Thinking about quitting your business? That’s completely normal.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy.

When you see everybody else on social media who make it look easy and perfect, it seems like you’re the only one who has challenges.

I had a client ask me if I ever think about quitting and I said, “Yes, sometimes twice a day.”

And I have quit businesses. That’s how I’ve had 8 of them.

Sometimes the idea of quitting is the brain’s way of getting relief from a challenging problem or overwhelm. It does its best to offer a solution, “Just quit the whole thing.”

Is the idea of quitting real though?

The truth is, most of the time for me, it’s my brain’s way of copping out.

And when I actually quit, I knew in my gut I was done and I had a clear direction to go in.

In 2020, I had been running a jewelry business for 9 years.  In that business, I started out doing craft shows, then had a public studio with retail space. I also sold jewelry via consignment, and wholesale, and taught classes.

I was also running my coaching business from home.

But after we came back from lockdown in the summer of 2020, I felt dread about making jewelry and doing customer service. I was completely burnt out. It had been in the back of my mind for a while, and I decided to let it go even though it was half of my income.

A colleague who is a business consultant convinced me to sell it instead of quitting. I went through the process of clarifying my assets and putting the business up for sale. There were some promising nibbles, but it was 2020, so no one was willing to bite.

I was so done, I was determined to let it go by the end of that year. And gratefully, in December 2020, someone from out of town responded to my Craigslist ad.  They ended up buying all of the assets at a price I was happy with.

The burnout and clarity in my gut, combined with the vision and motivation to grow my coaching business are what kept me on track with quitting the jewelry business.

I no longer had a vision for my jewelry business and I had a clear direction to go in. Part of letting go of the past business was the desire to grow my coaching business.

How do you know when to let it go or keep going?

Is the idea of quitting just your mind giving you some relief, or is it distracting you from your purpose and moving forward with your business?

The big questions are:

Do you still have a vision for your business?
Are you willing to keep growing and showing up for it?

(Or do you have the motivation and means to do something else?)

Is it just that you need a break? Or possibly some professional support?

Do you need a different business model?

Could you shift from individual clients to group programs?

Do you want to have a wait list instead of more hustle marketing that doesn’t bring much return?

Your business is uniquely yours. It’s impossible for anyone else to know what’s in your heart.

And sometimes it’s a good idea to talk it through with someone who understands the process.

As an entrepreneur, you are in a process you can’t control. You don’t have to do it alone. Having support through the process of growth is priceless.

I support clients in 2 phases of business:

1- Early to mid-growth phase. You are starting or have started your business, and want to create more growth and momentum. You may think about quitting because it’s taking longer than you expected to get momentum.

Often in this phase, you need to focus on solidifying your marketing strategy & sales system, refining money habits, and getting more confidence in decision-making and being a business owner. It’s a lot of clarifying goals and prioritizing your next steps (& reducing overwhelm), and creating flow and momentum for you to move forward. It’s also learning business skills and refining your marketing, sales, and mindset.

Clients in this phase who work with me leave with more confidence and clarity to keep growing their businesses.

In 6 months, one client in this phase up-leveled her business by increasing her income in 2 income streams and creating a new income stream.

2- At a growth plateau & ready to optimize. You have hit a plateau in growth in your current business model and it’s time to create more leverage. You are busy but see burn out around the corner & it’s time to shift your business model to serve you and your customers better.

You’re ready to create a more balanced & sustainable model of business for your lifestyle. At this phase, you may focus on what you really want your life to look like and how to work your business around that. Then you dive in to create it. It’s amazing to see the shifts that can happen in 6-12 months of this process.

In less than 12 months, one client in this phase went from selling individual sessions to selling 24 sessions at a time, she raised her rates, up-leveled her marketing, had her best income month ever, and has a wait-list for individual sessions.

If you want more momentum, are burnt out, or are craving a new structure for your business, consider talking it through in a call with me.