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KristineS
02-19-2009, 12:46 PM
I've been reading through threads here and I'm thinking that we're split a bit toward the independent businessperson side of the spectrum. I'm wondering how accurate my guess is, so I thought I'd ask. What I'm wondering is who here owns their own business and who here is currently working for someone else. I'd just like to see what the current split is.

Keep in mind, I'm not implying that those who work for someone else might not be entrepreneurs in their own right, I'm just interested in seeing what the breakdown is right now. I also understand that some people might be working for someone else while building their own business, but I'm not really looking for qualifications. Let's just keep it simple, do you own your own business and support yourself solely through that, or do you work for someone else?

I'll start. Currently I work for someone else, a corporation in Traverse City, Michigan.

Patrysha
02-19-2009, 01:08 PM
I work for myself :-)

Well techically I work for my clients, so many bosses :-)

billbenson
02-19-2009, 01:10 PM
Just work for myself.

nealrm
02-19-2009, 01:27 PM
Do I get 2 votes. I have a day job as a quality engineer. Then my wife and I own a business on the side. She works full time in our business.

vangogh
02-19-2009, 01:30 PM
Own my business and haven't worked for someone else since 2003 I think.

Aaron Hats
02-19-2009, 01:56 PM
I too, started in 2003. The business now employs me, my wife and one part-time employee.

kml9870
02-19-2009, 02:00 PM
I'm in the same league with nealrm. I have a day job working for a non-profit (actually my church's governing body) and own a business doing webdesign/hosting.

rezzy
02-19-2009, 02:19 PM
I'm in the same league with nealrm and kandi. I have a day job working for a non-profit and own a business doing webdesign/hosting.

Dan Furman
02-19-2009, 03:59 PM
I work for myself full time. Been that way since 2001.

I was actually going to post something similar - and yes, nothing bad if you have a j-o-b (we all had one at some time :) ) - it's just I wanted to know who was fully supporting themselves through their business (because I think it's a little different in mindset.)

Blessed
02-19-2009, 04:09 PM
I work for myself... but couldn't do only that if Hubby wasn't working a regular job

thx4yrtym
02-19-2009, 04:33 PM
Worked for myself since 1998.

SteveC
02-19-2009, 04:54 PM
Set up my first business in 1996 and closed that down and set-up FX Digital in 2003... the first one was in the UK and the second was in Australia... now, I just cannot imagine ever working for someone else.

dynocat
02-20-2009, 10:16 AM
Hubby works a 4 day/week job while I run our business from home.

bwat05
02-21-2009, 05:13 PM
I do not work for myself as of yet.
But I am tired of working for someone else so I hope to eventually own my own biz.

Steve B
02-21-2009, 06:52 PM
Isn't there a way to set up a question like this as a poll?

billbenson
02-21-2009, 07:11 PM
It's kind of hard to judge Steve. I just went through the posts and depending on how you count it, its kind of a 50/50 split. A lot, however, can only do it because their spouse is working. I think that only really counts if the spouses income is supplemental and the self employed half is providing the bulk of the income.

Patrysha
02-21-2009, 07:54 PM
Why would that be Bill? (That it only counts if the spouses income is the supplemental one)

When I was working full time out of the home, I was making less than I do now in my own business, but my husband's income was still larger than mine. It doesn't make sense that now that I'm home it only "counts" if I were actually making more than him. Many families need two incomes to make it these days, but that doesn't necessarily mean that both parties are making an equal income.

billbenson
02-21-2009, 10:16 PM
Just struck me that the intent of the thread is "who is making their primary income from their business". Could be wrong?? You have a valid point that most households have two incomes in any case.

Dan Furman
02-21-2009, 10:42 PM
Why would that be Bill? (That it only counts if the spouses income is the supplemental one)

When I was working full time out of the home, I was making less than I do now in my own business, but my husband's income was still larger than mine. It doesn't make sense that now that I'm home it only "counts" if I were actually making more than him. Many families need two incomes to make it these days, but that doesn't necessarily mean that both parties are making an equal income.

I think I understand what Bill is saying - Basically, it's much different to run a 150k web design biz out of your home that is the lion's share of the income than it is to run a 7-10k jewely making e-bay biz where it's supplemental income. Not to disparage one (they are both businesses with similar challenges), but I think the former "counts more" in regards to primary income, while the latter would not. Which I think was more or less the spirit of the question asked.

Maybe the question should be "who is supporting /can support the household with their business"?

