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The story is the same the world over. No matter what business it is - be VERY careful starting a business around something that you are passionate about, love

The story is the same the world over. No matter what business it is - be VERY careful starting a business around something that you are passionate about, love as a hobby, or that people tell you you are good at. There is a BIG difference between doing something part time because you love doing it, and doing it all day every day (including weekends) because you HAVE to. The excitement of 'being your own boss' is quickly ripped away when you realise that you have a thousand bosses - EVERY SINGLE customer of yours is essentially your boss for a short time. Not that it isn't rewarding, but as others have pointed out in here, you have to go into it with the right expectations. I highly recommend that anyone looking to start a business reads Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth Revisited". It will outline a different way of looking at your business at the outset. Back to the coffee shop though - unfortunately, a lot of lay people still see the romantic notions around owning a coffee shop, and they all assume that business owners are raking cash in and are out to rip off the poor workers. Here in Australia there was a big backlash recently when conditions around weekend overtime rates were changed, affecting a lot of people in the hospitality industry. Coffee shop, cafe and restaurant owners were castigated by the media and the public for not deigning to pay staff time and a half or double time on weekends etc. Nothing against paying workers fairly, but I know many friends who run such establishments. For many of them, opening on a Sunday or a Public Holiday is mandated by the mall or premises they are in (written into their lease), and for most of them, weekend trade actually COSTS them money, rather than makes them anything. Unless of course they reduce staff and work weekends themselves, but staff calling in sick or not turning up for shifts mid week usually means they work 7 days a week. Nearly every cafe in my town closes at around 2 or 3 pm, after the lunch rush because demand is so low after that that it is economic suicide to try and keep the doors open and pay wages etc. for a handful of customers. Bad luck that I tend to try and arrange meetings and do work outside my home office in the late afternoon...

eternalban 10y ago
> EVERY SINGLE customer of yours is essentially your boss for a short time. A fallacy. The other day I signed an employment agreement and among other unreasonable matter (aka normal employer employee relations in US) enjoyed the bit about their version of extended at-will agreement having the additional meaning of changing the pay, position, and responsibilities "without notice". :) Your customer may be your "boss" but she is not your employer.
- cyberferret 10y ago
  I can guarantee that pretty much EVERY business owner has at one stage, or more than once, had to work extra time after hours for no compensation in order to resolve a customer issue or fix a bad situation. Sometimes even do the job of another employee who is unavailable. One of my customers owns a multi million dollar food wholesale business with nearly 50 employees, and recently one day he had to drive the delivery truck himself to one particular defence site to meet the terms of their contract because one of his drivers called in sick and everyone else was out. If that doesn't constitute change of pay, position and responsibilities "without notice", then I am not sure what does. Granted, not a permanent or a legal change, but they have (and will exercise) that privilege over you from time to time. I've run my own business for over 30 years now, and many time the very survivability of my business hinged upon just a single large customer making their payment on time or renewing a massive contract. Pretty much the same as if you had a boss and your future employment hinged upon getting this particular project just right.
  - dnh44 10y ago
    Also at least no one has to give their employer 90 credit terms.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  You can literally go out of business over night if one of your suppliers change business practices, or the law changes, or your lease is up, or interest rates changed, or postage changed, or the price oil changed, or your neighbors changed, or your neighborhood changed, or taxes changed, or the market changed, or society changed, or the economy changed, or thousands of more reasons.

eternalban 10y ago

> EVERY SINGLE customer of yours is essentially your boss for a short time. A fallacy. The other day I signed an employment agreement and among other unreasonable matter (aka normal employer employee relations in US) enjoyed the bit about their version of extended at-will agreement having the additional meaning of changing the pay, position, and responsibilities "without notice". :) Your customer may be your "boss" but she is not your employer.

cyberferret 10y ago
I can guarantee that pretty much EVERY business owner has at one stage, or more than once, had to work extra time after hours for no compensation in order to resolve a customer issue or fix a bad situation. Sometimes even do the job of another employee who is unavailable. One of my customers owns a multi million dollar food wholesale business with nearly 50 employees, and recently one day he had to drive the delivery truck himself to one particular defence site to meet the terms of their contract because one of his drivers called in sick and everyone else was out. If that doesn't constitute change of pay, position and responsibilities "without notice", then I am not sure what does. Granted, not a permanent or a legal change, but they have (and will exercise) that privilege over you from time to time. I've run my own business for over 30 years now, and many time the very survivability of my business hinged upon just a single large customer making their payment on time or renewing a massive contract. Pretty much the same as if you had a boss and your future employment hinged upon getting this particular project just right.
- dnh44 10y ago
  Also at least no one has to give their employer 90 credit terms.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
You can literally go out of business over night if one of your suppliers change business practices, or the law changes, or your lease is up, or interest rates changed, or postage changed, or the price oil changed, or your neighbors changed, or your neighborhood changed, or taxes changed, or the market changed, or society changed, or the economy changed, or thousands of more reasons.