ok. i currently work with my mum, her friend and my friend at a very succesful grooming salon. my mum (without being cheeky :o ) cant really take the physical strain grooming puts on your body, so is taking a new direction in terms of career. now i have 2 choices take over the current salon, which has; grooming room, bathing and drying room, 2 daycare rooms, reception area, kitchen and toilet (and an area out back for some reason that we arent allowed on:S) thats one choice. the other is (we are moving house) getting a portacabin outback and working on my own. this would mean less hours, less dogs but more time to do other things (as i have 2 jobs its hard make time for myself and my own lovely doggies). i know this is long, but, this is completely my decision and find myself at a bit of a crossroads. what would everyone else do if it was up to them? any questions anyone has will be very much appreciated, as i think in answering them will make my decision easier if that makes sense :).
thanks in advance
xx

also sorry about the 'subject' couldnt decide what to put so went with that haha :)

If you want to work from home, you'd be best to find out for starters before you decide to leave your other premises, if you need planning permission or building regs for a portacabin to be put in your garden from your local Council. 

When we started up our Cattery in our back garden, (the units are wooden/mesh construction) we applied for planning permission an got it fortunately but I know what neighbours can be like so I wanted to make sure we did everything by the book beforehand so we had no come back on it.

You dont want to go to the trouble of leaving your other premises and buying/renting a portacabin only to find you need to remove it because of a complaint from neighbours.  :)

I do sympathise with the decision process having just gone through a similar choice.

Do you enjoy what you do at the moment? Do you want to keep the salon going and perhaps consider taking on another member of staff?
If you give up the salon, will you have to pay redundancy to the 2 friends who work there?
Assuming you get planning permission to work from home, will you also have to apply change of use to business premises etc etc? Do you like being alone for a lot of the day? can you manage financially with a drop in income only dealing with a reduced number of dogs? Could you combine with doggy day care at home, how about splitting the grooming and taking on Dog Walking so that you get out and see people too?

What do you do with either business if you are on holiday, who runs it then?

Good Luck with your decision, hope you can find an ideal balance.

Will you be able to take your client base with you?  I would love a ready-to-go salon but the over-heads are a major consideration and you wouldn't have so many working from home but the salon is more professional looking.  Saying that, I work form home and my clients don't mind my DIY set-up so long as I do a good job on the pooches!
If you want to make a real business and serious money, I'd go with the salon.
If you want to make your own hours and have it as a side/parttime job, I'd go with the portacabin.