I was self employed from 94 to 2008 when I sold the business.
I bought the business from existing owner. To buy the existing business I had to put everything I had on the line, cleaned out all savings and even borrowed money from the current owner. I increased sales 10 fold in those 14 years. I enjoyed many aspects of owning/running a business. The worst was employees. I had usually about 10-12 employees. Relatively highly skilled (tool and die makers). One bad employee can kill the whole crew. It got to the point that I was going to either sell, get rid of problem customers/employees and scale down or just close the doors and walk away. I was fortunate to sell just before the economy tanked. All the years I owned the business there were several employees who made more than I did. The big pay off for me came when I sold the business. It allowed me to retire at 50. If I had to do it over I would do some things differently. Live and learn.
I did not give raises every year, but I paid for health Ins. 100 percent. that was a killer. You have one guy in the group have a bad year and the rates would go up 35 percent. You could jump to different carriers then the next year they would jump 50-60 percent. You have to show the employees how much thier benefits cost you. When I started showing them they could not believe it. In my business I would say it ran 35-50 percent of their pay.
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