[codegeek]

My story. I worked my ass off for 10+ years, saved a little bit of extra cash after paying off most loans and then bought an online business that I was interested in.

I tried doing both for 2 months in parallel. One day I woke up and said "F*k this. I am done. Gotta quit". I then went to my boss and gave him the notice. I did calculate my risks as the business was just bringing in enough to keep me floating (with 2 kids and a wife). However on Day 1, my income was down by almost 75% (ouch, wifey was not quite happy but she supported)

Been 2 years since then and never been happier. It is tough, income is still less than I what I made in my cushy job but I will not give it up for that 9-5 bullshit. No more traffic to deal with (I hardly drive during rush hours now), no more commute (I work from where ever i want, mostly home office), I can take time off if I want or I could work on weekends if I want. The business runs 24-7 but I Don't have to.

Of course, not everyone is in a similar situation but we all have a path if you really want to do it. Bottomline is that you have to really really want this. It is almost like an addiction to do your own thing and not work in a shitty (Even if highly paid) 9-5 job. My job was so easy barring the shit commute. I could go in, talk to users all day, run projects, write some code and at the end of the day, I will get a big fat paycheck. People loved me at my job. I loved them back. Easy as hell. But I didn't want that anymore. I was not up to it anymore. I wanted to quit my "cushy" job.

[jaredandrews]

Very cool! I quit my cushy 9-5 about a year ago and have been contracting off and on since then. It has been amazing and I realized I can never do the 9-5 thing again. I hope to start my own business at some point. The problem is... I haven't had a good idea yet...

I have been thinking about buying an existing online business if I can't think of anything. When I look into it though I am completely in over my head. Do you have any recommended resources for learning about that sort of thing?

[estefan]

Same boat as you. I think this could be the key:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/startup-entrepreneurship-disc...

I can't recommend it highly enough.

[jaredandrews]

Thanks! Definitely gonna check this out! Out of curiosity did you do the 'paid' or 'audit' version of this? I can't really tell if the 'paid' version is worth it. I can't imagine the certification being useful.

[estefan]

I always just audit the courses. I'm doing them for my benefit, not for a certificate. I might buy the lecturers' book though as a thank you.

Pro tip: Use the mobile app, download the videos and watch them at 2x speed to save time :-)

[GeorgeHahn]

Pretty easy to download on a desktop as well: https://github.com/coursera-dl/coursera-dl

[phaus]

Can creativity be learned? I feel like I've been cursed with a stellar memory, which people often perceive as intelligence, but I see lots of my coworkers come up with great ideas for new tools and processes that enhance our core business. Some of them even seem obvious after the fact (not that it discredits them at all), but I seem to lack the creativity and confidence to build anything on my own. Do you think this class would help?

[jaredandrews]

I have done the first week since estefan suggested it to me. After week one, I will say this: It has definitely been helpful.

It gets a little too philosophical at times in a "you need to want to change the world sort of way" but the professor really emphasizes that you need to become aware of your own strengths and suggests different ways of utilizing your particular skills to discover and solve problems. He provides concrete examples of how others have done this which I have found useful.

If you lack confidence and creativity I think it might help you out. Of course there are no silver bullets for this sort of thing but I think I have already learned something from it.

If you would be interested in taking the course in sync with me and discussing the various lectures, let me know. I find that to be helpful when MOOCing. My contact info is in my bio, hit me up if that sounds appealing to you.

[estefan]

They're trying to teach creativity, so you sound like their ideal participant. Give it a go.

[codegeek]

feinternational.com has some really good articles on buying/selling online businesses. But most importantly, you need to also create your own criteria first. I also wrote a blog post on this topic with my thoughts. Feel free to take a look for some pointers.

http://yashchandra.com/2016/04/17/how-to-buy-an-online-busin...

[jaredandrews]

Great post. Thanks for sharing man!

[stevenwiles]

Same here.

I quit my cushy office job 2 years ago to start my own company. This year will be my first time posting revenue over $1 million. :) Needless to things, things are going very well for me and I am much better of now than when I was grinding away hating life.

Good on ya!

[akulbe]

Do you have a link to your website? I'm interested to see what you do.

[blisterpeanuts]

Interesting story, codegeek. I'm curious as to what type of business you bought, and how you discovered it. A website of businesses for sale? Is it in your same field which I assume is coding?

[codegeek]

Yes, my field which is tech (duh!!). I am actually an addict when it comes to sites like flippa, feinternational etc. Both are mostly useless but every once in a while, you get a real gem there. I found one. It was funny because I was accidentally browsing flippa that day (labor day weekend and I had to stay home which was not the plan originally). I liked what the seller described and the way the seller described it. It seemed genuine and was a real product business. So I got up, spoke to my wife (you def. want that blessing :)) and then said, can we do this ? I was like "hell an MBA will cost me more than this and what is the worst that can happen?". I lose the money but I learn doing something real that I want to do. So I saw it as a win-win situation and went for it. In hindsight, it was the best decision of my life. Survivorship bias may be, but who cares.

[hbhakhra]

Do you have any more information on how you filtered business and what made the one bought stand out?

