So I've pondering when to retire for a while and as I'm SE / Sole trader I'm wondering how best to go about it?
My main issue is that I have a large customer base ........... so how to tell them etc, then there's the big asset - my VW T6
Any thoughts or suggestions or real life experiences would be helpful
If your customers are aware that you are a SE Sole-trader, and have a rough idea of your age, I would have thought they would understand that you could be shutting up shop and retiring within a few years.
So they should not be surprised when you do say, "sorry no", I have stopped trading.
If you have contracts to provide some customers with specific regular 'work, maintenance, call-out response', etc..
then it does need some planning and implementation to ensure you are not in breach of any contracts..
But if your work has been just an ad-hoc, call and respond when mutually convenient, to each job as and when they come in, then it's not really your problem.
I think you may be 'over-worrying' or 'concerning-yourself' about a problem that is not yours.
Any businesses or tradesperson's who provide goods or services to me, has no obligation to continue providing those goods or services to me.
We had the same builder construct two extensions onto our house, (1990 and 1997), later on when we wanted some more work done, we found out he had retired, (partially due to health issues). But it was Not his problem that we needed to find a new builder.
A local garage that supplied and maintained our previous car.. And offered a discount on servicing & MOT costs to customers who had purchased cars from them, went Bump quite a few years ago.. So all the discounts they offered disappeared overnight... It was Not their problem that we needed to find a new garage to service the car etc..
We have been using the same family run campsite in Cornwall to take our caravan, (+ occasional tents), for the past 23 years.. When we left site this year the owners told us they were closing up and retiring at the end of this season. And as no-one wanted to buy their site off them, as of 2023 season it will just be closed. (They did try putting the site up for sale a few years ago with no buyers!). This is basically a small business with husband & wife owners, who have no obligations to find any alternative campsites for any of their regular customer like myself who have been using them for years. I have NO disrespect to them as they are both early 60's, and have new grandchildren they want to have freedom to spend more time with..
Many years ago I had a "Blackberry" mobile phone that I was happy with.. But then some App's I was using regularly started issuing messages stating they would no longer be supported on the Blackberry O/S.. And will only work with Android & Apple IOs.. So I could either stay with Blackberry, and lose a few Apps.. Or change handset & keep the Apps! Again, NOT Blackberries problem that some customers are losing a few services!!
If you have grafted hard to support your family and loved ones, then providing your contractual obligations have been fully executed I wouldn't lose any sleep over problems that are not yours!
I've been SE sole trader since Feb 1999.. not yet retied, But thinking along the lines of just ramp up your charges a bit to reduce the number of customers, (so less customer but more money per customer), then increment this until you have no more customer calling you, or you just say, Sod-Off I am retired!!!!
