Ask HN: Quitting my corporate job to help my dads failing small business

5 points by ataleb52 13 years ago | 12 comments

My father owns a small tile (floor tile) store that has been hurting every since this whole housing mess. He's finally decided to close the doors and find himself another project to work on.

I've personally decided to quit my corporate job at a pretty sweet airline and go home to help him out...but I honestly have no clue what I'm going to do to help.

Would love some feedback on two main things:

#1 did I just make a big mistake quitting?...(though I will admit I've been losing interest in the job)

#2 How could I use the little web design/dev experience that I have to help him out?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

UPDATE To clarify, I've already put in my notice of resignation and my father's business is still open.

As for me draining my fathers income, I've got a part time job lined up that I was doing in college. It's remote tech support for hosting services so it'll cover my bills...though I will admit my parents fridge may take a few blows with me back.

Really appreciate all the feedback!!!

pdx 13 years ago |

Maybe you did make a mistake. Your family had a diversified income stream before. You probably didn't send your dad money, but at least you weren't draining him, and if the worst happened, your income could have been a great help to the family.

Now all your family's eggs are in a single basket ... which is already leaking. Strategically, this was not optimum for your family.

Your dad is emotionally invested in his business, which has caused him to hold off shutting it down. Finally, he made that difficult decision, and you've come to muddy the waters.

I'm uncertain what kind of web site can realistically be expected to pull a failing floor tile store into success. Perhaps you and your dad can examine the local economy around your dad's store and start fresh with a new business, in a new industry, combining your skills.

codegeek 13 years ago |

Have you quit your job already ? I strongly advise that you figure out a game plan and instead of acting with emotions, use a more practical approach. The thing is that just quitting without any plans might work for you but it is also possible that you could be in similar situation as your father i.e. both struggling financially.

Unless you have some reasonable plan to help your dad out, I strongly advise against quitting your current job. Don't do it.

brudgers 13 years ago |

This isn't necessarily something you can fix. And recognize that it may not be something that wants fixing. Your father's reasons for leaving the tile business may be analogous to your reasons for leaving a corporate job - it frees him up to do something else.

You'll probably have lots of jobs in your life. But you only get one father and a limited amount of time to spend one way or the other. What is the right choice for you, is the right choice for you. The right choice for him, is right for him.

Talk with him about it.

Good luck.

ataleb52 13 years ago | |

Thank you for the advice, the thought of this being one of the last chances to really spend time with my father has definitely been a big factor in my decision.

RandyH 13 years ago |

#1 No. But you wouldn't have made a mistake by staying either. Who you are is what choices you make, and what commitments you keep. Whatever choice you made would have been the right choice for the person you would have become.

#2. Just remember cash paramount. You can go years with little profit, or even no profit. You cannot last one day without cash. Your first consideration is bringing new streams of cash in.

fatalerrorx3 13 years ago | |

About point #2:

Using your web design/development experience, start a blog relating to reviewing tile quality, articles about color suggestions based on room color or size, etc.

Find out what you can from your dad about best practices in installation and maintenance on tile and other options for floorting, etc. and offer advice to do-it-yourselfers.

Start an email newsletter, slowly, slowly build up an audience, and offer a way for potential customers to contact you for work.

People trust hiring someone who exhibits more authority in their niche.

After building up a blog, you can also look to use websites like ServiceMagic (now HomeAdvisor) to find projects. My dad has used this site many times to hire contractors and has always had a good experience.

ataleb52 13 years ago | | |

Really like the idea!Funny thing is I always advised people to do this when I worked at a web hosting company but somehow never actually got my own father to implement this in his business...time to practice what I once preached.

Thank you!

davidcristello 13 years ago |

Wait did he close doors and you're helping him with a new project?

I would learn marketing asap I can point in the right direction if interested - I've created measurable marketing returns for small businesses , but never a silver bullet approach. feel free to shoot me an email at davidcristello (at) gmail (dot) com

orangethirty 13 years ago |

Realize that his business may not be failing due to the housing crisis, but to other factors that you may not know. Find out more before any decision is made. Sometimes, business owners dig themselves into a hole they can't get out.

ataleb52 13 years ago | |

Very true, I had thought about this before but somehow let it slip my mind over the last few months.

Thanks for the insight!

pattle 13 years ago |

#1 No. The moment you stop waking up and looking forward to work its the moment to do something new.

#2. If you're going to be selling a service or product obviously make an e-commerce store

imtu80 13 years ago |

You can use your skills to go online and build alliances with builders. Using your existing contacts, you can start a drop shipment kind of process for your online business.

Good Luck!