I'm prefacing this by saying I know I sound like a dick, but hear me out. Also bit of a read
Some background: We have been dating for 8 years (apparently a long time) and have plans to move out from our parents house and start our lives together. We both agreed that we wanted to buy a house together and split the down deposit 50/50. We've tried living together for week periods at a time, so we're not worried, and feel that'll be a good start since were on the same page.
5 years ago, my girlfriend started her own art business. She had dropped out of high school at the end of grade 12 (has like 5 courses left to do get her diploma) and decided she's not gonna get some piece of paper since she doesn't need it. Ever since, she's been working on her business with her mom and trying to get it off the ground. I've been going to uni, got a degree, and am now working fulltime. The problem is with her business, from my pov, it's not sustainable and it's not going to support us in any way.
She tries to sell all sorts of art: ceramic figures, paintings, little cute art displays (faerie gardens, etc), light fictures, painted wood products, faux flower arrangements, blankets, a ton of stuff. She usually buys like a premade product from Michael's and then paints it and adds some of her flavour to make it better. She goes to trade shows, opened her own online store, attempted etsy selling, and has tried to get funding to open a physical location.
When she started and even until now, I've been completely supportive. I've gone with her to trade show, helped setup, sell stuff, tried giving her input on what could work, talked with her about plans, the list goes on. I've given a lot of my time to try and help her, but in the end it's her business and something she manages.
Basically her business has not made any money in all these years but she's spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on product that she still has in her house (products don't sell that well) with money that she got from her dad. Her business, from a management and growing pov, has not changed since day 1. She hasn't focused on a product line, keeps making new products for every show, and doesn't have the experience to know how to run a business profitably.
At this point, with her growing credit card debt, lack of money, and challenge of running this business, I'm getting tired, man. I can't support this anymore, I want our future to move forward and I can't do it alone. I want her to quit this business and find a regular job where you make an hourly wage. How do I go about bringing this up? How can I ask her to quit something she's invested so much into? Like to make it a hobby or something at the least?
TLDR; Gf made her own art company for the last 5 years, makes no money and in debt, and I want to ask her to quit it, get hourly wage job, so we can move forward in our lives.
Some background: We have been dating for 8 years (apparently a long time) and have plans to move out from our parents house and start our lives together. We both agreed that we wanted to buy a house together and split the down deposit 50/50. We've tried living together for week periods at a time, so we're not worried, and feel that'll be a good start since were on the same page.
5 years ago, my girlfriend started her own art business. She had dropped out of high school at the end of grade 12 (has like 5 courses left to do get her diploma) and decided she's not gonna get some piece of paper since she doesn't need it. Ever since, she's been working on her business with her mom and trying to get it off the ground. I've been going to uni, got a degree, and am now working fulltime. The problem is with her business, from my pov, it's not sustainable and it's not going to support us in any way.
She tries to sell all sorts of art: ceramic figures, paintings, little cute art displays (faerie gardens, etc), light fictures, painted wood products, faux flower arrangements, blankets, a ton of stuff. She usually buys like a premade product from Michael's and then paints it and adds some of her flavour to make it better. She goes to trade shows, opened her own online store, attempted etsy selling, and has tried to get funding to open a physical location.
When she started and even until now, I've been completely supportive. I've gone with her to trade show, helped setup, sell stuff, tried giving her input on what could work, talked with her about plans, the list goes on. I've given a lot of my time to try and help her, but in the end it's her business and something she manages.
Basically her business has not made any money in all these years but she's spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on product that she still has in her house (products don't sell that well) with money that she got from her dad. Her business, from a management and growing pov, has not changed since day 1. She hasn't focused on a product line, keeps making new products for every show, and doesn't have the experience to know how to run a business profitably.
At this point, with her growing credit card debt, lack of money, and challenge of running this business, I'm getting tired, man. I can't support this anymore, I want our future to move forward and I can't do it alone. I want her to quit this business and find a regular job where you make an hourly wage. How do I go about bringing this up? How can I ask her to quit something she's invested so much into? Like to make it a hobby or something at the least?
TLDR; Gf made her own art company for the last 5 years, makes no money and in debt, and I want to ask her to quit it, get hourly wage job, so we can move forward in our lives.
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