how do you make a decision?????

Dingo.

I know just how you feal OHS, QA ect ect etc etc.
Just about had enough.
You are not alone.
Not alot of help I know.

Regards

You haven't said what industry you're in... mentioning HACCP makes me think either food or refrigeration, probably food.

Your accountant would be able to advise you of the businesses worth, and possibly inform you of how to sell. There will be someone willing to buy it from you and give you what it's worth!

Negligence is the key word here . You cannot be sent to jail if you take the apropriate safty measures . If you comply with there rules and regs you cannot be jailed if someone gets hurt. They are just aming at people who take short cuts and want to ensure that there is some plan in place in case of a emergency. Now I know that they can be a pain in the a** . But you will be suprised on how easy it is to put enough safty measures in place.

You know all this can be put into place a bit at a time it doesn't have to happen over night and if you are seen to be doing the right thing then they will help because cost is an important part of OH&S. There are people out there that can help even Workcover so don't give up yet, talk to your accountant maybe together you can work it out. Also scare mongering by people should be reported as this is an OH&S issue too.

Baz.

we are involved in fruit production and wine grape, which now also are classed as food.
i realise the "neglegence" issue is the key but if i have explained all things about the opperation of a tractor for instance and some one has an accident i am sure there will always be a safty sticker missing or some other issue, if they want to find a problem they will.
but this is only a small part of the over all problem of being too busy, and its just so hard to find well trained, caring people in this industry that are here for the long term and are will to work long hrs when required, and who can blame them when there are other industries that pay more for less hrs, we ar eprice takers and so are at the bottom of the food chain.
we could once justify this on the basis of a good "life style" but they have now eroded this from under us too.
let alone being "envirmental nartzies" for being an irrigator!
sorry i realy am having a winge!
i think i am trying to justify selling up, but i would rather be able to keep our property and be able to travel for a good part of the year if that was possible???
it is a waste of time to talk to others in my industry as they then have to look at their selfs pretty hard if they agree with me, as well many are content to spend their ntire life doing the same thing.

Dingo

Looks like answer above should have been a reply not a followup. Sorry.

Dingo

Looks like answer above should have been a reply not a followup. Sorry. I had my Safety Officer talking to as I was typing.

Dingo,

I think there is a lot in the food production area where the pickings are so slim and the management so harried that they feel like you do. OH&S is an area where no matter how much attention you pay to issues there is some one who will provide mis-information that will help to prove your undoing. We like to think we are aware of issues and have well trained people but there is always someone there to try to pull out the rug from under something or someone.

No matter what some city people see in the personnel market place, there is trouble in areas like I live trying to find people as you do. There is a very low level of unemployment in some areas of Australia below mid 3% is the norm for a lot of areas and skill levels low.

Career people are non existent as employees despite spending heaps on training of young people.

I, too understand the issue of finding the missing sticker or the guard that someone broke the week before, and the people who line everything up for a work cover claim with legal help.

What has been the bane of our business has not been just those, but other regulations that came into effect at the same time as GST and the sophistication of the reporting required in the newer levels of software for our business size to provide the level of management information we had so easily before hand.

Dingo I reckon it is half the reason why so many 50+ people are already seeking a less sophisticated lifestyle around Oz. I don't have the answers for you but I know where you are coming from where there isn't a lot of incentive to be a small business owner despite the urban myths, not from this far away anyway.

I guess I could put on a consulting hat of course and head in your direction.........

Dingo I understand completely your feelings.
I have been in business for 22 years and it's a bloody hard slog.
No sooner than you seem to get in front then the boundary changes and you end up tripping over again with a bloody nose.

There is no assistance for small business in this country, the simplified tax system as one small example only added to the impost.

I compete not only on a local basis but interstate and overseas also, the rising Aussie dollar has floored me yet again , I to sit down and despair sometimes as to if it's all worth it.

Mate I think that if you are of an age that is telling you that you have had enough (sounds like it) and as stated that you have enough money to live OK then the final consideration is to remember your a long time dead.
Advice is available from various sources about the financial aspects accountants, Financial planners etc they should be able to help with answering that aspect.

As to the personal feelings, well it's a bit like giving up one of your children but remember they do leave home and do it for them self at some stage of their life, you have to give up the child (business) and look after yourself.