[codegeek]

No specific information but I have written a blog post on this topic and some general guidelines that I followed. Feel free to read the post (linked in my profile)

[Negative1]

I've heard Health Insurance is pretty expensive if you are self-employed. How did you deal with that? Is your wife also employed in which case you are just able to share hers?

[codegeek]

I did buy obamacare for a year or so but now my wife works and we use her health insurance. I will be in deep shit if I have to buy out of own pocket (family of 4). So yes, that helps a lot as well.

[jimmydddd]

Yes. This is common (in the US) for solo business people with families. When I talk to self-employed people, few want to discuss health insurance. The topic seems to be taboo. Maybe some are going without insurance? Obamacare does not address the issues of a solo business owner. As far as friends who run solo businesses, those who would discuss the topic all said that they had their wives get random corporate jobs (e.g., at a retail bank location) to provide health insurance.

[martin_a]

Germany calling in. ;-)

This is a big business stopper in Germany, too.

Health insurance is a must here and can easily add up to 500 Euro or sth. like that per month when you got a wife (not working full time) and children.

So getting ramen profitable is possibly much harder.

[jtrtoo]

Not OP but self-employed going on a decade. Have high-deductible (intentionally) insurance covering myself and wife along with tax deferred Health Savings Accounts. In our mid-30s. Insurance runs $400/month and gets a tax deduction. Covered at 70% for just about any procedure/medicine. Not sure of what's typical. We have this done pre-Obamacare (grandfathered plan), but prior checks show within ballpark if not grandfathered (assuming HDP/HSA that is).

[kentosi]

"... and then bought an online business ..."

Where do you find businesses to buy? Is there a site for this or is it just a word of mouth thing? I'm curious.

[manuelflara]

Feinternational.com has been recommended here often.

[mbostleman]

Also flippa.com

[simonswords82]

Check out this thread, has a bunch of online business brokers mentioned in the comments and the OP article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12254484

[sliverstorm]

How does wife like it now? Is she happier despite the income disparity, or has it been a permanent sacrifice she has made for your happiness?

[codegeek]

It is mixed feelings. She is happy that we are now close to the income we wanted even though progress has been slower than expected. Every once in a while, she does question if I did the right thing. Mind you though. Our expenses were very high when I quit. We got accustomed to a certain lifestyle back then and never had to think too much about money. That has changed but it does not mean we are poor. She is practical and smart and sees the long term benefit for all of us, not just me. Without her support, I would not be able to do it easily. No questions about it.

[Zelmor]

I am preparing myself for a deflation of lifestyles as well. Once my loans are completely paid, my basic needs (food, shelter and related, public transport and internet access) will be covered by 40% of my income. The rest, currently, is spent on accelerating payment towards loans from friends and establishments. Will be done in 3 more months at most, which feels great. Though my closet could do a bit of a refreshment, I have put together an inventory which I will tick off and be done with it for the next couple years. My early next year, 45-50% of income should be able to go to savings.

What I have found most useful is to create a list of NEEDS and WANTS. Need is what is essential to your mental well-being. Clothes, good quality coffee (though this is a luxury for most, i count it as food and do not cheap out on it. I just don't like bad quality food nor coffee), shelter, a basic telecommunication device.

Wants are stuff like a certain kind of telephone beyond the basics, a certain kind of earphones, -sunglasses, -mechanical keyboards, etc. You see the sentiment.

Make an inventory of what you actually need, and what you desire. Then temper your desire. Sure, I do spend money on this or that once every little while, but that is a treat and a gift now, not the baseline.

[javajosh]

I'm curious to know which expenses you found you were able to live without easily, and which cuts were actually hard to bear, and why. Thanks for telling your story!

[kazinator]

> It is tough, income is still less than I what I made in my cushy job

But you have more ways to avoid taxes (both legal and not so much). If you get paid cash for anything, you may be able to conceal the income. You can creatively shuffle losses into the limited liability corporation, to avoid being personally affected, and basically just sock it to whomever the corporation owes.

Self-employed people typically have way more ways to write off expenses.

In Canada, if you're an employee, you don't get to write off anything. Drive to work? Can't write off gas or car repairs as a business expense. Work from home a lot? Sorry, can't write off any portion of your rent or mortgage. All that changes if you're self-employed; you can write off every this and that: transportation; the proportion of your home that is your office. On the yearly tax return form, all employees can claim a meager little "employment amount": a token sum compensating them for their inability to write off anything.

[codegeek]

I think you are being downvoted because of the "you may be able to conceal the income" part. You don't want to do that specially when running an online business (which is never cash based). Everything has a trail and you need to try and manage all records correctly.

But yes, you have some ways to get some deductions for your business and write off a few things like meal expenses for client visit etc. But you cannot directly conceal income. That is almost a sure way of inviting the Tax Police/IRS.

At the end of the day, it is not so much about deductions for me. I still make less cash than my job (so far at least) even after deductions. It is more about the freedom of doing what I want to do.

[NikolaNovak]

While you cannot simply "write off" your drive and mortgage [as an employee in Canada]; depending on details, you CAN mitigate some of the taxes through your home office etc if your employer fills out t2200 in a way that benefits you.

(I am completely NOT a lawyer or accountant; but an IT worker and this is what my accountant does for me; your milleage and circumstances may vary :)

See sections 7, 9 and 10: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t2200/README.html