I am curious how many people have actually quit their jobs to start, or open their own business? What type of business did you open, was it successful, and are you happy you did?
I became self-employed 0 in the same line of business - and it was the best move I ever made. It didn’t wholly work out, but overall I made a decent profit and it gave me the deposit for my house.
We tried it unsuccessfully. I kept working but my husband quit his job. This was 9 or 10 years ago. We’ve almost finished paying off the debts.
Our biggest problem was not having enough cash to sustain the business for several months. We weren’t able to hire the people we needed nor could we do enough ourselves to make it work. And after my husband’s partner died, we were saddled with even more debt. Who’da thought you should have life insurance on a guy in his early 40s?
We should have done a lot more research before we did it. It was a good idea that died for lack of funds and capable management.
I’ve started a few, but only one where I quit a corporate job to start a business that would be my living. It was a speculative seismic data acquisition company that also provided geophysical consulting services.
We had some very rough times when the oil business bottomed out in '92. During that time I also acquired a 50% interest in my partner’s seismic data brokerage firm. Our office manager’s severance check was funded by a cash advance on one of my credit cards.
It was very hard work most of the time. My ex described my efforts as “tenacious.”
Nobody’s going to get your money for you. You have to do it. If you’re in a business where your clients go belly up with alarming frequency, you have to be vigilant. And ask for payment upfront if necessary. And sue.
And be convivial, prompt and always looking for the next development.
And have a business plan!
After a few years, when we’d become somewhat inured to threats of impending disaster, it started getting easier. We developed steady clients, started getting referrals, people started knowing who we were and I finally started making a decent living off it.
It went over ten years before an oil company came along and offered me a position that my partner suggested I’d be crazy not to accept.
Am I glad I did it? You bet! I learned a hell of a lot from the experience, both in the sense of business principles as well as from a wide exposure to people and problems in my field. And that path lead directly to the position I’m in today.
I tried it in 92. The economy took a downturn and that was rough.
I opened a movie theatre. I knew plenty about the business but I didn’t have enough cash reserves to hold me through tough times. Maybe if I had about twice the money I stated with and a wife who was faithful to me things would have turned out better.
So if your SO is going to be your business partner, well, just think about that really carefully first.
(and yes I still have debt left over from that)
OH and even though I lost the business and I’m not really sure if that was the cause of the sympton of my divorce, I’m glad I did it.
Not quite what the OP asked, but I decided that I was too risk-averse to do the “Quit my job and start my own business” route…so I started the business without quitting the day job. A good idea, as it turned out, since the business doesn’t bring in enough to pay my bills.
It did, however, allow me to start “ramping up” with effectively zero debt and therefore less urgency in when things had to be profitable. The downside is that work for the business has to be done in addition to the ~40 hours a week of my day job, which limits the growth rate and my leisure time. My day job allowed me to adjust my schedule to a 4x10-hour day, which helps a lot, and I can probably adjust my schedule to part-time as things pick up. The business is software development, so I don’t need a storefront or standard hours, which also helps a lot.
I’m glad I did it: having my own company has proven useful to me in a number of unexpected ways, business income exceeds business expenses, so I’m making a little money at it, and I’m learning (mostly through mistakes) what works and what doesn’t in things like marketing and advertising (which I hate, and hence am not very good at.) Mostly though, I’m convinced that there’s no real upside to working for someone else: in these days of no pensions, dwindling social security, and 401K plans that seem to lose money every month, I’ve seen people working at good, $50K/year jobs for years that will never be able to afford to retire. If I’m going to have to work until I’m 80, I’d rather do it for me and my family, and this at least gives me the chance to try it.
On the other hand, most of the people I know who went off to start their own business are now back working for someone else. But almost none of them regret having tried, even with the debt.
After 10 years of working for an outfit that I thought would have me forever (dumbass me) and getting tossed out like yesterday’s paper, I decided that if I was going to be pissed off at the boss, I’d see him in the bathroom mirror.
14 years into construction/remodeling/property maintenance I can say I’m happy because I do what I want when I want. Some weeks are 80 hours and others are 20.
The boss lets me surf SDMB whenever I want, too! 
After steady employment for 8 years, I found myself retrenched. Given 6 weeks’ pay plus a bit of annual leave, I decided I’d do what I’d always thought about, and start my own business.
IT consulting is a cut-throat business at best. I found it very hard to generate business, as my skills are in the technical side of matters, not the touchy-feely stuff you need to do to make sales.
I’ll second what a few others have said - make sure you have lots of cash in reserves! I was able to make that money last 5 months before it finally ran out. By that time, I’d generated a fair amount of ongoing business, but it wasn’t enough to cover my expenses. Then I landed a good contract and had more work than I knew what to do with. I was almost ready to start taking on staff to deal with the overflow.
Then I got sick. I wasn’t able to work for a long time. I lost the contract and all the other clients I’d worked so hard to gain. Ironically, I’d been putting off an appointment with the bank to sign up on an income protection plan… because I was so busy I had no time to go. Stupid me.
I was out of work for seven months and was down to my last hundred dollars when I finally got a job. Boy was I glad. I handed my clients over to a colleague, and that was that. I’ve been employed ever since.
Am I glad I did it? Hoo-yah! Best thing ever. It was also the hardest thing ever and the most stressful time of my life. But I loved it. Had circumstances been different, I’d still be doing it.
My advice to you: plan, plan, plan and save, save, save. And be sure to plan for the unexpected things like protracted illness, sudden loss of business etc.
Max 