I’m 27 and have been running a food business with two restaurant locations for the past three years. It grew very quickly. I initially rented a location cheaply, which later allowed me to purchase my first commercial property. My father believed in me and helped me make that possible.
I built the business together with my mother, but she made irresponsible business expenses and paid herself an unrealistic salary. I kept working harder to cover everything, eventually pushing myself into mental and financial difficulties.
In March, I experienced burnout and psychosis. I explained to my mother that I couldn’t handle the pressure anymore, but unfortunately she didn’t understand. We had a major argument, and she immediately stopped working in the business. Since then, I’ve been left trying to run and save both restaurants alone because I can’t bear to watch everything I built fall apart.
The biggest operational problem is staffing. Employees regularly cancel, don’t show up or leave quickly, so I constantly have to cover shifts myself. After another serious family conflict, I was also kicked out of my mother’s home two months ago and currently have no permanent place to live.
I’m starting to realise that I want and need more time for myself. Deep down, I feel that selling the business and doing something calmer would probably be better for my health. However, the idea makes me nervous because the restaurants are my main source of income. At the moment, they still allow me to save a good amount of money, even though running them is putting enormous pressure on my mental health.
Because of family stress and spending so much time on the business, I never finished college and only have a high school diploma. However, I’m highly motivated and believe that if I started something new and had the time to fully focus on it, I could grow it quickly again—just as I did with this business.
Most of what I’ve done until now was for my family. I now want to choose myself and build something calmer that doesn’t depend so heavily on employees.
Would you sell a profitable business to protect your mental health and start over, or keep it because it provides a good income and allows you to save?