackberryJam:  Just keep a tally on who gave you grief over this and save it for later when they ask for something.  Bad behavior brings consequences.  I find it obnoxious to think they have the day off, and IMO I don't think it has anything to do with thinking POC are unimportant.  Of course I work in TV news so there are no holidays off per se, just people who put in for certain holidays first.  I thank heaven though that my business is a one person operation so I won't have to deal with crap like that!

[emma675]

BBJ, that stinks. I work in the financial services industry and we got Juneteenth off this year because the Fed is closed, but we didn't get it last year (it happened too fast and the Fed stayed open, even though that was the first "official" time it was a federal holiday). But I've worked for companies that didn't give us MLK day off, a French company that didn't give American workers July 4th off (and also didn't give us Bastille day or any other French holiday, which really irritated me), and other companies who barely gave us any days off. But you know what? I came in and did my work without being a passive aggressive brat about it. It's sad that is too much to expect of your workers today.

[BlackberryJam]

So...I put it out on my attorney text group, and everyone was having the same problem. So we have all sent letters to each other which get emailed by staff to staff. Now they all know that everyone is working.

There has been a distinct thaw in my office. 

I mentioned in the work vent thread. I give MLK Day off but not Presidents Day. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

I have to hand it to business owners. I have considered it on and off over the years, wanting to be a freelance writer, but I could never convince myself to go for it. I’m too afraid of having to pay for all my benefits myself and worried I’ll fail. So for now I’m just focusing on getting a better paying full time job, and maybe once I pay off some debt (combination of bad choices and working low paying jobs), I’ll have more courage to try something part time. 

I have always loved writing but my dream job, as silly as it sounds in 2022, would be to be a travel advisor/cruise planner. I love cruises, and planning travel and handling all the scheduling logistics and such would be fun for me if money were no object. 

[magicdog]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:41 AM, Cloud9Shopper said:

I have to hand it to business owners. I have considered it on and off over the years, wanting to be a freelance writer, but I could never convince myself to go for it. I’m too afraid of having to pay for all my benefits myself and worried I’ll fail. So for now I’m just focusing on getting a better paying full time job, and maybe once I pay off some debt (combination of bad choices and working low paying jobs), I’ll have more courage to try something part time. 

Just keep trying and take that first step.  You can always get a mentor too!  Try a life coach or check with a local business association for advice.  Being a woman I got some great beginning advice from  a local women's business owner group.  Then try SMART Goals (just google it) and see how you can make something out of your ideas.  Then look up templates for a business plan and take it a step further.

I finally decided to take the plunge (though I'm still working my day job until this avenue starts to produce fruit) because it wasn't going to get any better.  My jerkoff bosses were never going to promote me, lots of other businesses would likely ignore me due to my age (got to prove it was age discrimination) despite my wealth of experience.  Still others are in COVID mode and are making demands of potential employees they have never made before nor should they. 

Locally, a lot of people have given it a go depending on their skill set.  When the Covid curtain fell, and restaurants shut down, plenty of  chefs and cooks decided to go the food truck route.  Other people realized they might be able to work from home and decided to skip the office entirely.   

To borrow from Confucious, that journey to independence begins with a single step.

[BlackberryJam]

@Stats Queen

I wanted to bring my reply over to this thread rather than the venting your spleen one. 

Small business ownership is hard. It's only the pandemic SBA loans which have given me a cushion, and I used a big chunk of that to improve the office with ergonomic chairs, risers on the desks so people can stand to work, a better refrigerator, laptops for everyone in case we needed to work from home, software for that as well, all of those things I'd been wanting to do. And now I have to pay that loan back, even if it's over 30 years. 

Previously any financial cushion I had was the equity in my house and my personal credit cards. 

Payroll is my single highest expense. Add into that the medical and dental that I pay (100% for employees) and the IRA contributions (2% of salary, no match needed) and that's 40% of my gross earnings. 

It is doable and fulfilling though. It requires hustle and some shitty work/life balance for a while.

I have worked hard and at this point, I deserve to enjoy the fruits of many years of labor. I value my employees, but it's an unrealistic business model for me to continue the business if my employees earn more than I do and take twice as much vacation. 

Small business owners are in it to make money. 

[LinkAiris]

On 4/17/2020 at 3:37 PM, Mountainair said:

We own a small business. Labor intensive. My husband does all the work so no employees and we don’t pay ourselves.  Our business has been in operation for 10 years but due to a toxic relationship between my husband and his mother we had to split the company at the end of last year. We let her keep the existing company name and we took on a new name. She got $3,000 from the loan program and naturally we got nothing. Thankfully (or not) we took out a HELOC on our home in order to float us financially when we split the company so we have money to get by but because our line of work requires home visits and installs people are pushing off work until the crisis is over. 

 

On 11/7/2020 at 7:58 PM, LetsStartTalking said:

I was a small buisness owner from 1987-2011, selling luxury gift items / personal care. I was very successful,  got a lot of recognition in the media, started out very small, and then grew bigger in my 9th year (bigger location, better neighborhood economically).  I loved every minute of it, but three months before my lease was to be renewed again (June, 2011) I knew it was time to call it quits and start 'stage 2' of my life at the age of 48. The economy was not great for job-hunters at the time, but the economy and internet was slowly eating away at my business, and I wanted to end on a 'high note'.

Feel free to ask me anything! From business loans to leases, to  competition, to retail in general.  BTW, if anyone is thinking of opening a retail store these days - don't do it. The internet will kill you these days. So many independent retailers have closed in the past nine years, like I did.

I'm sorry to hear about the challenges you're facing with your small business, especially amidst a difficult family situation. It sounds like a tough decision to split the company, but sometimes it's necessary for peace of mind and moving forward. It's unfortunate that you didn't receive any support from the loan program, especially given the circumstances. Relying on a HELOC to stay afloat adds another layer of stress, especially during a time when work is being delayed due to the ongoing crisis. Hang in there, and hopefully, things will improve soon.