Is it time I leave the corporate world?

[EPBarber]

I am a 32 year old salesman at heart and on the edge of leaving a guaranteed salary to manage our family business. Lately I have been overwhelmed with the amount of work and I finish my day mentally drained. Last year I took on this job to generate more income for myself. I opened a second hair salon/barber shop with my single mother. The shops were both steady through out the early part of the day. This left an open opportunity to fill my day with a second job. Early this year we opened our third shop. Business is good and we can maintain but now my days are really short. I handle weekly payroll, schedules, product, shop maintenance and upkeep. We have 16 employees in which i inherited all their problems as we all do in small businesses. My third shop has been doing really good but I'm afraid i don't spent as much time as i should be. I want to take the leap and become a dedicated full time barber but Im afraid as I will probably be taking a paycut for the first months until i generate a good solid customer base. I work already on the weekends and I stay busy all day. After writing this post i realized that i havent mentioned my other job. Im a foot soldier for US Foods and most of the work i do at home on the computer. Its exhausting after answering emails, riding along with our manager, creating leads and signing up customers. What do you think i should do?

[GoldenGateTradingPost]

It sounds like you need to hire someone to take over some of the tasks you're currently doing by yourself. If you can't afford to do that, before leaving your other job, you may want to spend time thinking about what you could change in your business that would generate higher margins and allow you to hire someone to take over some of the mechanical things you're doing now. The changes you make will probably hurt your profits in the short run, but pay off in the long run. Maintaining your current job will allow you to get to the higher income without hurting your standard of living.

Best of luck to you :)

[Harold Mansfield]

If I read that correctly you have a family business with 3 successful locations and it's a service/profession that you want to do full time.
My question is, why are you working for a food distribution company helping someone elses company be successful, instead of working full time for the success of your own business?

Is there more to the story?

[billbenson]

If I read that correctly you have a family business with 3 successful locations and it's a service/profession that you want to do full time.
My question is, why are you working for a food distribution company helping someone elses company be successful, instead of working full time for the success of your own business?

Is there more to the story?

I see this one a little differently Harold. Having been a field salesman for 22 years working from my house in FL for a California company, that prepared me for going on my own. A period of time in industry can be a good traing ground for going on your own. It's probably pretty good timing for the OP to go on his own though.

[LogansWalk]

You're still a youngster at 32 but it sounds like you got a full plate in front of you, take a look at what is going to make you happy AND be able to live comfortably. Worst thing is looking back and thinking I shoulda done this or that way back when.