The Mandatory Top List post, Cons

As you may have seen it, the Interwebs and especially Youtube is full of different Top lists. Were it Good or Bad things listed, either way they seem to be very popular. Hence, here’s my top things I hate about being an entrepreneur. I hope they might turn out helpful for other people, perhaps aspiring to become their own bosses. I narrowed down the list into three key points, though, in order not to make entrepreneurship sound too off-putting!

First thing would be money. Because there’s not going to be a lot of that moving around, unless your business idea is rock solid. Mine sucks, because I have to physically manufacture the product myself, and then I can sell it for 50, maybe 100 Euros a pop. And sometimes it takes too long to finish one project, which means you’ll have less time to focus on the next project, and the race against due dates in your monthly bills gets more hectic. Were your business idea more a ‘service’ based one, you’d have a chance to label a 500, maybe 1000 Euro price tag on one single job, and you’d be fine if you got 2, 3 or 4 of them finished per month. For example making websites, writing instructions for people how to exercise or eat, or providing other ‘expert’ services, always financially smarter than tinkering with handicrafts.

Not to mention, monthly expenses can be substantial, even for small businesses. Fortunately, my workshop is located in my own garage, so I don’t have to pay extra for the premises (rent, electricity, etc.). And things may be easier in your country, but here in Finland I need various insurances in order to keep my business legit. I have estimated that the various insurances and my accountant (my solid monthly expenses) cost me about 300 Euros per month, and this makes the minimum amount of monthly income I’d have to earn in order to keep my business alive.

And if there’s one single advice you want to pick up from this blog post, it’s

Never. Borrow. Money. Never.

A business loan will handicap your turnover for a long time, and quite soon you’ll regret taking one. Unless you’re 100% absolutely sure you can pay the loan off within the next 6 months, don’t take the loan!

And don’t forget the Red Tape. Again, start your business in a country which is more hospitable to private entrepreneurship. Here in Finland, it’s a jungle of insurances, regulations, fancy accounting terms and such. Finland also has one of the lowest VAT registration limits in Europe for small businesses. In 2021 the VAT threshold here was 15.000€, while for example in Ireland it was 75 grand for goods and 37.500€ for services. In neighbouring Estonia, it was 40 grand. Even the designated Red Tape factory of the world, Austria, set the threshold at 25.000€. But here, the government is out to suck every last penny from its citizens.

The second major problem would be other people. You may have heard a saying that when you run your own business, everything’s up to yourself. You get to be your own boss and you’re in charge of everything. I’m sorry, but this is rubbish. Once you’re running your own business, everything depends on other people! For starters, your customers will settle how much money you’ll be making, by deciding whether they buy your stuff or not. Then your support network, possible subcontractors and such, have also a huge impact on your workflow and thus, cash flow. Something in your ‘shop breaks and you urgently need a spare part, but the delivery agent may sit on your package extra day or two. Even your immediate family and friends affect a lot on the time you have at your disposal for operating your business.

When I was starting up Ox Works, I was told I should network. Team up with other vendors, so we all could focus on our strengths and everyone’s a winner. Sadly, one of the main reasons I turned into a sole proprietor was the fact that I wanted to cut back the dependency on other people. It would be just me and my customer. Very personal, bespoke service, no need to explain to the customer why their order is being constantly delayed, because the delay would be pretty much my fault. I even had to give up my principal to confirm my mistrust on networking, if you remember the infamous VZ hilt run a few years ago.

The VZ was a popular hilt model, I still get inquiries about those these days. But, it was also a complicated design, and in the end I had to start sourcing a subcontractor for certain parts. This was to ease up my own workload, but also improve the quality. This is where the problems began. In my country, metalworking industry is full of the worst kind of pinkos. Now, I’m sorry about using such an offending 1950s phrase, but in this case it’s painfully accurate and reflects my resentment to the industry. When CNC shops here in my country are doing well, they frown upon smaller jobs, like a batch of 50 hilt parts which might return them a couple of grand. But when they’re doing less great, they still frown upon small jobs, but also cry for the government to aid them. Once I finally found, after about 30 inquiries sent to CNC shops across Europe, a subcontractor, the worst thing happened. Weeks turned into months, and the subcontractor stopped replying to my emails. I was in the same predicament so many other hilt makers had already been years earlier. So, I had to start doing the hilts myself, as good as I could. Turned out, it wasn’t good enough for a lot of customers. Now, few years later I hold no grudge against that particular subcontractor, I know he was just a single bloke like me, trying to handle everything by himself. But it was yet another reminder that an extra pair of hands in the process isn’t always helping. Nowadays, the only external aid I have is my accountant.

When you’re running your own home-based business, there’s a risk that many of your family members or friends think you are at home every day, and thus available to run various errands. I’ve been doing a lot of that, going to the grocery store, having cars serviced, taking care of the kid, helping IT-challenged family members over the phone for hours and in general, putting out various fires in my home and garden. Don’t get me wrong, I like to help whenever I can, but all that extra hassle is cut from your business hours.

Which leads me into my biggest problem in entrepreneurship, a struggle from day one Ox Works was established. Time. Time is always against us, speaking this aloud in my best Morpheus voice. Time and closely related to self-management.

If someone outside took a glance at my usual week, they’d think I’m basically a stay-at-home dad, rather than an entrepreneur. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and I’d do everything for them, but a family can have a dramatic impact on your time management. For example, during Autumn 2022 my kid was sick four times, and hence unable to go to school. That shaved over a month of my workshop time, total. My wife has an important job which keeps her away from home for long hours, on the other hand it’s good because she’s the provider with a high salary and I can focus on upkeeping the household. But on the other hand, it’s also limiting the time I can use for developing my business, and if I wanted to whine about it, I’d say it’s also preventing my business from thriving. A lot of entrepreneurs apparently can juggle between the family and the business, but I can tell you, after entertaining a hyperactive kid for 10 hours, I have very little energy for some casual arts & crafts in the ‘shop. I have heard a lot of parents steal some extra hours from their sleep time, but that doesn’t work for me. I’d be like a zombie the next morning, when a kid with a slight sniffle wakes me up 5.45a.m.

It is not easy to be your own boss. You need to have enough backbone to follow up your own plans and keep up with your own schedule. Running your own business means there will be a lot of jobs and tasks which are not producing direct income. And a lot of jobs which are simply unpleasant, but consume your precious working time. At one point I calculated I can do effective work only maybe 3 or 4 hours a day, out of 8 or 9 available. The rest will be spent into various household chores, other non-business errands, coffee & bathroom breaks and such. When you work on your own, there’s only You taking care of these things. And no matter how many thousands of uses there were, there’s only one of You. Even at the time I’m typing this blog post, I’m away from the workshop for 2 or 3 hours, having my wife’s car serviced in a neighbouring town.

A nurse at my kid’s kindergarten a few years ago said she’d asked Santa to bring her extra set of hands that Christmas. That would be handy, but still tie me up to one location at the time. Thus, I was hoping for a quality Kamino clone or two of myself, so I could literally be in several places at the same time.