When Your Business Dream Is A Nightmare
Evening News 24h:
For many, whisking up top-notch cappuccinos while chatting to customers and listening to great music sounds like the perfect job.
But while for the majority a venture like this will always be a pipe dream, a few risk takers give up their well-paid jobs to pursue their dreams.
Sometimes they soon discover the dream can turn into a nightmare and the vision of having a relaxing time serving cups of coffee in a trendy cafe ends the minute they start the business.
New research has shown that small business owners are the most overworked and underpaid people working in the UK.
A recent survey, carried out by small business insurer Zurich, found that many were working a 7-day week, putting in more than 12 hours per day, not taking lunch breaks and having no holidays – and taking home less than £20,000 per year for their hard work.
For more than 70pc of small business owners, their jobs include customer services, sales, operations, supply chain management, HR, risk management, premises and marketing.
Many small business owners in Norwich are making such little profit that they are sailing very close to the wind.
When Andy Ridoutt bought a building in Upper St Giles in Norwich to convert it into a cafe, he was fulfilling a burning ambition.
But it did not take long for the freelance cameraman to watch that dream become a nightmare.
A year after he bought the cafe, he has sold it to Tony Burlingham, who runs the Beeches Hotel in Norwich.
‘Running a cafe is not as glamorous as it seems, because as soon as everyone else has gone you are left to graft,’ he said.
Now he’s back at his old job, filming Norwich City matches for SkyTV.
‘Running a cafe is one of those things that every man says they would like to do. Whereas the majority of people talk about it, I did it. I don’t regret it because it is something that was a burning ambition in me and it’s made me realise how difficult it is to run a small business. These business owners are not making themselves rich, it is long hours and hard work and it’s a case of survival for many of them.’
So why was it such a nightmare?
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