Do you own a business, are starting one that failed

My employment is through Government. I want to own an online business that is self-dependent, reliable,sustainable. Right now, I am blogging, and taking part in social sites.

I tried to start my own cleaning business a few years ago and it did not go well at all. I only had a few houses and apartments to clean and I was spending more in gas and cleaning supplies than what I was actually making. they would also add on more work as time went by and they would not pay me more. the homes were very spread apart and the cleaning days were like once a week and it was not worth my time. the apartments I cleaned was for the elderly and they could not afford to pay me much and some had to stop paying or having their apartment cleaned because of fixed income. I never sold my business. I was just out there on my own. My sister and I worked together and we just could not keep enough business drummed up to actually make a profit from it.

Yes, we own a publishing company. So far so good. Most businesses (I forget the percentage) fail within the first year and on average it takes 5 years to actually show a profit.

My husband also owned an advertising agency once, many years ago, but had the majority of his income from one account...he lost that account. He decided to seek employment rather than build his business again. Lesson learned- the saying don't put all your eggs in one basket has some merit.;)

I sell Avon, which was going very well when I worked at it. We have done various other home-based businesses similar to Avon, and they all fizzled out mainly because we decided not to pursue it in the end.

Are you considering starting a business?

I started an avon business. It will take a few months before I make any money, but I do plan to stick with it.

My husband had a construction business for about 15 years. Did really good for about 14 1/2 years. He believes the reason it went down here was do to others that would under bid him. And it became a mexican business. Now we don't have anything against them. We have alot of mexican friends. They could just work for lesser pay.