Difficulties of Owning Your Own Business - A Wife's Point of View

When I first met my husband one of the things that I loved most about him (besides his good looks and funny personality) was the fact that he owned his own business. What a turn on! He showed me around his place of business on our 2nd date as I recall. It was 7 years ago, my memory is starting to fade. I was so impressed. What a responsibility to have as a 33 year old man. He used to own the business with a partner but he had just recently bought him out. So this was his own place, no questions asked.

I soon realized that owning your own business must be a lot of work. He seemed to work a lot. Don't get me wrong he always made time for me. But what I didn't realize was that by making time for me took time away from the business which meant money. He would have to stay late on the days and nights we didn't see each other. He would call me from the shop very late at night and very early in the morning. I thought maybe he was just a workaholic. So I never really questioned it and just appreciated his work ethic. It's not everyday you find this trait in a man, no offense to other men reading this. This was just my experience in the dating world.

As the days, weeks, and months of our courtship went on the workload never lightened up. He was as busy as ever. It didn't bother me at all. He always had time for me. I worked a lot also so we usually saw each other on the weekends. He would work Saturdays so I saw him Saturday night and Sunday day. It was enough in the beginning. You don't want to spend too much time together in the beginning of a relationship. That's not healthy either.

When we did get serious about 5 months into dating we decided to get engaged and move in together. I should have realized that when he popped the question in the office of his shop this would be a sign of things to come. We moved in together and things were great. He did work a lot though. I am a teacher so I would help him out during holidays and summer vacation. I would even do paperwork for him at home. But there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. All of a sudden the hours were getting longer and the bills were getting higher. We couldn't seem to catch up with daily expenses. The business was sucking us dry. My husband could not keep up this pace by himself. He needed to hire someone. But of course hiring someone meant paying them a salary, money which was in short supply and high demand. We sat down one night and made the decision to hire someone he knew who had been in the business a long time. He wouldn't have to waste time training him which was great.

Once my husband hired this man full time and things started getting better. He was starting to catch up old work and we started getting things under control. It wasn't long until he realized he needed to hire another part timer. So he did and things were continuing to get better. The bills were still extremely high and the debt from the business ridiculous but we were working towards getting in under control.

The problem with the field my husband is in is that it has cycles during the year. Some months are better than others. When we hit a slow month it is awful. When we hit a fast month things are great. I wish there could be a happy medium. I think anyone you talk to will tell you the same thing about the business world. It runs hot and cold.

After we got married and bought a house we felt the pressure to do better even more. We were trying to have a baby on top of everything else. Then the bottom fell out. We lost our biggest customer. We were panicking. We just lost a ton of money monthly. How are we going to pay the mortgage? How are we going to pay the monthly bills? This was not good. I would often wonder how things would be if my husband had a 9-5 job and we knew exactly when and how much he would be getting paid. Wouldn't it make things so much easier? But then I think about it and realize the benefits of owning your own business.

You see when we were trying to get pregnant we ran into some bumps along the way. We had to see a fertility specialist and that took a lot of time out of our day. Since he was his own boss and didn't have to answer to anyone he was able to come with to all of my doctor appointment. I didn't want to go alone. It was a very difficult time for us. But by owning his own business he was able to be a great support system for me.

So I can't complain too much. Things started to get better with the business. We got some new accounts and they made up for the one big account that we lost. We had a beautiful baby boy. We ended up selling our first house and built our dream home. If it wasn't for my husband owning his own business even through the bad times we have been able to accomplish all of our dreams. We still hit some rough patches now and then. The other night my husband came home from work and said. "I don't think I could ever work a 9-5 job". I had to laugh. That is exactly why I married him.

His friends often say, "Boy are you lucky man. I wish I had my own business. I would go to work at 10:00 and be home by 3:00 to go fishing." Ha. Not exactly. The next time my husband leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning I should call them and say hi.