Short answer, not any more.
Long answer:
My wife and I have been self employed for 16 years.
The job is 3 hrs of work and then the other 8 hrs is intermitent waiting on customers, and a lot of time spent surfing the net, reading MMM, watching TV, listening to radio, or walking ½ mile loop around the business.
Sounds great!! who wouldn't want the job?
It was exciting in the early years, we could see the sales
grow and our income grow. Everything was new. I had projects
to build and things to do to make the business easier.
Now, I have answered the same questions thousands of times,
customers can't make a binary decision without checking with their mate out in the car, or making a phone call. Or just stand there thinking and thinking and thinking to finally decide. Btw, I only have one product, usually in two or three sizes. They come to me just for that one product, and then can't decide. Argh!
This not to say I don't have customers I like and have sit down conversations with, but
it is just getting old and I'm getting jaded.
In a previous life I would get to this mind set, but then a training seminar would come along and I'd get a refresh, time off and a reset. Now we are open 70 hrs, 7 days, 363 days a year, 10 hrs is the time we are open, there's more work time when you're self empolyed.
My wife is driven but she's well aware I'm winding down, but she wants to continue
at least another 5 years. I'm 5 years older.
The good news, we are FI, thanks to the business and Mustachian ways can retire anytime. By Mustachiam standards, 5 or 6 years ago.
I have told my wife I'm done at the end of this year. I'll be looking for an employe to replace me, it will probably be a relief to both my wife and myself :-)
Looking forward to bicycleing, swimming and just coffee with the guys in the morning.
Written from work between customers, man this is an easy job, wish we could do it just 3 or 4 days a week*. :-)
Sorry, I don't want to identify the type of business.
I don't want this seen as a big complaint, I'm so lucky, the business has made a huge difference in our life and retirement. Just putting a "here is why" to the answer of the question.
*No, we can't, the competition would start immediately.
PS.
I do get some days off, but always on call, and often work 2 to 4 hrs on my days off.
PSS.
I wouldn't be surprised after some time off, that I will be back spending "some" hrs
working. I know I'll be doing maintance type projects, and those I really enjoy.