Am I being stupid?

i had the make the hardest decision in my life yesterday and have had to put my business into receivership!! so from 9am monday morning i will have to hand over the keys and walk away from a business i have been involved with for almost 19 years of my 35year life. I started working there at 16 years old and 6 years ago i bought the business. i worked my arse off working 80-100 hours a week with no money for the first 2 years they managed to start paying myself about £100 a week. i had 14 people working for me!! then the down turn happened and things became tight are biggest customer went from orders of 50-80k amonth to almost nothing over night but we had money in the bank no debts we held on for aslong as we could then had to let 9people go things picked up for a little while but we started being squeezed from the bottom up are material prices went up over 150% in 2 years and customers will not take on those sort of price increaces so we had to swallow them but now it has just become to much ive not slept for months the business owed me close to 100k in directors loans which i knew along time ago i would never get it back. so for the first time in my life i will be out of work so i now have to decide if i stay in engineering or try something new??? answers on a post card maked to the loser :) be as honest and harsh as you need to be please

New chapter begins. That's exciting. You're only 35. You can do anything you want now. Think of the freedom.

Perhaps some punctuation lessons? They will come in handy for the job applications.

It sounds like you have given this a lot of thought and that it was a very difficult decision to make.

I think you have bravely made the right choice, “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” (Winston S. Churchill)

Most people never run a business, and it sounds like you made it work for many years. You have valuable skills to take to another similar business or a different venture.

thats what im starting to think im in the very luck position im debt free no wife no kids i think im going to go to collage and become a student bum for a few years learn a new trade altogether

lol :P im well aware i cant spell for toffee but give me a lathe,mill,gear cutter,welding machine,brakepress,tube bender so on and so on and i kick ass!!!!!!!! ;)

have you thought about making frames or custom stems?

I keep thinking a custom stem maker could help people with bike fit a fair bit, (though of course having a weird stem would not make the bike handle too well)

sorry dont know how to quote peoples post my bad!!

im coming to the realisation that i need out of engineering even thou i love it. the whole process behind it is fantastic but im tired of it. im warn to a nub of my former self lol and i think if i carry on its going to send me mental.

If you have an Engineering trade then go to Australia. Most can earn up to $150k a year on the mines or around $100k in the cities. Boilermakers, Fitters and Welders are always in demand and if you have the skills a visa should not be too difficult to arrange.

thats what im starting to think im in the very luck position im debt free no wife no kids i think im going to go to collage and become a student bum for a few years learn a new trade altogether

This. You can do pretty much anything. Move to another country. Become a surf bum. Go back to school. Whatever. I wouldn't call it a "second chance" because that'd be dismissive of whatever you've been doing up until now, but whatever it is, it's pretty awesome.

Gav the biggest problem with that is i have no paperwork to show what i can do its was all on the job training so i need to get the paperwork to show it or they wont even look at you for a visa

i had the make the hardest decision in my life yesterday and have had to put my business into receivership!! so from 9am monday morning i will have to hand over the keys and walk away from a business i have been involved with for almost 19 years of my 35year life. I started working there at 16 years old and 6 years ago i bought the business. i worked my arse off working 80-100 hours a week with no money for the first 2 years they managed to start paying myself about £100 a week. i had 14 people working for me!! then the down turn happened and things became tight are biggest customer went from orders of 50-80k amonth to almost nothing over night but we had money in the bank no debts we held on for aslong as we could then had to let 9people go things picked up for a little while but we started being squeezed from the bottom up are material prices went up over 150% in 2 years and customers will not take on those sort of price increaces so we had to swallow them but now it has just become to much ive not slept for months the business owed me close to 100k in directors loans which i knew along time ago i would never get it back. so for the first time in my life i will be out of work so i now have to decide if i stay in engineering or try something new??? answers on a post card maked to the loser :) be as honest and harsh as you need to be please

Well let's look at this; you have 20 years business experience, bought out our your own employer before the age of 30, and at the age of 35 and know more about running a business than most people with an MBA.

Loser? Hell no.

http://www.daveyatescycles.co.uk/

Well let's look at this; you have 20 years business experience, bought out our your own employer before the age of 30, and at the age of 35 and know more about running a business than most people with an MBA.

Loser? Hell no.

i think you missed out the running a business into the ground bit out

http://www.daveyatescycles.co.uk/

if only!! as everyone on this forum will be well aware there are lots of very good frame builders about and not an easy market to break into. but it would be nice to be able to make a living from something you love

Gav the biggest problem with that is i have no paperwork to show what i can do its was all on the job training so i need to get the paperwork to show it or they wont even look at you for a visa

I believe you can do a trade equivalency test if you have enough on the job experience.

Chin up, there's always work for people in business you just need a really good CV and a positive attitude.
Alternatively you could do what I did at 30 (now) and stop working and spend some savings (supposing you have any). I'm having the time of my life at the moment because I have no long term commitments and can go where I please, even thinking about buggering off to foreign lands at the moment, although i'm wondering if there are any that can provide beer quite like England !

I believe you can do a trade equivalency test if you have enough on the job experience.

shouldnt have a problem with that i think 19 years should be enough

Chin up, there's always work for people in business you just need a really good CV and a positive attitude.
Alternatively you could do what I did at 30 (now) and stop working and spend some savings (supposing you have any). I'm having the time of my life at the moment because I have no long term commitments and can go where I please, even thinking about buggering off to foreign lands at the moment, although i'm wondering if there are any that can provide beer quite like England !

im going to take a month or 2 to decide what i want to do and while im thinking im going to do some volunteer work

I've done some to, ring a local charity and ask them if they need any help. The main thing is to find things to fill the day, such as all the things you have been meaning to do at home, otherwise you will get very bored, very quckly. I stopped working 6 weeks ago, not the same situation as yours but I had done the same job since I was 16 and just began to hate it, and worked so many hours that I barely had time to spend anything so have enough put away to last me through the summer, after that who knows ?

I've done some to, ring a local charity and ask them if they need any help. The main thing is to find things to fill the day, such as all the things you have been meaning to do at home, otherwise you will get very bored, very quckly. I stopped working 6 weeks ago, not the same situation as yours but I had done the same job since I was 16 and just began to hate it, and worked so many hours that I barely had time to spend anything so have enough put away to last me through the summer, after that who knows ?

theres loads of on the direct gov web site so wont have any problem finding one to help out and im thinking about going to collage and the new year wont start till late september and i know about the getting bored bit thats why in the last 19 years ive only had 3 weeks holiday what a tosser i hear you say :)

But now your free = Winner !

But now your free = Winner !

so so true. and thanks to all that answered its nice to have people to bounce stuff off your a bloody good bunch thanks

if only!! as everyone on this forum will be well aware there are lots of very good frame builders about and not an easy market to break into. but it would be nice to be able to make a living from something you love

There are less ppl making super high quality components though.

I'm thinking something like:
http://www.paulcomp.com/

or

http://www.gsportbmx.com/

If you have an Engineering trade then go to Australia. Most can earn up to $150k a year on the mines or around $100k in the cities. Boilermakers, Fitters and Welders are always in demand and if you have the skills a visa should not be too difficult to arrange.

Good call. Mines are desperate for clued up bods. Plus, if you've run a business you can get into team leader, project management of technical teams. My cousin does this and it sounds like a great mix of responsibility with getting hands dirty technicality.