My wife works, but the past few years, I could support the household pretty easily if she stayed home. But we have no kids, so what's the point of her staying home? She loves her job anyway. And this year could be a different animal (still early, but the signs so far point to a slower year for me)

Blessed
02-21-2009, 10:47 PM
When my husband and I were both working full time we pretty much made the same amount of money. Then about the time I got ready to quit and work from home he took a job that gave him about a 15k a year pay raise. My income the next year was about 15k less than it had been - so we broke even. This year his pay won't go up much but mine should increase by 5 to 10k (if I'm reading the tea leaves right) within another 2 or 3 years I expect that I'll be back up to close to what I was making before - at that point, if I had to, I could support myself. Right now we're living on hubby's income and my income takes care of emergencies and is paying off our last bit of foolish debt that we ran up when we were childless and carefree :D

Long story short - we don't absolutely have to have my income but it sure makes life A LOT more pleasant because the ends meet a lot easier than they would otherwise.

vangogh
02-22-2009, 01:51 AM
Isn't there a way to set up a question like this as a poll?

Notwithstanding the discussion about whether or not this question should be a poll, you can technically create a poll when you start a new thread. Just scroll down a little and check the box to include a poll. I think once you click to submit the thread you'll get asked to fill in the details of your poll.

If for some reason the above doesn't work, just let me know and I'll look into why and fix it so it does work.

greenoak
02-22-2009, 08:05 AM
ive worked for myself since the 70s with my dh....i started it..we have no other income...and have pretty well been able to carve out different responsibilities with in the business... ..we laughingly figure being self employed for a while makes you unfit for a real job....
i figure completely depending on your business makes you make different decisions than when you can take your time and dont have to depend on it completely... to do our own thing was always our idea and we are pretty happy with it.... risky tho....evrything is on the line all the time...
ann

Steve B
02-22-2009, 09:29 AM
Hi ann,

What does DH stand for?

greenoak
02-22-2009, 01:22 PM
:):)dear husband.....ann

Patrysha
02-22-2009, 01:45 PM
I see your points. The OP was about primary income.

I guess it just strikes me as a bit unbalanced towards spouses like me who are bringing in a good income that may be less than our partners but is still a significant contribution to income in addition to providing childcare, housecleaning, errand running, appointment setting and other non-monetary contributions to the family.

I could make more if I wasn't doing things in addition to running my business, but the things I do are vital to creating a loving home and maintaining a laid-back lifestyle - no amount of money is more important to that to us.

My skills have helped my husband attain many of the positions he's held over the years and I continue to help him in his job when and where I can. When he was first job hunting in the teaching field many years ago he was working full time doing something else...I looked up the job openings, updated the cover letters and sent out resumes(of course he landed the jobs through his own talents in the interviews). I didn't charge him for these services (though he could have found an outside source to do the same thing) but I do benefit from the ongoing income that has resulted.

Being is a support position is the role I play in our family, but that doesn't make it less valuable, does it?

Dan Furman
02-22-2009, 02:17 PM
Being is a support position is the role I play in our family, but that doesn't make it less valuable, does it?

Not at all, but I think we are getting into a totally different area. Be it far from me to argue that housecleaning (etc) isn't vital (heck, I do a good chunk of it around here, since I'm home) :)

Also, a successful support / extra income / etc type business is, for many, the high holy grail of business, to be honest.

I guess, to me, the biggest difference in what we are talking about (in terms of just the business itself) is what GreenOak said - when it's your full-time (main household) income, everything is prettymuch on the line every day. There's no safety net. In a part time / secondary income business, not so much.

KristineS
02-22-2009, 04:00 PM
It seems we got a bit off track here. What I was originally going for was who works for someone else and who owns their own business. I'm not making value judgments on which is right or wrong or better, I'm just curious as to how it breaks down.

KristineS
02-22-2009, 04:02 PM
I see your points. The OP was about primary income.

I guess it just strikes me as a bit unbalanced towards spouses like me who are bringing in a good income that may be less than our partners but is still a significant contribution to income in addition to providing childcare, housecleaning, errand running, appointment setting and other non-monetary contributions to the family.

I could make more if I wasn't doing things in addition to running my business, but the things I do are vital to creating a loving home and maintaining a laid-back lifestyle - no amount of money is more important to that to us.

My skills have helped my husband attain many of the positions he's held over the years and I continue to help him in his job when and where I can. When he was first job hunting in the teaching field many years ago he was working full time doing something else...I looked up the job openings, updated the cover letters and sent out resumes(of course he landed the jobs through his own talents in the interviews). I didn't charge him for these services (though he could have found an outside source to do the same thing) but I do benefit from the ongoing income that has resulted.

Being is a support position is the role I play in our family, but that doesn't make it less valuable, does it?

I don't think it's less valuable at all. In fact I know a lot of people who are able to succeed in their careers because they have a partner who plays a role like you describe.

