FIREed from owning your own business?

[canadian235]

Just a show of hands if anyone has FIREed after running their own business... I'm running a business with a partner and things are going well... I love what I do... one thing I would probably change if money was not an option is find ways to use my skills to make the world a better place... (we run a web agency)...

However the question remains... if you love what you do, make good money doing it... has that changed your mind at when to FIRE or perhaps how... obviously running your own business there are a variety of ways that you can go about "retiring"...

Anyway my FIRE plan is down the road 5-8 years but that's the one question on my mind... if I fire and then end up working on "side projects" doing the same thing.. what's the real point... except taking a big pay cut...

Thanks

[Fishindude]

Have owned a business with partners for 32 years.  We put together a good exit plan and I am done with ownership at year end and going to part time for a couple years, then full retirement.
I'm happy to trade the pay cut for the free time, as my normal routine of work is 50-60 hours per week.   Also looking forward to not being legally or financially tied to the business and the peace of mind that will bring.

We hand picked a new owners group and have been working closely with them for several years to position them for success.   They are buying us out over time using money generated by the business and will be in position to start reaping the rewards of their efforts soon.

If you hang onto ownership and control for too long, you will have difficulty recruiting and hanging on to the next generation of talent to keep the business going.   You also need to be putting away your nest egg during the working years of owning your business rather than counting on a big windfall when you cash out.

[ol1970]

I'm 18 months into early retirement after having been partners in a small business for 17 years.  Here is what I can tell you, if you absolutely love what you do and your partner or partners are awesome, don't quit just find a way to scale back.  You'll miss the sense of purpose and social interaction side if you just quit cold turkey.  My situation was a cold turkey one, but it worked great for me because I was able to sell out to my other partners who thought the business was just a cash cow and ran itself.  Well they found out the hard way it does not, I cashed out at the absolute top and it accelerated my retirement by 5 years, talk about a win win for me! 

What you'll have to be able to accept if you do try to scale back is that the company will most likely not operate as efficiently and it will not be as profitable.  Maybe you get lucky and hire a superstar or superstars and it actually does better, but small companies usually perform best when they people there running it day to day have a vested interest in accounting for every dollar spent and received.  Basically just take a deep breath and its okay if all of these things happen, I for one would not trade the last 18 months for the world, and tomorrow I'm off on a 2 week sailing trip, life is good jump in : )

[soccerluvof4]

Owned my own business for over 25 years. Would never go into business with a partner but putting that aside I loved it too and went through several downturns.  Think biggest mistake I made was I made a ton of money and felt always would so would just pay for things as they came up. Yes I am fire'd but probably a quarter of what I could of been had I had a better exit plan and stuck to what I knew. Some real estate mistakes cost me a small fortune and though I was conservative by most standards I waited to long to get my shit together. No regrets I still fire'd by 50.

[Rubic]

Anyway my FIRE plan is down the road 5-8 years but that's the one question on my mind... if I fire and then end up working on "side projects" doing the same thing.. what's the real point... except taking a big pay cut...

A couple or three years ago I would have said I'd like to keep running
my own business indefinitely.  However last year I had to give up a
planned trip to France due to the demands of my business and realized
it was time to work out an exit strategy.

It all depends on the nature of your business and the demands on your
time, but you should consider that your priorities may change in 5 years.

[Woodshark]

I worked for myself over 25 years. When my wife was illegible for retirement we both said enough.  Loved the work I did but I love freedom even more. Sure, I could have keep adding to the kitty but why? I was only 55, but why wait. I'm only getting older. There is a often quoted saying that "you are ready to retire when you've had enough and you have enough." We had "enough". It was time to enjoy the fruits of over three decades of LBOM.

 It has been over a year and no regrets at all.

[El Marinero]

. There is a often quoted saying that "you are ready to retire when you've had enough and you have enough."

I'm going to remember that line.  It sums it all up.