Good point made above is you have experience in farming this should help you with the dollars as you travel.

Just go for it you have done your time and deserve what ever you want from life.

Too many decisions for me.........think I'll just go on the wallaby.

Dingo, I currently work in the Risk Management area so perhaps I can help.
In order to make your decision you must decide Risk versus Reward. to determine Risk versus reward you must build a risk profile of your business. What type of business do you own? How many employees do you have? What is the quality of your employees? Do you have a OHS plan on site? Have all the staff received relevant OHS training?
The list of questions is quite extensive. Once you have answered each question you can then assess your Risk versus Reward and make an informed decision.

Feel free to e-mail me if you want. I'm happy to provide more help if I can.

DINGO
Mate, you could be suffering from depression.

It's very common, especially when you're a bit older. And maybe like most of us you have been burning the candle at both ends. Feeling burdened and confused is part of it.

Make sure you're getting heaps of sleep. Put off decisions. YOUR health must now have priority.

Book a 'double' appointment with the GP. Do it now.

If you like, you can take your missus.

Things will get clearer but first you need some assistance.

EV700

Dingo

You have to be bloody minded about it

Retrench the staff, shut the business down, sell off the assets, square it up with Tax Man and then go for a holiday. If you still feel like working after that then set up a business as a consultant in your line of ex[ertise.

Just do it!

Dingo,
Looks like you have been given a lot of very broad and sound advice. One other thing that we do in the Community Service industry is to mentor each other. This is where we bounce ideas and strategies off other trusted managers. Life does not seem as much of a burdon. In competive business there are examples where this occurs. We have competive business managers in our group as well.

I often wonder if this situation is real or perceived, in that is it as bad as I beleive it to be or is it a stage of life I am going through. One answer I have come up with is to be positive about the things I have and to judge my successes on my goals not on what other people have or achieved. This makes life a lot easier to handle. Believe me I have a lot to be happy about when I take the time to apreciate it, and I am sure you do as well.

The WH&S stuff as I said above in other posts can be worked on with systems and resources. But at the end of the day there is no such thing as a 100% compliant business or service in this country as we simple do not and can not forsee all the risks. This is where your internal system will protect you. Consultation and documentation.

I would love to do what you are thinking about but I like my bright shinny things to much. I work and put up with the crap because it makes my time off so much more enjoyable as I can afford all the toys I want. No work no toys in my mind. I often say to friends that I would have been a hippie but capitalism got in the road and I am commited to it. My next goal is to be a grey haired nomad - I have the grey hair so my goal is achievable.

Set your goals. Ask yourself where do I want to be in One,Two, Three etc years time then start to make it happen. The planning and dreaming about these things is as good as actually doing it sometimes. I am currently planning an across Australia trip in June 2005. (Six months to go) The planning keeps me sane, focused and my mind off the work crap. In other words it keeps life and the world around me in perspective.

Hi Dingo
I am now in the second year of enforced retirement due to ill health after running my own business for 20 years. Only trouble was the daughter took over and tells me hugs and kisses is all I get in payment (hopefully you can do better). We have been surprised how we have managed to travel here and O/S since and are surviving, plus feeling better. If work has got to you, maybe worth seeing if you can lease out the business for two years and have a break, you then have the option to join the rat race again or just stay on the road. My bet is on the road again!
Ray

Dingo, theres a lot of things that can be done but Eric's right, its about negligence and practicability/foreseeability. Basically do what practical to protect from what's foreseeable. If you do that you're not negligent.

That said, a risk assessment is just an incident investigation from a different perspective and its pro-active not reactive. Workcover are there to enforce but also to assist. Get them involved, get their inspectors to come along and assist on a risk assessment or two, its does a couple of things, you learn what theyre looking for and they learn your fair dinkum about safety.

Good luck! my emails behind my pic if you want/need to talk more.

goodday mate
a smart man (i think ) once told me its no good waiting until U have enough money to go as you will Never Have Enough he said when your ready just do it
steve

Dingo
until January this year I ran a general medical practice in Canberra, employing up to five doctors and 12 staff altogether. I was working 55 hours a week, doing a lot of back up work outside that time, and doing a lot of waking at 0200 worrying about particular patients etc. The amount of effort running a business has increased recently, not to mention increasing amounts going out as staff super, indemnity insurance etc. The government wanted to keep medicare rebates for consultations the same as the cost of a family pizza, so I was making as much as you'd expect from all the effort and worry. The only good thing was that motor vehicles were a business expense.

