Targa Tim:
RC:
I have one employee, I am very small. I do not live from my job, this is more of a hobby (I know how this sounds). A hobby I soon have to give up...or start to be serious about and go big.
I'm also small office, solo family physician with one receptionist.
I do 3-5 track days per year, usually on a Saturday, drive down to track Friday after work, 3.5 hrs drive, stay in hotel, track whole day Saturday, dinner, drive home same night.
Lucky if I found a Locum doctor to work that Saturday, or just close office.
I'm about your age, will continue same work for next 10 -15 yrs max and then retire. No thoughts about expanding or switch work. Why not keep doing something that I'm really good at. Simple and predictable life.
Weekends are for the family (and I truly love spending them with them, I have two wonderful kids and my wife isn't bad either ). Of course I get to drive a couple of hours on weekends but one the kids is usually with me, unless I drive with friends...kids don't want to join and I am actually happy about it because we are driving differently.
My problem with my business is: I have government mandated opening/closing times and emergency services. Also, I need to be physically present in my business all the time, cannot go away even for five minutes. Luckily, I have a family member helping me during vacations and when I need to be away for a couple of hours.
In the past, my parents were working as well and we had a couple of employees but things have changed since 2006 or so and I had to let go most of the employees to keep the business healthy. I could have bought a bigger one but my kids were small, my wife worked, so I didn't want to put too much pressure on the family. I am good with stocks, so this wasn't a problem but now I have to decide if I do something else or become much bigger. The much bigger part is a serious issue because we have not a free market here in my line of business and everything depends a lot on laws and regulations. If they change, I could be in serious trouble with a new and bigger business, for example if the EU would allow chains like in other countries, including the US. Something like Walgreens or CVS is impossible in Germany...so far. If this happens though, this would ruin at least half the pharmacies in Germany and I don't want to be part of that.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet (2015), Porsche Cayenne S Diesel (2017), Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mini JCW (2015)