Sticky work situation - what would you do?

£800 / month take-home is equivalent to a salary of £10k / year. I certainly wouldn't (and couldn't) afford to earn that.

Are you registered for paying tax on your spares business (I'm not going to berate you either way), but if not then you need to start to consider this if it is going to be a long-term source of income and what impact that might have on your earnings.
 
Exactly - £800 just isn't enough for the distance I travel.
I enjoy the job, however cannot see any real progression path.

The business is quite scaleable, my only concern would be the declining number of British cars on the road. However this is of course combatted by the fact I'd be a 'specialist' and would cater to the K Series Lotus community, as well as other Rover enthusiasts likely to own their vehicles for a long time.

Also to add, the business is registered with HMRC (well, my partner is registered as self-employed as it's in her name for now) and tax will be paid as needed.
 
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Didn't realise you were still about Burnley. Why are you still here? :p

Honestly though, I'd take a long hard look at how much money you can realisticly get out of the parts business and whether it's worth jacking in a stable job like your current one. You don't want your parts business to go ***s-up and then have nothing. If the parts job is what you really like doing and allows you more time with your family, then go for it, but you need to be sure you can afford to lose the other job, especially when you have a family.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't see the bit where you said the parts job is also stable, my bad.
 
If you stick with just the Rover parts job, then that £800 take-home could become more like £900 as you'll pay a lot less in tax. Plus no fuel costs either from 40-mile round trips. If the Rover business grows, then bonus.
 
I would probably work both jobs for another couple of months whilst building up savings and building the business. In those two months I would just accept being tired and working on building the business late at night etc, knowing that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'd also take as much leave as possible and a few made up sick days so you can spend time with your gran.

Can you share the car journey with any other people and get them to contribute to the cost to save a bit more money?

Also, if you quit your job before the end of the year and work on your business then you might quite a bit of a tax rebate (admittedly not much based on your income, but a bit).
 
Don't move to Burnley its in decline. Things were supposed to be on the up about 6 years ago, but they never happened. There is still some nice area's left but not many.

Which call center are you working at? I used to work at the GUS one thats attached to the job center, back in my student days.
 
doofski said:
Don't move to Burnley its in decline. Things were supposed to be on the up about 6 years ago, but they never happened. There is still some nice area's left but not many.

Which call center are you working at? I used to work at the GUS one thats attached to the job center, back in my student days.
Click to expand...

Haha, I remember GUS when I was a nipper, mum used to work in Brun House (the Social Services building across the road)
 
All that work for little reward, its not worth your time mate but I would never quit a job without a contingency fund or revenue stream. A smarter move would be to seek local employment with less hours, invest the extra time in your business and family. I wouldn't rely solely on your business revenue though, another recession scare on the news and you could lose a lot of customers for a while...
 
I'd drop the job and concentrate on building up your own business. If you can put something away when sales are good it will help get through the slower times but if that turns out to be a longer period of decline you shouldn't have too much trouble finding another call center or retail job.
 
It might be worth looking for another part time job locally if you don't plan on scaling your business too much. Just make sure you keep a financial buffer just in case you do need it.
 
Is the job stressful and do you enjoy it?

As I like having money I would be inclined to continue doing both until you are able to make a similar incoming just from your shop.

You are in a very good position if you can jack a job that gives you £800 clear, I would continue for as long as possible...what happens if something goes horribly wrong with the shop for example and it is not able to continue trading? At the moment it sounds like you are in a very good position, not thinking what if. Also you are not adding any extra strain onto your partner as the main wage coming in.
 
I'll be honest, I really don't enjoy the job as much as I did.
The shop is currently making ~£1200 a month, however with extra time I could scale it. Don't forget I spend around £250 a month in fuel alone getting to work, which out of my wage is around 25%.

I need to have a 'backup plan' and think about it all carefully, however it'd be quite easy to scale the business - go to MG Rover shows with a boot full of parts and business cards, sort out proper advertising etc. It's quite a potent market, as British stuff breaks a lot... :p
 
A friend of mine worked fora while in a sort of breakers yard and the chap chap who owned it had done so for many years and had a nice lviing from it however the whole aspect of not seeing people day after day after day had really turned him into a right miserable chap, so if you do decide to go for it on your own, I would say your idea of taking some casual work in a bar etc for the social aspect is certainly a good move!!!
 
Another update - after having my panic attacks come back after a holiday (when getting ready to go to work) I made another appointment with my GP, and he recommended I put my health first. He offered a sick note, however of course I wouldn't be able to keep the Shop open with this so I declined.

Looks like I'm leaving.
 
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