There are things in life that are inevitable, love, death, taxes and the failure of a business. Knowing that doesn’t make the pain any easier to deal with so if you are facing the decision of when to quit and when to hang on, I have four pearls of wisdom (ahem, at least in my mind) for you to consider.
Did you give it your best shot?
Hindsight is 20/20 and when making the decision to close your business you seem to see all of your mistakes with the clarity of a blinking neon sign. The question is have you seen your successes? If you are not yet at the point where you can see your failures and successes with the same type of objectivity, then you are not ready to quit. This decision is like the end of a marriage, the pain is unavoidable but the lessons are so worth it.
Why are you quitting?
Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart so when you make the decision to leave you need to understand why owning a business is no longer in your plan. If you’re leaving because you have discovered that you can’t deal with the constant unknowns of being in business for yourself, because your brilliant idea was in the end not so brilliant or because it’s not where you can do your best work then you’ve taken inventory and have come to an informed decision. If you are quitting because it’s hard, you don’t like having to find customers or you should be a success already I would ask you to take another look. Are you leaving because things aren’t going your way or because you think it’s the best strategy?
What next?
If you haven’t given this some thought, then maybe I can understand the rush to quit. Long-term thinking isn’t your forte and in that case maybe a 9 to 5 is a better fit for you. But if you have spent the time, taken the shot and now realize that you will need an exit plan then you are fully capable of returning to your dream a little later or acknowledging that you tried it and it didn’t work. If the decision to quit is a knee jerk reaction to not winning a big account or not making your forecast, then you have bigger problems my friend.
How you leave is more important than what you’ve done
This is my best advice and I know that a lot of people won’t agree, but I’ve always thought that the measure of a person’s character is how they leave a situation. It’s easy to be all in when everything is going your way and you are having all the success you can handle, what’s difficult is to leave in a graceful manner when everything is going wrong. Very few people exit situations gracefully, but I truly believe that there is a lesson or a point to every situation. Maybe I learned that I am not as charming as I thought I was or that I wasn’t as smart as I believed, but if I haven’t learned something, anything I haven’t made the most of the situation and I am leaving in a way that doesn’t leave anything for the next person.
So knowing when to fold is as good as knowing when to go all in, but if the decision seems right and you’ve asked yourself all the tough questions then you are about to do something very hard and very brave…walk away.
Leaving a running business would never be an easy job because it is that is allowing your to say that you are self employed and also hiring peoples but now when you thinks it is the time to leave it’s really important to find an alternative to run the life as it was running.
Quitting would never be a wise decision according to viewers perspective so do what you thinks right and have a stable journey ahead like you did till date.
Great point Robinsh, that’s the point of the article-are you content with decision to leave yourself? Great comment, thanks!
Great article, Leona! Making the decision to leave your own business is not an easy one. I think people start a business but never consider an exit strategy. I think your suggestions will help entrepreneurs put things into perspective.
I never think that it is the time to stop running. It is a great informative and directive article. This matter will come naturally. So we should to overcome this, never stop.
I may be a few days’ late but I still think that this post is absolutely one of the most insightful I’ve come across today. I knew this was going to be a tough cookie for some when I read “Long-term thinking isn’t your forte and in that case maybe a 9 to 5 is a better fit for you.” Nice job!
Thanks John,
It’s tough to hear but sometimes we have to be told that we what we don’t want to hear. I’m glad the post was useful, that’s my goal!
Thanks for the comment Suhail, you make an excellent point!
Thanks Susan!
Dear All,
I have been running a business where my investments are not giving profits from the last 1 year or so, what i mean to say the income earned=expenditure, the initial investment made is not getting back not even the interest and also the depreciation coming in to picture which finally may put me in losses, can any one suggest now when should i stop business or should i continue