BizBloke:
Naijacutee,

It seems you're emotionally tied in with it. Go with option 2 if there's not much time for 1. Then, inform your existing clients of change in ownership.

Cheers.

cremeandchic:

My exact sentiment-she's emotionally attached to the business. This is more than a business to her, it'a passion.

Naijacutee if i'm to advise you i'll say, don't sell the business. It's really not easy to build a busjness from the scratch these days. Think of all the hard work you put in to get it to where it is today.

I know that you are very busy right now and may not have time to run the business but why not sell a percentage of the business-bring a partner in who would be involved in the day to day running of the business and at the end of the month/year/quarter, both of you would share profits. That way, you would still own and be a part of your business but wouldn't be involved in day to day runing of the businesw which is what consumes your time.

Seun:
Considering your priorities, option 2 is better, but you should sell it to someone who won't need to disturb you once s/he takes over the biz. Yes, the business may fail after you sell it, but that would not be your problem anymore. You're sacrificing it for something more important.

naijacutee:
@i1 I think the issue with the offer I have is that I want it to be a success, but I might not be able to commit to holding someone's hand for any length of time. Like @BizBloke said, I'm quite emotionally vested in it, because I have nurtured it for a long time and I know what potential it has. More importantly, I don't want to mess relationships with my existing regular customers. I have really good quality customers who pay on time and before seeing products and this is based on trust built over the years. This is very important to me. This also explains why I am slightly apprehensive of the possibility of it failing as @Seun has highlighted. It's a huge sacrifice it to make if I decide to sell, because I want my hard work to be improved on rather than thrown down the drain!

@Creamandchic your option isn't bad but then with partnerships, the issue is similar to hiring an employee. Where do I get a good partner that shares the same values as me, and has the time to dedicate to it?

naijacutee:
Hi everyone,

I have a small situation which I would like to put out there and hear the general consensus on. Nairalanders who know me might have noticed a drastic reduction in my activity levels here which has been due to additional responsibilities in my personal life, restricting the amount of time I have to spare. I had a beautiful baby earlier in the year, and this has also meant that I have had less time to manage my Nigerian business which I run from the UK.

The business:
I have run a website since 2007 selling wholesale items to retailers/small business people (mostly repeat customers) in Nigeria. In this time, I have grown an e-mail subscription list of about 250 members the hard way (opted in, not bought), a Twitter account with 136 followers (voluntary, not bought) and a Facebook page with about 3,000 followers (voluntary, not bought). This has all been done with minimal advertising as I have run the business alongside my existing life - while I was at University, and while working a full time job. I have been able to manage things until now, as I get zero time during the day to go online. I currently have about N180,000 worth of stock in Lagos, and about N70,000 credit due for collection from customers.

The issue:
Since I've had my baby, the site has really taken a back seat as my priorities have changed. I did promise myself that when I started having kids, that I wouldn't want my work to compete for my attention with the kids, and as such I am willing to hands off this business, but the problem is how to go about it. At this point, I see 2 options, which I need advice on. I have already received some advice, but I'd like to hear more opinions.

Option 1: I can hire a manager to run the entire site and operations and offer a performance-based salary. The issue with this is that I have to train up someone, correct mistakes etc and I don't know if I'll be able to find a fast learner who can treat the business like his/hers.
Option 2 is that I can sell the site, stock, suppliers details, shippers details, customer credits etc to an entrepreneur who wants things readymade. The issue with this is that will such a person be committed enough not to run the business into the ground? I have had an offer from a guy in the UK who was interested in buying the business, and we even worked together for a little bit, but my issue was that he is a young British guy who knows nothing about Nigerian customers, although he was quite eager to learn and I didn't want him taking costly experiments.

I'd really like to hear what you all would do in my shoes. Thanks