Hi all, first time poster, long-time MMM reader. Would appreciate people’s thoughts on my current dilemma, or advice if anyone has been through a similar situation.
I am technically already FI as my parents both died when I was 26, so I received an inheritance much earlier than I would have liked. I also inherited the family business when they passed away, along with my sister. I’m now 35, single, female, no dependants, northern England based. She is married with kids so has more of a drain on her finances than I do, as well as a very unfortunately un-MMM-minded husband!
We love the business with all our hearts but have both been feeling the increasing strain of running it in recent years. Turnover is going down year on year as we just can’t compete with the internet companies and multi-nationals. Customers are getting more and more rude and demanding, red tape, overheads and admin are all increasing and neither of us has been able to take a week off in over 5 years. Coupled with this I’m feeling the frustration of being tied to a small rural town where there are limited social opportunities for people my age, difficult winters and plenty of negative attitudes.
In short, I feel like the time has come for me to vastly reduce my involvement in the business, if not exit entirely. My goal is to travel around Europe for a few months or so to decompress, eventually maybe doing 6 months in the UK and 6 months abroad for a few years, renting my house out in-between and doing some of the many projects that I’d love to start.
However, my sister is not in a position for early retirement, and won’t be for a long time. I can’t just exit the business and leave her in the lurch but nor does she have the ability to take on my duties on her own. Currently, we work very well together as she has the creative skills and I have the financial/admin skills. Our one employee has her skill set and would not be interested in learning mine. We would consider bringing him in on a partner level, but this wouldn’t solve the skills gap that my leaving would cause.
We could hire someone to take on all of my duties, but I know that I’d be worrying constantly about it if we did so. The last two employees that we hired were caught stealing from us, so my trust levels are at an all-time low. I also deal with most of my sister’s tax affairs, since our personal and business tax planning is interlinked, and neither of us feels comfortable handing that much information to an employee. It would also always be in the back of my head that someone could quit for any reason with a week’s notice, leaving us without a key member of staff while I might be abroad.
We could sell the business, but I think we’d struggle to find a buyer. We could close the business, but I feel a great responsibility to my late parents to keep it going. It would also leave my sister without a job and the business is useful for various tax planning purposes. My sister could learn how to do my job herself, but she is not particularly financially minded, although she tries hard and has improved greatly over the last few years. She simply would not have time to do my part of the job as well as hers though.
So, I feel completely trapped and paralysed. Work has turned into something that I struggle through daily instead of enjoy. It’s now having a severe impact on my health as I've had a couple of run-ins with particularly awful customers over the last few years (through no fault of my own). I am very non-confrontational in general but after one particular guy became physically violent I now get fight-or-flight shakes at even the slightest hint of an awkward customer. I get anxiety attacks, very low mood periods, bad stress headaches and my blood pressure is way up, so changes need to be made urgently.
Obviously the business is the cause of the issues, but how on earth do I get out? I’m finding it very difficult to find any helpful advice other than ‘just quit’ from people who don’t have family ties to their work, so whenever I sit down to come up with a plan I just end up hitting a roadblock. Does anyone have any constructive advice, further reading recommendations or family business exit tips to share?