So I thought I would give an update on how things are going.

*If anyone is thinking about starting or expanding a business, I definitely recommend the Starting and Growing a Business Self-Reliance course. It provides focus, direction, and makes sure you are looking at at least most aspects of your business*

First of all, I am spending more time at home, which is definitely a bonus, and was the main motivator in my eliminating the day job. Since going full-time in my business a few things have happened.

My core business continues to grow, and I now have almost a 2-month waiting list. I have managed to convince a colleague who was running their own business to abandon their private practice and come join me. They have been working on their business for longer, but haven't had the same growth that I have had. I am hoping to bring in another person as well. They are working as a contractor, so I only pay them when I have work for them. They also like this arrangement because they get to create their own schedule.

I've had more time to work on side projects that will hopefully build the business long-term. I didn't realize how long these would take, so being able to work on a few of them at a time has been nice. I am using a grant to help pay for an employee that is working on a project that will probably become part-time in the future. It is a money loser at this point, but will hopefully grow long-term. It is growing slower than expected, but it is nice to learn that while working with some grant money. Opening up new revenue streams seems to be a lot like starting a new business, it takes a while to take off.

I've also fallen into another opportunity to expand in another way that I had in my plans for a year or two down the road. I've had some people volunteer to help recruit for this new service. The best part is that I'm really only going to have to be involved with the recruitment (staff and clients) end. I've moved up my 5-10 year plans to 3-5 years.

I had one PT employee when I made the plunge to go full-time. I'm hoping by the end of the year to be up to 5 PT or 1 FT and 4 PT employees. This is not the most optimistic projection, but is on the optimistic side of the possibilities.

I'm in the process of incorporating which should help my profitability even more. I wish someone had told me to look into it sooner. I only really knew about the liability and extra paperwork side, but didn't realize just how much tax benefit there was (especially here in Canada!). For example, had I incorporated a year earlier, I would have saved more than $20k in taxes.

It's all so surreal. People I talk to want me to succeed, and if they can want to help.

Thanks for all the support CB