This isn't, and never was intended to be about value judgments. I was just interested in seeing who worked for a corporation of some kind or for someone else and who owned their own business. Whatever form that business takes, or how it works within your particular family or partnership is pretty irrelevant to the question, at least in my opinion.

SteveC
02-22-2009, 04:29 PM
I could make more if I wasn't doing things in addition to running my business, but the things I do are vital to creating a loving home and maintaining a laid-back lifestyle - no amount of money is more important to that to us.

With reference to cleaning, gardening and such like... consider this, how much money do you lose by doing these tasks yourself instead of paying someone else to do them... let’s assume you make, what I consider any business should make one hundred dollars per hour... now, how much do you does a cleaner cost, a gardener... much less than a hundred dollars, so instead of cleaning and such like... why not pay someone else to do it, and then concentrate on making that one hundred dollars per hour.

With reference to bringing up a family... well, that is perhaps the most important job of all...

Blessed
02-22-2009, 11:59 PM
With reference to cleaning, gardening and such like... consider this, how much money do you lose by doing these tasks yourself instead of paying someone else to do them... let’s assume you make, what I consider any business should make one hundred dollars per hour... now, how much do you does a cleaner cost, a gardener... much less than a hundred dollars, so instead of cleaning and such like... why not pay someone else to do it, and then concentrate on making that one hundred dollars per hour.

With reference to bringing up a family... well, that is perhaps the most important job of all...

For me... it's because I see cleaning, gardening, yardwork and etc... as part of bringing up my children, teaching them how to do these things, teaching them how to take instruction and work for and with someone else. Also it gives me a break from the computer and the phone so it's worth more to my husband and I - on a value level to do those tasks ourselves and in the process to teach our children about those things than it is for me to make one hundred dollars an hour.

Now if I could justify paying someone else to come do the dishes after supper every night I just might have to reconsider a bit here and do that... :D I'd rather iron underwear than do dishes... oh well, they don't take that long when I just get in the kitchen and get them done!

Kristine - I realize we're off topic now, but this has become an interesting discussion :)

SteveC
02-23-2009, 12:36 AM
That's actually funny as I tend to do the dishes everynight here... one of the few jobs that I do, do...

And, people have different values, etc... the beauty of being in business is that it allows us all to lead the lifestyle we wish... and that has to be worth it.

vangogh
02-23-2009, 01:05 AM
Steve, any chance you'll commute my way to do the dishes? :) Actually I don't mind doing them either. In fact for the first time in my life I have a dishwasher and I'm not entirely sure what to do with it.

Jenn it's interesting you talk about the value of doing things like the cleaning and gardening beyond the money. Steve is right that from a business perspective hiring someone to do those things could be beneficial to your business, but it's hard to outsource the extra value it gives to your family. Each of us probably does some things that from a business perspective it makes more sense to hire out, but because we get some extra value beyond the money we do it ourselves.

Steve B
02-23-2009, 08:48 AM
Also, most business owners that I speak to don't understand the concept of "opportunity cost" which is what I call what Steve C is talking about. Every hour they are taken away from their business effectively might cost them money. This assumes there is value added activity that is not being done because you run out of time in the day.

If you have idle time that can't be used effectively, then a little victory garden or housekeeping is a good use of your time. Not to mention, you've got to have other interests to keep your sanity.

Blessed
02-23-2009, 09:20 AM
If you have idle time that can't be used effectively, then a little victory garden or housekeeping is a good use of your time. Not to mention, you've got to have other interests to keep your sanity.

idle time? what's that?

Seriously though - I know what you guys are getting at and it's true. Steve C nailed it when he said "...the beauty of being in business is that it allows us all to lead the lifestyle we wish... and that has to be worth it." For me this means that some of my hours have $100 price tags on them, some of them have $50 price tags and some of them have "value beyond money" price tags.

Now, I just wonder if I can get my husband to start doing the dishes... I clean the dog kennels and change stinky diapers after all...

greenoak
02-23-2009, 09:27 AM
right.......being the lesser money partner shoould no problem... i know lots of businesses, especially women owned , whos main goal is to suppliment the family money, not to beat the husband........they know they arent going to make what the dh does....but its still very important to them both...... and meets the womans goal....
also if you can be with your kids when they are little you are lucky..
just figure out what YOU want for goals....
ann

KristineS
02-23-2009, 12:40 PM
Kristine - I realize we're off topic now, but this has become an interesting discussion :)

I agree this is a good and interesting discussion. I just wanted to clarify that the original intent of the thread wasn't to make judgments about anyone's particular choices.

One of the things that's interesting to me is the dollar value of time. I did a blog post about that a few weeks ago and how people think they're saving money by doing things themselves when they're actually wasting money. Once you start thinking about things with that viewpoint it does make you change your opinion on what's worth doing and what isn't worth it.