So last September I went away for a week and had a long think about it all and decided to just say "F... it" So I gave everyone fair notice and in January we just closed down. Since then I have been doing a variety of medical jobs but without any ongoing or managerial responsibility (all care but no responsibility). I am making as much income by working four days a week, (but contributing vastly less to the health of the community I'd have to say). I wake up each day feeling quite euphoric and can't think why until I remember I don't have the practice to weigh me down. I actually look forward to work each day which is the opposite of how I felt in the last few years of running the practice. So far this year I've had a two week trip to the Kimberley, a one week trip to the Centre, and a week in Noosa - something I could only have dreamt of while being a GP.

I think more and more GPs are going to be doing what I've done.

So my advice is do your sums, see what you need to live on, step back away from the grind and make a decision about what you really want to do.

G'day Dingo,
I've read what the others have been saying and it's good to see so many positive responses; with nobody going off half-cocked and arguing.

What I have to say may not be all that relavent, but here goes....

Come tomorrow, it will be 34 years to the day since I joined the NAB; and I am still in their employ!!

I often think to myself and say to others that "life is not a dress rehearsal; you only get one chance to get it right" etc

I think to myself that I am wasting my life working for such a large organisation which couldn't give 2 hoots whether I live or die.

Then, last week, I read something on one of these "funny" emails that comes around. It said something like........

When we are at school, we long for the days when we can go to work and earn our own money.
When we are young teenagers we long for the day when we can drive.
When we get married, we (well some of us) long to have kids.
When we have new-borns, we long for them to grow a little so they can talk to us and play footy etc.
When they are 8 or 9 we wish they'd grow up and be self-sufficient teenagers.
When they're teenagers, we will they'd get their damn adolescence over and done with and POQ somewhere else.
When we are in our 40's we wish we could retire (that's ME now; 49).
When we get into our 50's we feel life is passing us by and wonder what we have achieved....we start to see some of our friends falling off the perch and think, flamin' hell I could be next!!

It went on to say that we should be "grateful" for every stage of our life and make the most of it. I'm trying to do this myself.....I have a young (2nd) family, so retiring early is not an option unless my lotto numbers come up.

I know it's off the track from your original post, but I suppose what it is saying is that we all need to keep things in perspective and make the most of what we have.

I like Willem's reply and really wish I had the balls to just up anchor, sell off a whole load of accumulated chattels and take the family on a never-ending "working holiday".....Trouble is, you and I know both know there would be serious challenges with that too and I would probably end up longing for the "piece of mind" that comes from having a steady job and permanent roof over the ol' scone.

I don't pretend to know anything about your industry, but being a banker who deals with self-employed people every day, I can certainly understand the type of issues which confront you. I hear it all the time how Gov't seems hell bent on destroying the fabric of the small enterprise. I've seen the bull-twang that issues from gov't departments....you'd swear it was generated by a computer that had been programmed by a 2 year-old kid.

I'd better stop now; I'm starting to froth at the mouth!!! LOL

Mate, please try to keep smiling and make it your business to get out into the bush (even just for a picnic with your loved-ones) at least once a month.....

Good luck and best wishes.....

Dingo and the others that have posted. The above is the best series of posts I have read on here. Nearly bought a tear to my eye. I hope that it works out for you Dingo and that you are soon on the road to see this great country of ours.

Once again, thanks to all who have posted, some very very fine words have been written.

i totaly agree John it has been well worth it to seek other opinions here, as your own group of friends is a bit limiting on topics like this especially when they have limited experience in the pressures and also going on the road.
i was hoping to get back on the forum last night but we had some problems with a pump and by the time i sorted that and had tea it was 1am.
i have to cook as i have no partner at present, (another reason to stay at the NAB Roachie) the last couple of relationships with good partners have lasted 3 + 5 yrs have mostly ended as a result of being over worked and over stressed i feel, so i suppose this plays a part in the way i feel as well.
i would love to hear from people that have made the decission to go on the road , why they did, how they plucked up the courage to, and what regrets and what benifits they have found and if they had their time over what would they do???
but perhaps this would be better on a new post???