So you want to be a small business owner...

We have recently celebrated 5 YEARS IN BUSINESS!! HOLY SMOKES
It has gotten me thinking about where we started and how far we have come.

In case you didn't know, here's some background... 
I used to work as a groomer for a corporate grooming salon.  It started off great, but the longer I was there the longer the corporate politics weighed on me.  Towards the end I was basically crying every day and just miserable.  I wanted to leave, but as many of you know groomers are paid commission only and going to a new salon is a big risk. Will you get enough dogs? Will your clients follow you?  It's a gamble.  I was making really good money at the corporate salon, but it just wasn't worth my sanity anymore.  

​Let me say that a little louder for those in the back...
NO AMOUNT OF MONEY IS WORTH YOUR SANITY.  Take care of yourselves!  Your employer is pretty much never going to put you first so you have to put yourself first.  

​So, I took the plunge and left that corporate h*ll!!  To take a little of the pressure off starting at a new salon I decided to start selling these dog bows I had been making for my own clients.  Guys, if you bought from me in our first year bless you!  Those were some drastically mediocre bows! Looking back on those pictures I'm not sure how I've made it this far.  

Ok, enough background, here's the nitty gritty on owning a business.  
IT IS HELLA HARD. 
My favorite way to describe owning a business is this, all day every day you are both always working and never working. On the one hand, you're doing what you want to do, setting your own hours, fulfilling your passion. On the other hand, you take your work on vacation with you, you take it to bed with you, you eat, sleep and breath work. 

Thinking of owning your own business?  Let me break it down for you...

​Pros- 

1. Setting your own hours- This is a big one.  Being able to work around your life, rather than fitting your life around work.  
2. Working from home- Not all business owners get to do this, but I do.  It's great.  My dogs have someone with them 80% of the time.  I get to start work in my pajamas, and watch junk TV while making bows.  
3. Choosing to do what you want- No one is starting a business doing something they hate.  If you're starting a business it's because you found the trifecta of business ownership, 1- Something you love to do 2- Something you're good at and 3- People who will actually pay you for it!
4. The Highs- OHHH the highs.  My first real business high was a few months in, a customer shared my business in a grooming group on facebook and I stayed up all night watching the visits to the site and sales just go through the roof.  There is nothing like that feeling.  
5. Supportive friends and family- Owning a business is impossibly hard.  I have faced challenges I never imagined, and have somehow found the strength to soldier on.  My friends have supported my business, they buy bows and help make them.  They promote my business online and let me vent when I'm overwhelmed and stressed. My wonderful boyfriend helps with bows sometimes too (although usually only when I'm in a real pickle haha). But he takes packages to the post office, cleans the kitchen, helps with my website and computer, and let's me make bows while we're supposed to be watching a movie together haha. Not to mention never complaining about scraps of ribbon ALL OVER THE HOUSE. A good support system gives you a leg up in business ownership.  
6. Working Solo- Not a people person? Me neither.  haha 
7. Customer Reviews- Every time someone leaves a good review, I get a little jolt of euphoria. There is nothing like knowing you made someone happy, made their day special, or made their job a little easier. 
8. Vacation- Taking vacation whenever you want!  No need to schedule days off or try to plan ahead. 

Cons-

1. Setting your own hours- Yep, this was in the pro list.  Why is it also here?  Because to be a responsible business owner that means sometimes your hours are 7am to 10pm.  Sometimes it means missing a meal because you're behind and need to work.  
2. Working from home- Ahhh, yep there's a pattern here, all the pro's are also con's! Yes, working from home is awesome, but what if I phrased it this way.  You're living where you work...  Not so awesome huh?  Waking up, first thing you see is your office, your cluttered desk, your stack of orders.  Considering a home business?  Try to separate your living and working areas as best you can.  You need to be able to leave the office for the day too.  
3. Choosing to do what you love- Yep, it's a con too.  5 years ago crafting was my jam!  Every day I'm crafting! The downside of making that into your job, everyday I have to craft now.   Turning something from "I GET to do this" into "I HAVE to do this" is a big mental shift.  
4. The LOWS- All the crap you don't realize is part of owning a business!  When I started this, I just thought, ya, i can make bows, people want to buy them.  Easy money.  That's not owning a business.  Owning a business is also tech support.  Creating and maintaining a website. Social media. Financial planning.  TAXES.  Ugh, so many taxes.  Shipping.  Reception work.  Customer Service.  Guess how many jobs you are actually doing?  Probably 10-15.  Hopefully one day your business is successful enough that you can outsource the positions you don't actually enjoy.  6 months ago I was feeling very overwhelmed with everything I had to do, and I was given some excellent advice.  Choose the jobs you enjoy doing the most, and pay someone to do the rest!  If this means paying someone to clean your house, paying someone to run your website and social media, do it!  Or you will just BURN RIGHT OUT.  Hell, this is true if you aren't a business owner too.  Never feel obligated to do stuff you hate. Just because you SHOULD clean the house every Saturday doesn't mean you HAVE to.  Hire someone for that crap and go to the beach!  You work all day every day, don't work on your days off too.  Ok, tangent over, back to the list! 
5. Your family and friends- You decide to take on this business.  You have the stamina and motivation to see it through.  But what about your family and friends?  They have to go through this too, and it's not always easy on them. They try to be supportive, but it's hard when you have to miss things because your business has to come first. Or when you're stressed and overwhelmed and take it out on them.  Or when your poor boyfriend always has glitter on him because it was glitter tulle bow day and you just can't help but hug him.
6. The isolation- When we were getting ready for the first convention we went to, I had no idea what to expect.  I figured I would make as many bows as I possibly could before that day.  That meant working 7 am to 10 pm, usually for 5 straight days before I actually left the house and/or saw another human being.  Now I try to get out of the house at least once a day.  Either a long walk with the dogs, going to yoga or the grocery store, anything.  Just something to get out and remind myself there is still life out there.  
7. Customer complaints- When you get a customer complaint it is absolutely heartbreaking.  I have only really had maybe 3 really truly bad complaints in the past 5 years of business, and I bawled my eyes out each time.  It's like someone telling you your baby is ugly.  It is something you created, with your hands, from scratch.  Something you put your whole heart and soul into, and to hear that someone is less than happy is the hardest part of owning a business. Each of those times I wanted to give up.  I wanted to finally admit defeat, close up shop, and quit. That brings us to number 8.
8. Finding the strength to start over- How many times have I had to force myself to change and adapt and start over.  Probably a dozen.  Sometimes it's as basic as moving on from a customer complaint and starting over the next day.  Sometimes it means rethinking your whole business plan because you're just not breaking even.  I asked in an entrepreneur group once, "Do you ever miss the 9-5?  Being able to clock out and leave work and not think about it until the next day?"  The replies were pretty unanimous, YES, EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Being a successful entrepreneur means feeling that way every day, and NOT GIVING UP.  Reminding yourself why you're doing this, and finding the strength every day to do it all over again. 
9. Vacation- Never truly taking a vacation.  Always bringing work with you.  Oh, and forget about paid time off.  No sick pay either.  Yep, better just suck it up and work through that food poisoning.