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I was just going over the revenue for my business this year so far and comparing it to the previous. In this process I have noticed how many mistakes I have made in my plans for this business (aka not really having one). I missed many opportunities which in hindsight are easy to spot.
Worse, I am a STEM graduate and in this business I am currently making slightly less than I could have made by going straight into a profession two years ago. I can see now that to expand this business to the next logical step would require a lot of investment and work, and the gain in revenue wouldn't be a huge amount. Again, I could make more in a profession with the amount of time required, unless this business was wildly successful to the point of getting to multiple outlets.
I have regrets about not thinking this through properly and I feel like I am now far behind my peers from my university who went straight into professions or grad school. They have three years on me and I feel like I will be playing catch up.
This business is more work than it's worth so I clearly need to leave it in the past. I just feel like I could have made more out of it if I had spotted these opportunities, and I might as well just not have started it anyway.
Fellow self-employed gal here.
Every mistake I made, dumb idea or whatnot always always came in handy later on. It doesn't mean you're behind your peers, it just means you got different experience than them. They took the traditional track and they're all similar, but you didn't. You've got more worthwhile experience, I'd argue, because you took a different path and learned new things.
Don't panic. It's easy to catch up in STEM
Here's something I saw recently that helped me out:
I'm also a bit of a perfectionist so for some reason this image really stuck with me and helped me become kinder towards myself when I inevitably make mistakes, because we really do become stronger that way. There's no such thing as catch up when it comes to life decisions, imo. I didn't follow a traditional path either but I'll never ever regret my choices and what I learned from them. I was doing the best I could at the time and so were you. Agreed you should ignore your family's derision and be grateful that you get to make your own path in this world. :) Sorry if some of this sounds platitudinous; I do believe every word of it.
You may have already done this/considered this, but have you had another pair of eyes on the business? A good coach/consultant/strategist might be able to see solutions you haven't thought of yet. You may have already made up your mind, and if that's the case, so be it. It's your decision to make. It's just that there is so much more room for growth (personal, and financial) and freedom in owning your own business vs a traditional job. It's not for everyone, and there is certainly a time to put things to rest, just some things to ponder if you haven't already.
it sounds like you have very high standards for yourself, and i bet you've been successful at a lot more than you acknowledge. have you tried to make a list of all of the victories you HAVE accomplished?