by Erica Ray

Created on: December 31, 2007

I'm sure I turned every possible shade of red last October when I realized that we hadn't made enough money to cover the business expenses for the third month in a row, to say nothing of personal spending.

We had started our home business to provide supplementary income while my husband worked at a programming job full time. We brimmed with excitement as our little business grew. Since ours was an on-line business, I was able to maintain it and care for our six month old son at the same time.

Before we launched our business, we created strategies, saved enough money to invest in business requirements (such as inventory, supplies, computers, and back-friendly chairs)and spent many months researching suppliers and advertising. We sought advice from Internet sources, books, and other successful business owners.

As the business grew, we directed profits back into the business and adjusted our goals and strategies as needed. We were paying off bills and even putting a little money aside for emergencies.

The joyous time finally arrived to decide if my husband should quit his full time job. We were making enough money to survive even if the economy took a dive, and we felt sure that if we needed to, we could supplement with part time jobs.

All of my husband's programming jobs took us hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away from our families. We desperately wanted our tiny son to grow up around family. My husband's expertise was extremely important to the behind-the-scenes maintenance of our business and if he could focus on it, we felt we were guaranteed to grow even more. As each successful month passed, we felt that our dreams were within sight.

Enter the folly of hastiness.

Once we felt sure we could survive, he put in his notice and we waved his $80K+ a year job goodbye. We believed the loss of income was a temporary situation that would be remedied within a year. It was not a lot to trade for being near our family again. We sold our home in record time and moved into a smaller rented house in our hometown, where our extended family lived.

The economy recently took a dive and businesses such as ours were heavily affected. We could barely survive and for a few months it looked as if we would have to move in with our parents. Our options thinned with each passing month.

I made a list of the things I needed to do to pack our house before Christmas so that we wouldn't have to pay another month's rent. We sat down and looked over our bills again. We analyzed each item of food we bought and every time we turned on the air conditioner or heater. We stopped buying inventory for our business.

Although things are looking up for us now, we are still struggling. I blame our struggles on our hastiness in having him quit his job. I believe if we had waited one more year, we would have had enough money saved to not only buy the house we really wanted, but to see us through when hard times hit. There would have been less fighting due to money troubles.

The main thing I learned about being wise in this arena is that hasty, emotional decisions are rarely good ones. Allow time for an idea to cool off so that you can analyze it logically. It's like the old saying, "look before you leap."

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