If you’d like to catch up on this on-going series, start here, then go here, and here. Then come back here and read on.
There, now that you’re caught up, you know that my wife quit her job about a year ago. Sometime around last August, she and two of her friends (and ex-coworkers) decided to start a business together. And as of the last update, you knew that the business was going well.
Now, the business is still doing well. Better than most of us expected, I think. On May 1st, they began working with the clients that the certification that they picked up allowed them to. Because of that, all three of them should be seeing full time hours fairly soon. My wife has been working full time and then some for several months, but everyone else has been relegated to doing most of the office work (that is unpaid). That’s good for us, but wasn’t all that great for everyone else, or for business partner morale. Unfortunately, much of what my wife does is limited to people with certain qualifications. Qualifications that only my wife has. And, until the business is able to help pay for the others to get those qualifications, she’s got to do it. With the new program that they just started, that should become more of a possibility towards the end of the year. Of course, if the new program continues to do well, it might not be something that needs doing anyways.
As I expected, due to the added insurance costs, and some increases in withholding for ChildCare, my checks are much smaller than they were in 2009. We had planned on that, and since a lot of the extra is pre-tax, it will help us in the long run. It is a bit sad to see your net income be less than 50% of your gross income though. To try and compensate, I’ve re-doubled my efforts here and at my other websites to try and make up some of the difference. Income is increasing there, but it’s a very slow process, and it has yet to be enough to make any significant difference anywhere.
Due to my wife’s increased work load, we’ve been able to keep up with our bills and haven’t had any major issues. It hasn’t been good enough for us to return to aggressive debt payments, but we haven’t added much new debt either. That’s a win if you ask me.
The rest of the year looks pretty good. My wife’s business looks like it will continue to grow and, with any luck, so will my side endeavors. I’m hoping that we might even be able to start our debt snowball rolling again.
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.
Found you via Yakezie….I am new to the group and checking everyone out!
I used to work HR, and if I had known about your blog sooner, I would have told your wife to go back to work after FMLA, even if was just for a week…THEN quit! Then they can’t claim that she didn’t come back. But seems you worked it out.
It is very brave of you guys to start a business and deal with the consequences. Especially with kids to think about (I have 2).
I look forward to hearing more about you guys and your story.
I was just commenting on another blog about how I’d like to starting my own business as well. (Although I quit my job a while ago when we moved to France.) I could go for something with a stable salary or take a gamble . . .
But it’s kind of nice being in a couple with one steadily employed partner when considering taking such a leap because there can be periods of time without money etc.
Thanks for the update.
Awesome leap of faith by the wife, and way to go working as a team!
Dang, I love Forest’s Yakezie plug-in thing. I clicked on your link from my blog, so cool.
Hope to see ya around!
Best
Sam
I used to work HR, and if I had known about your blog sooner, I would have told your wife to go back to work after FMLA, even if was just for a week…THEN quit! Then they can’t claim that she didn’t come back. But seems you worked it out.
+1
Love hearing these job quitting stories! Congrats to your wife for taking the leap!
I bet PT money would like to hear this story because he just quit to work f/t from home. Glad to hear that your wife’s decisions seem to be going fairly well. Even with the financial cutbacks, you are able to make your bills and such. That is more than most can say. And am glad to know the business is picking up.
I definitely look forward to reading the whole story.
And Sam, thanks for reminding me that I need to reinstall that plugin.