Have You Ever Owned Your Own Business/ Been Self Employeed?

[KittyWampus]

I had my own gardening business for a while. It paid the bills.

I've also sold things I've made for good money. Especially seasonal stuff like Christmas wreaths.


Also, My family has had a business for 3 generations.

[mmonk]

1. Most of my adult life.

[Trajan]

2. Yes ....

Lost my ass .....

Lost a home ... a wife .... a college education for my kids .... squandered ....

[Fumesucker]

14. To be fair.. Plenty of people who have always worked for someone else are in the same boat..

Don't blame yourself, the economy has taken down a great many good people, some have worked for themselves but an awful lot have never done so.

[elias49]

3. I owned a bookstore 10 or 15 years ago

For me it was a dream come true. It turned into a nightmare...Amazon.com.
Couldn't compete.

[daggahead]

4. Still do ...

Remote backup service. It is successful despite the two fast-food type of over-hyped companies out there.

[Recursion]

5. Custom control software for lab equipment

Pretty good market; I just got sick of having to chase people down to make them pay me.

[timo]

6. 15 years

tree farm/nursery

[Ezlivin]

7. Several

In the eighties an aerobics business and an on-location portrait studio; in the nineties and aughts a web design business.

My wife was the junior partner in a two-person interior design studio in Dallas.

When I hear about a "small business" with over a 100 employees I wonder who thinks that is small!

[lonestarnot]

8. Working hard is hard work.

:9

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. For the past ten years.

Hydraulic fluid filtration.

[InvisibleTouch]

10. Yes, for about 10 years now.

It's a financial struggle right now, but I would never, ever go back to the alternative.

[KittyWampus]

18. I've never had a "corporate" job. When I worked for others, it was always small family businesses.

[On the Road]

11. I Have Six Investment Houses in Baltimore

Not a full-time thing. Tough business but rewarding in certain ways.

[MilesColtrane]

12. Self employed for over twenty years here

[treestar]

13. Yes. It sure makes a difference when you realize how

much it costs just to stay open. And it makes you realize how much you pay in taxes, when instead of getting the "refund" you have to write them the check and pay them! Tremendous psychological difference.

[rgbecker]

15. Since 1975...Carpentry, and auto repair...

Low overhead, low stress....low pay. Wouldn't do it any other way.

[Tansy_Gold]

16. Off and on for the past 35 years, more steadily the past 10

Owned a bookstore for a couple years, barely broke even but at least I didn't lose my ass.

Freelance local newspaper reporter in the late 80s 'til the paper folded (bad pun intended).

Wrote novels for a while.

Currently do support work for insurance companies on independent contractor basis; pay ain't great but I never have to leave the house or work with other people, and it covers the household expenses.

Have also been making and selling various arts & crafts via local shows since 1975. Sometimes it's lucrative and sometimes it's not, but it's always been fun. And in the days when I was working as a wage slave and frequently NOT working at all, what the crafts brought in often made the difference between eating and not eating.

Crafting and DIY-ing is at least a four-generation tradition in my family. I can't imagine not doing it. That I'm able to make more than I can use and others are willing to buy the excess from me is terrific.

And no, I will never willingly go back to being someone else's employee. NEVER.



TG, TT

[spanone]

17. self-employed

[seabeyond]

19. my father owned businesses, and brought our generation into it. allowed hubby to be first generation

of business owner. was all very interesting watching hubby grow into it while his family is all well educated professionals

[KittyWampus]

20. Ugh, sorry for the typo in the OP. Too late to fix it.

[BobbyBoring]

21. I sell Crack at School Yards. That Count?

J/K.
The last "Job" I had was in 1980. I've always worked for myself in one way or the other. Since being a pro musician is a total exercise in futility now, I have to do other things but I just can't stand the thought of having to answer to someone~

[Marr]

22. Yes, I started a business when I graduated from college 15 years ago and

still run it.