Nice start in exploring a very important topic! I was an entrepreneur, a restaurateur, for 25 years. Whenever someone had worked for me for a few years, they started with the "you should share the profits with me" business. I did that once, and only once, because that employee quit soon after her first sizeable share of my profits, which as you describe above, were very hard come by at first. Then there are the middle of the night calls, the early morning "I have a toothache and can't be there in an hour" calls, the inspectors who find $10,000 of violations that have to be corrected within 30 days and, well, I started to feel like I was working my ass off just so all my employees could have a job, expecting me to take care of them. I toyed with the idea of putting up a big sign that said
Your mother doesn't work here
Ahahah... " Your mother doesn't work here." Yeah, the restaurant business is tough and I heard the profit margin isn't that high. Taking my hat off for your perseverance and toughness.
We made it, but not big. Enough. And now I am a tough old broad, so it's all good.
As George Bush senior responded to the question regarding the state of his health getting out of the hospital "it's better than the alternative" )))