[lthenderson]

I was part owner of a business which led to my retirement. The others were headed in a different direction and there came a day when I felt it was just in my best interest to cash in my chips and call it a day. So I ended up going cold turkey so to speak and not slowing down first. I think it was hard going cold turkey at first but after it was all said and done, I think it was the best route to go. After I went through the stages of confusion from not working anymore, I quickly found new things to do that still keep me active and which give me happiness. I wouldn't trade my life now to go back to where I was for any amount of money.

[thedayisbrave]

However the question remains... if you love what you do, make good money doing it... has that changed your mind at when to FIRE or perhaps how... obviously running your own business there are a variety of ways that you can go about "retiring"...

Absolutely.  I always thought I'd aim for FIRE at 30-35 (I'm 26 now) because I'd work at an office job I hated and just suck it up for a while.  What would I do after I FIREd? No idea.  Travel or something, maybe some investing etc.

But then I realized that I didn't HAVE to hate my job like everyone else.  So I left and decided to pursue real estate sales.  I'd had enough FU money to be ok for a bit, my plan was to let that grow and have real estate cover my living expenses (which were quite low since I lived in my rental property and was net positive).  I did much better in real estate than I thought, and I loved it a lot more than I thought I would.  So at this point, I never plan on retiring... mostly because I don't feel like this is work.  I can take the clients I want, and fire the others that I don't want to (yes I've done it and will do it again I'm sure).

I get to travel NOW and invest in more properties NOW and live NOW rather than sit on my hands and hate myself for the next 10 years.  But I've always known I'm not the type to work to a certain point and then just never work again -- some people are and that's great, but my ambition won't let me calm down.  Maybe it will eventually.

So I took the FI path kind of, but don't plan on taking the RE path.  So far, so good.

[soccerluvof4]

However the question remains... if you love what you do, make good money doing it... has that changed your mind at when to FIRE or perhaps how... obviously running your own business there are a variety of ways that you can go about "retiring"...

Absolutely.  I always thought I'd aim for FIRE at 30-35 (I'm 26 now) because I'd work at an office job I hated and just suck it up for a while.  What would I do after I FIREd? No idea.  Travel or something, maybe some investing etc.

But then I realized that I didn't HAVE to hate my job like everyone else.  So I left and decided to pursue real estate sales.  I'd had enough FU money to be ok for a bit, my plan was to let that grow and have real estate cover my living expenses (which were quite low since I lived in my rental property and was net positive).  I did much better in real estate than I thought, and I loved it a lot more than I thought I would.  So at this point, I never plan on retiring... mostly because I don't feel like this is work.  I can take the clients I want, and fire the others that I don't want to (yes I've done it and will do it again I'm sure).

I get to travel NOW and invest in more properties NOW and live NOW rather than sit on my hands and hate myself for the next 10 years.  But I've always known I'm not the type to work to a certain point and then just never work again -- some people are and that's great, but my ambition won't let me calm down.  Maybe it will eventually.

So I took the FI path kind of, but don't plan on taking the RE path.  So far, so good.

^ Love it!

[NoNonsenseLandlord]

You will never get rich working for someone else.  As a real estate investor, I have worked for my self for quite a while.  I also had a technical W2 gig which helped fund my initial investments.  It is what keeps me FI, but  at some point I will sell or get help managing the properties.

[BTDretire]

 I've been self employed with my wife for 16 years, not really in love with what we do,
retail sales, but it is easy and I have time while working a 10 hour day to spend 4 to 6 hrs
surfing the net or listening to radio or watching TV. That makes it real easy to put up with.
That said I have 4 days of work left and I am calling myself retired.
 That doesn't mean I won't fill in so my wife can have some time off, but if I want to go some place for a weekend or a week, I'm gone.
 My 22yr old son said to day he was going on a road trip to S.C. in Aug. I said,"oh, you going to see the eclipse?" He was suprised I had a clue! Anyway he ask me if I wanted to go, I said
if your comfortable taking your dad on a road trip with your buddies, I'd like t go.
 It's a couple day trip for 2 min. 50 second of eclipse. But what the heck I'm retired with enough money.