# Working fulltime and owning a business...Can it be done?



## tlaborn (Jun 27, 2011)

I work fulltime and I have a small business im up right now and its 1am im still up working and i have to go to work tomorrow!! which sucks!! How do you handle this? or do you work full time and have a small business? Please share on how you handle it!


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## agriffin (Jun 27, 2011)

Working full time and having on a business on the side does involve alot of late nights, early morning and weekend hours.  Good luck!


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## tlaborn (Jun 27, 2011)

Ok...Are you speaking from experience?! Because its hard you have to get rest, so you not making crazy decisions when it comes to your business


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## SideDoorSoaps (Jun 28, 2011)

My husband and I both work full-time with overtime hours and have a small side business. I'm also 8 months pregnant. It's very hard and very time consuming to run the side business and it's not easy keeping track of it. However, having the business is quite rewarding and I like putting the hours into something that is mine. The sacrifice is worth it. One day I hope to quit my job and run the business and still do my freelance design work.

Long long hours, late nights til 2 or 3 sometimes, and lots of weekend work.


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## Lindy (Jun 28, 2011)

Having worked a full-time job and run a business on side I can tell you it takes a whole lot of commitment.  But if you don't have that commitment while you're not depending on that business to support you - you'll find it harder to have it when the heat gets turned up and you're not sure how you are going to eat this week....

Lots of late nights, and you may as well forget a personal life because your business needs you more than your friends.....

Good luck....


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## mandolyn (Jun 30, 2011)

I couldn't do it. My soap business is side-lined, it was too demanding with a regular job.


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## Lindy (Jun 30, 2011)

Mandolyn I'm sorry to hear that... **hugs**


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## nursenancy (Jun 30, 2011)

I work full time nights as a nurse, have a family and own a small shop.  I'm doing it right now, but I have pretty much sacrificed my social life.  I work 3 nights a week mon, tues, wed - 12 hour shifts, and my shop is open Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon.  Sometimes if i have a committment, I get my son or husband to mind the shop, but I try to avoid it because it's just not the same as me being there.
I guess you just have to love what you do and commit to it.  It's not easy, though.  I'm usually up at the crack of dawn and working till late at night.
I hope at some point that I will be able to work part time and really go to the next level with my biz.  
Good Luck!  It's worth it!


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## agriffin (Jul 1, 2011)

agriffin said:
			
		

> Working full time and having on a business on the side does involve alot of late nights, early morning and weekend hours.  Good luck!



I am speaking from experience. 

I worked full time and sold soap.  I had a total breakdown and don't sell soap anymore...so I'm probably not the one to talk to about this.   

I was commited to a weekly market on Saturday's so I worked Mon-Fri 8-5 and then had the market on Sat which killed my Sat.  Production was mostly on Sunday and evenings during the week.  It just wasn't worth it to me...and I felt as though I was ignoring household duties...cooking, cleaning...taking care of the house.  My guy and I wouldn't hang out that much...I was always making soap, doing labels or something.   

I much prefer the educational side of soapmaking.  I do the ezine and teach classes.  I make soap that I want to make...not what I have to make for customers.


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## mandolyn (Jul 1, 2011)

Ditto all of that except the breakdown. The last straw was a demanding customer who wouldn't take no for an answer when she could plainly see that there were NO listings in my etsy shop, but demanded soap anyways. I got tired of people wanting to pick up soap from my home, even after I said no, I live in a no business zone, I can't sell out of my home, calls from customers on holidays, etc, etc. & not being able to carve out even a smidgen of quality time for me & DH.



			
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## tlaborn (Jul 4, 2011)

It does take alot of you when you start a business....Has anyone considered doing your business part time and still have the full time job?

I also have heard of stories of people quitting their full time and started their small business FULL TIME! I guess they made it work for them, but i know that it can be hard at times.

I also keep hearing people telling me that you have to make your small business happen...I thought about it and said: do people actually know what make means...So I looked it up: 

Make means: to produce; cause to exist or happen; to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts, etc. 

That means that I am actually taking something that hasn't existed yet and im bringing it to existence, by combining parts, changing material, shaping, mixing ingredients,etc that takes work!


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## mandolyn (Jul 4, 2011)

tlaborn said:
			
		

> It does take alot of you when you start a business....Has anyone considered doing your business part time and still have the full time job?



Well, that's my point. My business was supposed to be week-end craft fairs & etsy only. Try convincing your customers you only do this part time. They don't care, they just want their soap when they run out, & they call when it's convenient for them - even during my regular work hours, on holidays, they don't think, they just make the call.


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## agriffin (Jul 4, 2011)

mandolyn said:
			
		

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Ditto.  My soap business was part time.  Give it a try- it might work for you.  It just wasn't worth it for me.


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## tlaborn (Jul 5, 2011)

Wow! ok you must have gotten the same kind of customers wanting some much soap, more then you could handle, sounds tough.


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## JenniferSews (Jul 5, 2011)

I worked full time and ran a business.  It was hard, and required a lot of dedication, little sleep, and a very supportive partner.  I ran the business from 2004 until 2009 and worked full time for a year in 2005, then was a full time student from 2008 on.  I rarely got more than 6 hours of sleep a night.  I worked 7 days a week and have often said that I was a half assed everything those years.  A half assed employee, half assed business owner, mother, wife, student, daughter, sister, you name it.  

But I did it, I believed in the business and it grew by leaps and bounds every year so I couldn't just walk away from the profits.  It took a few years to build it so that it was a full time income, then I sold it before I graduated.  I missed the challenge of being self employed, so I started another small business a year later.  But my heart wasn't in it anymore and I gave it up pretty quick.


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## tlaborn (Jul 9, 2011)

@jennifersews wow! what a story what kind of business was it? and did you spen alot of money in the business?


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