What if your business is successful... but you still Hate running it?
A friend of mine owns a profitable laundry mat but hates going in every other week and just plain out dont like dealing with it. We talk a lot about growing revenue, getting more customers, hiring employees, and becoming “successful.” But what happens when you reach those goals and realize you don’t actually enjoy the business you built? Maybe the money is good, the customers are coming in, and the business is growing, but you're constantly stressed, working longer hours, or stuck doing things you never wanted to do. Question: 👉 Would you change the business model, sell the company, scale back, or keep pushing because the numbers look good?Would You Encourage The Next Generation to Get Into Your Trade?
What industry are you in? And would you actually recommend it to someone younger looking at their career options right now? 67% of Gen Z say they'd recommend a trade career to a sibling or friend. Curious if that tracks with what shows up in the comments here! More stats like this in the full Blue Collar ReportExpand geographically or go deeper where you already are?
We recently found ourselves at a crossroads: do we expand our residential cleaning footprint closer toward Philly, or stay in our current territory and find another way to grow? We ultimately chose to branch further into commercial cleaning instead of adding another geographic market. Our thinking was that there was still more opportunity to squeeze out of the infrastructure, team, and territory we already had before adding the complexity of another market. Expansion isn’t off the table. We just decided it could come later. It made me wonder how other owners make this decision. When do you know you’ve gotten enough out of your current market and it’s actually time to expand geographically? What numbers or signs would make you pull the trigger?At what point did growth become less fun?
Every revenue milestone comes with new challenges. More employees, more compliance, more overhead, and more responsibility. The problems don’t disappear, they just get more expensive. For me, it was realizing my finances were a mess and I had to stop treating the business like a personal piggybank. I’m curious to hear everyone else’s!
