Considering breather from my small service business

[TTS]

I wrote a long post that took a while on my phone and by the time I was done it wouldn't let me post. I will retype it tomorrow at the computer.

[GenX]

I came in to this conversation late, but for anyone else reading this looking for the same advice...

Clients are precious. When there is too much work, that means it is time hire people to do more work. I would NEVER give work away. Second, it is time to hire a general manager. If you are working like the rest of your employees you are not a business owner, you are self employed. Start by hiring part-time or 1099 employees. If you hire the right people the business will run itself. Essentially your business owns you right now. It sounds like you have the opportunity to have explosive growth. That doesn't have to mean more responsibility, it means hiring the right people (think team) to do it FOR you.
Good luck!

[broudie]

OP: Why don't you try contracting out pieces of your business? Does not have to be full-time or part-time employees.

I myself do this extensively: manufacturing, warehousing, customs brokerage, call centers. These are all contracted out to local businesses. I do what I do best (idea generation, business performance analysis) and I have most everything else done by someone else. It may even be a net gain for you. For example once I outsourced my warehouse and shipping, it turned out that they could do it a lot cheaper than I ever could with just the economies of scale.

More specifically, you could outsource your accounting to some online service. That should give you some breathing room.

Also, the overflow work. You shouldn't give that away. I would instead negotiate a commission for any work you send to your competitor. Say 10% of fees? Not sure what the margin is. Better yet, contract out the work to some out-of-towner pool service, so they do not become your competition.

[HooktoWin]

Hey Owner Operator, I'm new as well.

It sounds like you and your wife have been through a lot, I've got two kids as well and I can't imagine what I'd do in your situation. What if there was a way to keep your business AND work less? Would you be open to something like that or are you exhausted and ready for something new?