From teaching to business?

[martinirosie]

Hi there
has anyone else set up their own business because they found teaching beauty etc too stressful and demotivating...how did you find it..was it quite daunting not having the secure income....what did you hate about teaching///

 

[CFBS]

Yes I went from a decade of teaching beauty to opening a salon at home.
However, before teaching I had had a large hair and beauty salon with employed staff so it wasn't daunting.
I also worked from home when my kids were little.
My advice would be to plan your finances ahead. Put away a year's salary to live off while you get up and running with clients

Alternatively teach part time and start clients at home part time

 

[daydreams01]

Went from teaching hair to running my own salon. Did both for 18 months whilst building up business so didn't take any wages from the salon during that time then took redundancy and lived off that for the next 6 months!
Finally able to take a tiny wage after 2 yrs in but still not yet matching my teaching salary and I don't get the lovely long holidays or Saturday's off any more. I must be mad but I've actually never been happier!
Teaching was really rewarding for a long time but I needed a change after 17 years as it was getting really stressful. It became less about actually teaching the skills the students need to get employment and more about meeting targets for other stuff like functional skills, equality & diversity, differentiation or whatever the latest buzz word was etc etc and the dreaded ofsted! There was more and more pressure to get students through that weren't really up to scratch & I was never prepared to compromise myself like that so was always bad cop for not passing everyone or not giving out distinctions if they wern't deserving of one lol!
I can't say I miss it and despite working 24/7 for v.little £££ I love going to work every day & think it's the best thing I ever did!

 

[martinirosie]

Went from teaching hair to running my own salon. Did both for 18 months whilst building up business so didn't take any wages from the salon during that time then took redundancy and lived off that for the next 6 months!
Finally able to take a tiny wage after 2 yrs in but still not yet matching my teaching salary and I don't get the lovely long holidays or Saturday's off any more. I must be mad but I've actually never been happier!
Teaching was really rewarding for a long time but I needed a change after 17 years as it was getting really stressful. It became less about actually teaching the skills the students need to get employment and more about meeting targets for other stuff like functional skills, equality & diversity, differentiation or whatever the latest buzz word was etc etc and the dreaded ofsted! There was more and more pressure to get students through that weren't really up to scratch & I was never prepared to compromise myself like that so was always bad cop for not passing everyone or not giving out distinctions if they wern't deserving of one lol!
I can't say I miss it and despite working 24/7 for v.little £££ I love going to work every day & think it's the best thing I ever did!

Thank you...that's exactly how I feel...it's not about good standards anymore..but money ....I am glad you are happy.....I just need to save some money to pay the mortgage for a while and then take the plunge. I know I could do it...as I do a bit of work from home and actually have to turn people away ! But I need to just be able to support myself for a while whilst I get up and running....I just can't handle the stress and the paperwork !

 

[daydreams01]

Thank you...that's exactly how I feel...it's not about good standards anymore..but money ....I am glad you are happy.....I just need to save some money to pay the mortgage for a while and then take the plunge. I know I could do it...as I do a bit of work from home and actually have to turn people away ! But I need to just be able to support myself for a while whilst I get up and running....I just can't handle the stress and the paperwork !

When the time is right you will know. I think life is like a book with lots of different chapters that you need to go through to get to the next exciting bit! I'm lucky my husband was able to help a lot with all the building work which saved a fortune and his work was able to subsidise us during the beginning before the salon started breaking even.
Just save as much as you possibly can beforehand and enjoy your holidays while your still employed lol! Best of luck x

 

[sanilulu]

Me and my lecturer friend from college have just opened our salon 4 weeks ago ... Exciting times ahead ...
We saved and set up the salon with what we saved for start up costs, and We are looking at how much money the salon is taking between now & July as to what teaching hours we will do in Sept( if any depending on how the business is) ... We aren't taking any salary from the business until then just building up the back balance due to still having our part time teaching salary and we are both working separately in the salon in the week - together on a saturday just to build up a bigger client base, I have taken quite a few mobile & home based clients I had with me.
I can honestly say I can't wait to leave teaching 13-19 yr olds due to the stress - extra unpaid hours of work marking & planning and just down right bad behaviour of some students over the last 2 yrs ...
we both have been teaching for about 6-7yrs ... But I'd rather work longer hours earn less money but be a lot happier ... If the last 4 weeks have been anything to go by I didn't realise how much I had missed being in a salon seeing people happy to see you and not being swore at by 15 yr old girls because of their poor attitude.
My advise to you is start saving - start finding locations your thinking of and how much it will cost to start up.
From product cost to decorating and building work.