No matter how many books you read, you don’t know what it’s like to be a parent until you have a child. It’s the same thing with owning your own business – there are more sacrifices involved than you can possibly imagine.
Tops among them: an incredible investment of time, said INSTORE’s Brain Squad in our recent Big Survey. Out of 295 responses, an incredible 192 cited missing time with family and friends as their biggest sacrifice, with most saying they wouldn’t do it again if they had the chance, but some saying they would.
One reader wrote: “Taking time from my family to create custom pieces in the studio. That time and those items were stolen in a robbery. I wonder if they know the priceless pieces they took from us. Thank God for insurance and yes, I should have charged more for those minutes than I did and NO, I wouldn’t do it again. Memories, not minutes, are what we remember.”
The second most popular answer was financial sacrifice. Respondents have given up their homes, cars, and other jobs in order to pay employees or even simply keep the business afloat.
Finally, there were a few who said they would not choose to be a jewelry store owner if they could do it all over. One gave up a dream job, and one did it for their spouse. And one said this: “Time, family, health, vacations, satisfaction, sanity, security — I have none of these. I can’t sell my business, and I can’t get out from under it. I have to show up and push every single day. I would have sold everything and retired to Belize at the peak of money-making in 2007 if I had known what I was doing.”
“Time, family, health, vacations, satisfaction, sanity, security — I have none of these. I can’t sell my business, and I can’t get out from under it. I have to show up and push every single day. I would have sold everything and retired to Belize at the peak of money-making in 2007 if I had known what I was doing.”
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This article is an online extra for INSTORE Online.
