For many professionals, the idea of becoming a business owner comes after years of doing everything right: building a career, developing expertise and taking on more responsibility. At some point, though, the question can shift from how far you can progress in a corporate role to whether that role still gives you the working life you actually want.
For Australians thinking about that next step, buying an established business can be a practical route into entrepreneurship. Rather than starting from scratch, entrepreneurs through acquisition step into a business with customers, systems and trading history already in place. It still carries risk, but it can offer a more grounded way to take control of your future than building a new venture from zero.
This article follows the story of Richard Hand, a UK entrepreneur who spent more than two decades in financial services before leaving corporate life to launch an indoor leisure business. Although Richard’s experience took place in Britain, many of the lessons he learned about work-life balance, financial pressure and knowing when to move on will resonate with prospective business buyers in Australia.
Alongside Richard’s story, we’ll also draw on findings from BusinessesForSale.com’s UK Ownership Economy Index 2026. The survey reflects the views of UK adults rather than Australians, but it offers a useful snapshot of how experienced professionals are thinking about career security, business ownership and the possibility of building a different kind of working life.
Choosing Business Ownership Over Corporate Life
Richard Hand spent more than 20 years in financial services and consulting, including senior roles with the UK’s Big Four accounting firms, before finding himself increasingly worn down by the demands of corporate life.
Constant travel, long hours and a punishing commute between Eastbourne and London left him feeling as though he had lost control of his work-life balance. In 2016, he decided to take a different path, leaving behind a successful corporate career to launch an indoor trampoline park business called Urban Jump.
Although the opportunity looked promising on paper, getting the business off the ground required a substantial financial commitment. Richard spent much of that year juggling his consulting career with raising finance, securing premises, overseeing the fit-out and preparing the business for launch. Much of the project was debt-funded from the outset, with loans secured against his personal assets.
Looking back, he describes the arrangement as “incredibly risky”, admitting that he underestimated just how much financial exposure he was taking on. The pressure only grew when he realised he was effectively “the only person with skin in the game”, meaning he would shoulder almost all of the consequences if the business failed.
The Challenge of Building From Scratch
Part of the challenge was the nature of the business itself. Unlike many service businesses, Urban Jump required significant investment before it could generate meaningful revenue. Premises had to be secured and fitted out, specialist equipment installed, staff recruited and systems put in place long before customers started coming through the door. As a result, Richard spent years servicing debt while simultaneously trying to grow the business.
Not every entrepreneurial venture demands that level of upfront investment, but his experience highlights the importance of understanding exactly what a business will require before you commit to it.
For prospective buyers, that is one of the biggest advantages of acquiring an established business rather than building one from scratch. When you purchase an existing company, you are buying proven operations as well as the opportunity itself. Customers, suppliers and processes are already in place, and careful due diligence should give you a much clearer picture of the company’s financial position before you complete the deal.
Acquiring a business still involves risk, and many purchases require financing, but it can remove some of the uncertainty and upfront costs associated with launching an entirely new company. For experienced professionals looking to reinvent their careers, that often makes business ownership feel like a more realistic next step.
Tip: If you’re considering buying a business, read our guide to financing a business acquisition for a detailed breakdown of deal structures, funding options and common mistakes first-time buyers make.
Why More Professionals Are Rethinking the Nine-to-Five
Richard’s story also illustrates an important mindset shift. The goal should not simply be to escape an unsatisfying job; it should be to move towards an opportunity that genuinely fits the life and career you want to build. Without careful planning and thorough due diligence, it is possible to trade one kind of pressure for another. Done well, however, entrepreneurship through acquisition can offer greater control over your work, your finances and your future.
That changing attitude towards corporate careers is reflected in BusinessesForSale.com’s UK Ownership Economy Index 2026. While the research represents UK respondents rather than the Australian population, many of its findings echo broader conversations about work, lifestyle and long-term career security.
According to the survey, 60% of UK adults believe corporate careers are less secure than they used to be, while 58% of people aged 45–55 agree that workers are increasingly turning to business ownership after leaving corporate roles. The survey also found that 57% of UK adults believe workers over 50 face significant barriers to progressing in corporate careers, while 76% think older workers struggle to find new jobs.
For experienced professionals, those figures point to a wider question. If traditional career paths no longer feel as secure or satisfying as they once did, business ownership can offer another way to put hard-earned skills to use.
One of the survey’s most striking findings concerned fulfilment. Among UK respondents, 82% of business owners said they felt fulfilled in their work, compared with 60% of employees. That reflects something many entrepreneurs describe regardless of where they live: the chance to build something on your own terms can be just as important as the financial rewards.
A Third Act, Not the End of the Story
Despite successfully building Urban Jump, Richard eventually reached another crossroads. After battling to keep the business afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic – and dealing with a major insurance claim that ultimately collapsed – he realised he had fallen out of love with the company he had spent years creating.
Rather than continuing for the sake of it, he decided it was time to move on. Urban Jump was listed on BusinessesForSale.com and sold in April 2026, bringing one chapter of his entrepreneurial journey to a close.
When I asked Richard what he had been doing since the sale, he said he had taken time to recover and decompress after nearly a decade of running the business. Retirement briefly crossed his mind, but it was not an idea that lasted for long.
“One of the ideas was just to sit out for a while and retire,” he says. “But I think that’s not me.”
Instead, he is already thinking about what comes next. The difference this time is that experience has reshaped what success means to him. Building another business still appeals, but he wants his next venture to be driven by opportunity rather than necessity.
As he puts it: “I don’t want to feel like I’m fighting to survive. I want to feel energised by fighting to grow.”
