Kerre Woodham: Is it feasible to leave your job and buy a business?

If you turned up to work yesterday, first day of a new week, with a bad case of Mondayitis, feeling like you're getting nowhere working for the man, thinking now is the time in your life when you should be the master of your own destiny, making your own decisions, getting the true reward for your labours, well join the queue.  

Buyer demand for New Zealand businesses is on the up with large business brokerage firm LINK reporting a record 19% year-on-year increase in would-be buyers signing confidentiality agreements, even though times are tough. You would think in a relatively depressed economy that people would stay put, that going out on your own would be the last thing you'd want to do, but no.  

It's not just LINK, ABC Business Sales CEO Chris Small also reported a record number of sales. He said business sales were countercyclical to unemployment, with people looking to buy themselves into a job when employment opportunities dry up or they're made redundant. He says right now there's a lack of stock, listings were down 10%, while the number of buyers looking to buy a business was up 30%. You can put that down to immigration, a significant number of would-be buyers are immigrants, but Small says a growing number of those who are just sick of working for other people.  

“It's becoming a real thing that people are coming to us and going, you know what I'm sick of, I'm sick of working for a big corporate. It's too woke or it's too annoying. I don't like my boss, and I want that financial freedom where actually, if they work really hard, you get rewarded. If you don't work hard, you're obviously going to be in a bit of trouble versus in corporate New Zealand - you can probably work pretty hard and not necessarily get rewarded for the hours you put in.” 

Now, when I've talked to people who own their own businesses, who are one of the myriad small to medium businesses that are the backbone of the business economy, a lot of them grew up with parents who had their own business. That's the way they saw the world. That you had your own business, that you worked as a team, husband and wife within the business, the kids quite often helped out, and so it was the culture of your family, was to own your own business.   

In our family, it was a bit different. My dad was adamant that my brother and I should get good jobs. When I signed up to the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand and my brother was an officer in the New Zealand Army, that was it for him. It was job done. We both had good, safe, secure jobs. Wonder how we'd look at the media landscape right now, but for him, it was getting a good, secure job. That was the dream.  

And I'm really interested in those people who are leaving paid employment. Leaving a corporate or middle management role and deciding to go out and buy a business. Can you actually make a go of it if it's not in your bones? If it's not in your in your blood? Because running your own business is hard work and I wonder if people underestimate that when they think no, I'm going to buy myself a little business and everything will be tickety-boo. I won't have to answer to anybody if I work hard, I'll get the return on it, it won't be going to anybody else. If I want to take Saturday off then I can.  

Well, can you? I mean, most of the business owners I know, especially in the early days of the business, were working seven days a week. Can you actually become a business owner later in life, without any kind of experience? Running your own business – it's not for the faint hearted. I totally understand that for people who don't enjoy their jobs, turning up, sitting down at the hot desk and finding filth is the first thing you do to start your day, having some overpaid tit telling you what to do and when to do it would be really grinding. You know, endless, pointless meetings would sap your soul. And I totally understand the desire to pick up your jacket, walk out, and start doing it for yourself.  

I'd be really interested to hear from people's experiences and those of you who are business owners, who have been business owners since you left school. And what your words to these would-be businesspeople, what your words of wisdom might be to them. What would you tell those who are looking to leave the corporate world, where they've been a paid employee for the most of their working life, they're now in their 30s or 40s, and they've had a gutsful. And they want to buy a business and get out there and make something of themselves. What would you tell them? 

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