Hi Jeannie...

There are too many variables and unknowns for anyone to be able to tell you when it will all pay off for you. We don't know your market size etc. If you're in a town of 300 people...it may never pay off. However, if you're in a major metro market...it could be tomorrow.

I have several companies and none paid off in the same time-frame. My oldest was started in 1989...while it grew steadily each year it seemed to take most of the profit to support its growth, so I was living below the poverty level for many years. At about the 12 yr mark, it had grown to the point that it was spinning off more profit than it needed to support its growth. What I've made over the last 7 or 8 yrs has more than made up for the years of poverty. I can tell you there were plenty of times during the struggle I felt just like your husband. In fact, one of the partners did leave during that period, his wife was tired of him not making enough money. I tried to talk him out of it, but his wife was riding him too hard and to keep his family in tact he felt he had to leave. He's a good friend, still struggling to make a good living working for someone else when had he stayed with the company, based on his share of it, he would have been making almost $200k/yr for the last 7 or 8 yrs.

I commend you for supporting the idea of your husband sticking with it...I'm sure he feels in his heart of hearts that he's letting you and the baby down...just assure him he's not.

I don't know your "industry standards" or where you're located and how it's done there. I'm in Los Angeles and here they charge for everything. Any kind of service company has a travel charge that covers the drive time between calls that would be unbillable otherwise. Then they have a minimum service call. I had my refrigerators ice-maker repaired recently and I was hit with a $35 travel charge, $55 service call, and then parts and labor. If he doesn't already, have him get set up to take credit cards...by taking credit cards, it will minimize the time he has to spend billing customers and waiting for payment etc. Again, if he hasn't already...have him get in touch with local developers to sub-contract their plumbing work. At some point he'll hit a wall. He'll be billing 40hrs a week and will be up against having to hire another person. This means in the early days of the new employee, a part of his cost will have to be underwritten from you husbands 40hrs...so the struggle will continue. This is where many small businesses stall. There isn't enough work for 2, but too much for 1 so the owners won't "invest" in the growth and the business stalls.
It is an investment. He'll be investing in the new employees salary, and will get a return on it...this is where the others in business you see living the good life are making it. We all only have so many hours we can work and generate income, when we hire others, we make a profit on their efforts...then again he'll face it when there's too much work for 2, but not enough for 3. Now the investment will come from the profit he's making from the second employee instead of from his 40hrs...then eventually, he'll be making a profit from the efforts of 2 people.

If you ever need a pep-talk just email me...I'll do what I can
Good luck...
Denny