I have a good, decent job with benefits. There’s a lot not to like about it, but it pays the mortgage every month, there’s a lot of satisfaction in it on good days, and I got a damned masters’ degree to get it. (I’m a librarian.) However, there’s some crap with management, some awfulness with patrons, some bad decisions, my god they’re putting in a fax machine for the patrons, that sort of thing.
Meanwhile, my boyfriend has a sort of struggling small business. (Three, actually, but we’re just talking about the one here.) It’s a video production business - commercials, events, that sort of thing. They also do radio marketing and such. (One of his other businesses is a web design firm, so while it’s technically a video production company they really do a lot of general marketing, logo design, all that sort of thing.) So. Right now, the economy is hitting it and the small size of the business makes it very hard to get the big clients they need. They also recently took a one-time hit when a former partner left and sued, so capital is extremely low. I’ve already lent the business quite a bit of money, in fact (around ten grand). The business employs my boyfriend and three other people, and I’ve really been supporting him for some time. They have a small line of credit (maxed) but no big loans.
He thinks, and preliminary research suggests it to be true, that what he needs is a lot more operating capital, and then he could hire sales people and get the big accounts he needs. There are two big video firms in town, but he thinks there’s enough business to go around. What he really wants, and has wanted for years, is for me to go into business with him. I’d come in as a partner (risking my credit, of course) and be a research and office manager. That would free up other employees to do the creative work they were hired to do, increase productivity, herd those damned creative cats into getting stuff done, etc. And of course as a librarian I’ve got a lot of information-related skills to bring to the table.
With recent developments at work, it’s getting damned tempting. (Of course, can’t do anything until elections in April tell us if he’s going to be mayor or not. Yeah, let’s say he’s got a lot of irons in the fire.) Of course, I’d never do it unless research suggested it was a good idea, but how the hell do you decide?
Obviously, the big thing is - how are we going to eat? Pay the mortgage? Keep the lights on? Right now my job does all of those things, and also provides me with insurance. He says we plan for the loan to cover all our expenses until the company starts to do it, but obviously that’s assuming the company does, indeed, start to do it.
One problem is that, if the business fails, I’d have a hard time getting a job again. Nobody’s been retiring and professional librarian jobs have just been kind of thin on the ground. I’d be reluctant to move, also - we have a house, my parents are getting older, etc. I could always take some other job to pay back the loan and pay the mortgage and all, but of course South Carolina just hit 12.5% unemployment. So there’s that.
On the other hand, it’s very tempting to work for myself and reap all the rewards. They just released the library’s salaries over $50,000 due to a FOIA request, and the most useless, most road-blocking person in the organization, the one who actively squashes new ideas and makes you want to throw yourself off the building, makes almost a hundred grand. I, on the other hand, working my ass off, am not on the list. It would be damned sweet to have success pay off and reap rewards from my own hard work.
This would also be the best time in our lives to do this. We don’t have any kids, which is the big thing. We’re young. I’m 30 and he’s 26. I have quite a bit of equity in the house. I know how to cook a pot of beans. If we wait until we’re more stable, have a kid, etc., then we won’t want to take the risk. (Or I won’t, anyway - obviously he’s fine with risk.) Also, my parents are here and while I wouldn’t like to ask them for help, they’ve been supporting my deadbeat asshole half brother for more than a year after he lost his job, and I know they’d help me if something went drastically wrong. Also, not to be morbid, but I’m expecting a somewhat substantial inheritance when they die, and if worst comes to worst I could pay off a debt that way.
Drawbacks besides the money include long hours and putting all our eggs into one basket. I’m hoping that the health care thing shakes out to somehow put affordable policies within the reach of small businesspeople, but I’m starting to lose hope on that front. I definitely need my insurance. The boyfriend hasn’t been insured since college.
Personally, I think it’s a good business. They produce a good product for a fair price, and they have a lot of loyal customers. (Mostly nonprofits, who have been having a hard time of it lately.) So, let’s posit that the research is encouraging and that the SBA people think it’s a good idea. How do you decide whether to take a leap or not?
But not none, and there are a lot of dedicated people working on his campaign. Mayor is a part time job, here, though, although that’s one of the things we’re trying to change.