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I'm close to not being in my 60s.  And given our travels seem to take us to or near war zones, I may not make it.

I'm still working my regular job, it gets harder by the week to juggle.  I really don't want to leave this job yet, it's the best job I've ever had and it's not hard.  I suspect that as soon as we have our first "profitable" month I'll start very seriously considering leaving.  What I mean by that is when we pay all our bills and have a very good surplus.  We had to buy so much equipment to get started that it sucked a lot of resources away last year, but our capital expenditures should be far less this year.  I say that, but I'm already eyeing other equipment to supplement what we've got.  There's always something you "need" to make things easier/faster/better.  It's definitely a balancing act. 

I didn't catch this thread the first time around and just read through the whole thing.

I left my job at the end of 2011 (age 32) due to massive corporate BS and our (wife and I) company had just broken into profitability (not ramen profitable, like barely above breakeven profitable). I cashed in my 401K (less than $100K) and "bet on myself" with the belief I could replace my salary within a year (about $45K at that time). We, in fact, did not replace my salary within the first year. Or the second year. I had two daughters under 5 years old. In retrospect, it was an insanely reckless decision.

As a result, we have run the gamut, financially. The girls were on Medicaid the first year, a humbling feeling. Then graduated to State assisted health care. Spent years cycling through 2-5% credit card loans to keep afloat. And then eventually crossed the threshold of not being able to directly contribute to our Roth IRA's.

The gist of the story is, if you're going to go all in, I suggest having a solid plan to compensate yourself. A good book on the subject is Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. It is over simplistic at times, so consider it more a loose guide than turnkey game plan.

The gist of the story is, if you're going to go all in, I suggest having a solid plan to compensate yourself. A good book on the subject is Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. It is over simplistic at times, so consider it more a loose guide than turnkey game plan.

I didn't read that book (or any other books other than cookbooks) but what I always said was:

"If you aren't making a profit, your work is a hobby".

Does anyone really want work to be a hobby? Maybe artists or musicians, I guess?

Thankfully my wife was making big bank when I started out.

I didn't read that book (or any other books other than cookbooks) but what I always said was:

"If you aren't making a profit, your work is a hobby".

Does anyone really want work to be a hobby? Maybe artists or musicians, I guess?

Thankfully my wife was making big bank when I started out.

The book is targeted toward Gigem's situation; business owners with good revenue but can't find a way to actually pay themselves. It addresses the mentality that you must throw all profit back into the company for the sake of growth while you're personally trying to keep your head above water.

The book is targeted toward Gigem's situation; business owners with good revenue but can't find a way to actually pay themselves. It addresses the mentality that you must throw all profit back into the company for the sake of growth while you're personally trying to keep your head above water.

Yep. My company started making a profit at about 6 months. I had 4 people at the time. Never missed a payroll.

I didn't start taking a check until about 7 months, and at year end I took a distribution based on my stock basis. You pay FAR less taxes on distributions than you do on payroll. But you cannot do all distributions and no payroll. SSA and Medicare don't like it and it's actually not legal.

So, at year end, I'd take what I could and then loan the company money at prime +2% interest. Collections are always slow in January and February so there was no choice in the matter.

You need to have zero in the checkbook at year end, otherwise the owners have to claim the pass-through income on the K-1.

It's not easy and it's not for everyone. 23-24 years of personal experience tells me that.

I had a very good opportunity to buy a business when my daughters were the same age.
My wife was a dental hygienist and had no benefits.
That was too much risk for me.
I passed on the opportunity.
I don't regret the decision.

Everything worked out, so I don't regret it, but it was very risky. I had a college degree and a CDL so I knew I could always go get a job if it came to that. I have reflected on it often, I'm glad I committed to building something, but I would have approached my exit differently.

Everything worked out, so I don't regret it, but it was very risky. I had a college degree and a CDL so I knew I could always go get a job if it came to that. I have reflected on it often, I'm glad I committed to building something, but I would have approached my exit differently.

What have you done about it?