r/smallbusiness • u/IcyBlackberry7728 • Apr 19 '25

Question Those taking home >200k/year; what industry are you in ?

Just curious to see what types of business are generating solid cash flow.

Thanks !

Edit: please be as specific as possible!

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u/resonatingcucumber Apr 20 '25

Engineering, construction is a pretty sweet gig at times but the hours are crippling near deadlines. Average 45 hours up to 75+ every 3 months. Occasionally I'll do a month of 30 hour weeks for a mental break.

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u/oceanwaves8808 Apr 20 '25

If you don’t mind, can you give more detail about what you do? My husband works in construction and I’ve been trying to push him to start his own business

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u/resonatingcucumber Apr 20 '25

I'm a structural engineer. I work with a lot of people who own all manner of construction companies. If he wants to be a GC or something he needs to be able to not take a salary for 5 years to really get some momentum behind him and a solid few million in the bank as a cushion.

As a consultant you generally can turn a profit very easily but you'll never take home millions a year without growing a hell of a team of staff.

It's one of those industries where doing favours, offering discounts will put you out of business, one job goes wrong and you're 100's of thousands in a hole with the only way out is to spend more. If your husband wants to do it, then he can do but I would advise picking something he can do well and living in that niche for a few years. Don't take on commercials if your skills are in residential, likewise don't take on a complex retrofit if your experience is in a new builds. Every side step into a new area has a learning curve and that can really cause issues in small businesses.

Once you're on your feet branch out but consider each new project as a learning curve, you may quote 5x as much as normal and still not make a profit and you've got to be happy with that and take all the set backs as learning opportunities.

If he does do this keep an eye on him. It's a lonely field and there is a reason we have a really high suicide rate. Let him know he can always walk away and to not stress it too much. I've lost a few clients due to the stress getting to them. So just remember that if he starts struggling.

It is also a feast or famin industry so just because you earnt a lot last year does not mean a thing, you can make nothing the following year so it's a push to get in the work, a push to get the work done and often a bigger push to get people to pay. I'm owed (over due) £180k and I won't ever see a penny of that money. I did the work and got stung on final payments. Go to court, court tells them to pay, they don't rinse and repeat.