Background:
I graduated from a 4-year college in 2021 with a degree in business administration. Prior to my senior year, I moved into an apartment near the college for the summer (2020). I obviously needed a job to pay the bills, this is where I would end up meeting my current boss. I started off as his first employee (we now have 5 employees including myself) at $15/hour (not much, I know, but is was better than any other company that was hiring in the area). I stopped working to finish out my senior year, and then continued working for him after graduation. From the summer of 2020 to to October of 2021 I received two raises to $23.50/hour as well as the occasional bonus, but since then, I have not received a raise nor do I have any type of benefits other than 10 days of paid vacation.
A side note:
I truly do enjoy working for this company. I continued to work with him after graduation, despite not really using my college degree, because I believed in the business that he wanted to grow. I also grew fond of him as a friend who would often give me great advice on whatever issues I may have been facing. I believed that my compensation/benefits would grow exponentially as the company became more successful, that hasn't really been the case since October 2021. Also important, our latest new guy was hired on at $20/hour with the same amount of vacation time, he has absolutely no idea what he is doing, often times sitting doing nothing because he doesn't have the experience, this irritates the piss out of me as the experience level and work ethic between myself and the new guy is, to say the least, huge.
On to my dilemma:
I have received an offer of employment from another company that is looking to break into the industry that I have experience in. In my current company, my title is technically laborer, but I operate in the same capacity as the crew leads in the company. With the new offer, my title would be crew lead and I would be working closely with the two owners of the company to expand their services into my industry. This would include training their current/new employees, helping with estimates, planning/running jobs, and ensuring that the addition of these new services goes smoothly. They are offering me $30/hour, 10% commission on any jobs/leads I bring to the company, vacation time, health care within the year, a company vehicle, among some other minor things. I problem I am having is that I am feeling guilty for going behind my bosses back and finding/accepting a position at a competitors company, mostly because the last couple of months have been extremely hard on my boss (unexpected bills, loss of profits, scheduling errors, issues with company equipment, and boss' mother's recently passed away). I feel guilty for wanting to take the new job and leave my current one. In a way, I feel as though I am betraying my boss, and friend. I feel terrible for wanting to leave and better myself, I don't want to burn bridges with anyone as he has treated me very well, but I feel as though I have a responsibility to stay because of all of the stress that my boss has endured over the last couple of months.
Any advice would be appreciated.