Parenting Magazine

In A Pickle- Business Stuff

By Mummysgonemad @mummysgonemad
So I am in a pickle as the post title suggests. This pickle is causing me to lose sleep and since sleep is a precious comodity round these parts I have decided to throw it out there to the bogosphere for some much needed advice. Clearly this is too much for one woman to handle.
So a bit of background first- I am a financial planner from 9-5 Monday-Friday. I am a freelance makeup artist on evenings and weekends (I am also mommy always and doing a Masters degree part-time). Makeup is my passion and I would love to be doing it full time but unfortunately it does not pay as well as financial planning and so for the time being this is not an option.
In the course of my makeup artistry I have discovered a hole in the market that needs filling. This hole is being taken care of in the US but not so much here in AUS. I have decided that I can be the one to bridge this gap. I have done the market research, sourced the product, created branding and a website and have experimented with a couple of distribution channels. I am now at an impasse. I have a direction that I would like to take this business venture (which is still very much in its infancy) - I believe in it, I love it, I want it to work BUT I am being limited by myself. I have too many balls in the air.
I cannot risk the money if it is not successful (even though it is a relatively small amount given what the payoffs could be) at this particular time in our family's life- I have already invested my limit for right now. I can't risk the time it could demand if it is successful (but not successful enough for me to leave the safety net job). The way I see it my options are:
1. Find a business partner who could put in a small amount of money and their time and that may solve both my money and time issue. The down side is I am giving up half my business due to bad timing. My husband is not so keen on this- I am still considering it. My theory is half of something is better than all of nothing. If I don't move on this soon I may very well own 100% of a very good idea that never really took off.
2.Just risk it. Just put the money up and go with whatever happens. I feel like this is my least preferred option simply because of the timing. If we lost the money it wouldn't be the end of the world but it would be bad timing and mean putting off some other things which are really very important (indefinitely). It would mean risking my job because of the time pressures involved in doing all the work associated with this - without help. It could mean a sudden departure from my current job (if successful) which is unfair on them - I love my employers and would like to make any exit as seamless for them as I possibly could.
3.keep plodding along slowly and wait for the 'timing' to improve. This involves hoping that I am not too late and the opportunity still exists in a years time (or longer- who knows). It also runs the risk of being "crowded out" by everything else I have going on.
My husband thinks I am too "black and white". Is he right- are there shades of gray that I am missing here? Or maybe I should just accept that the timing is not right and move along from the idea?
Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

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