Jason Miller helps influential brands and celebrities create generational wealth with their businesses | CEO, Strategic Advisor Board.
Have you thought about calling it quits on your startup? It’s hard to imagine quitting your business, especially if you’ve put years into trying to make it grow and work. You may feel disappointed or ashamed. But you shouldn’t.
Even though I wish I could help every entrepreneur out there succeed, I want to help you be realistic about where you are in your business and your life. I wish I could just say if you keep working hard, you’ll eventually succeed in your startup, but based on personal and professional experience, I know sometimes it’s better to move on to something else.
When you’re starting out as an entrepreneur, you see everything in a positive light. What you’re doing now isn’t easy, and I want to congratulate you on setting your pride aside so you can see your situation from a realistic perspective.
Here are four key areas you should look at to see if quitting your startup is the right move.
It doesn’t bring you happiness.
Don’t downplay how important your happiness is in helping you maintain your business at a high standard. You probably know by now that it takes a serious amount of self-motivation to be a business owner. And if you’re not feeling happy at your startup anymore, then you’re less likely to continue being self-motivated.
You could also be feeling bored and no longer interested in solving the problems you originally were invested in. Maybe you feel like you want to try something new and different with your career, maybe even completely switch industries.
It isn’t bringing in financial abundance.
Many businesses fail due to cash flow problems. Otherwise, it’s usually because there was no market need for the product or service. No matter how much you love your business and what you do, you can’t do it for free. You probably have many financial responsibilities to worry about like your mortgage, loans and providing for your family.
There’s a lot of pressure to do what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur and to bring in the amount of money you need for your financial obligations. If you have to quit your startup to work a 9-5 job, you shouldn’t feel discouraged and ashamed of having to go back. You still learned and grew from your experiences as an entrepreneur, and it all comes down to doing what’s best for you and your family.
You’ve stopped caring/feel burned out.
Burnout is so prevalent in entrepreneurship. I’ve not only seen it among colleagues, but I’ve experienced it myself. Up to a certain point, you may be able to handle burnout, since everyone’s tolerances are different. But if you get to that endpoint where you can’t force yourself to get out of bed in the mornings to work on your business, then you’ve stopped caring about it and are most likely feeling tired and overwhelmed regardless of how much rest you get.
Burnout doesn’t just include physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion, which is the loss of motivation. Tasks that you used to do with no problem or complaint now seem daunting and undoable.
Your relationships may also feel less fulfilling and more negative. These relationships could be related to your business, such as the ones you have with your employees, but they can also include relationships in your personal life. When you’re feeling burnout in your business, that type of exhaustion usually doesn’t just stay within your business.
You’ve stopped learning.
Think back to that feeling when you first started your entrepreneurial journey. Remember how everything was exciting and fresh and you couldn’t consume information fast enough? You probably craved learning new things that helped grow your business and expand your knowledge.
The beginning stages of entrepreneurship are so exciting partly because of the thrill of the unknown. Problem-solving is a challenge you gladly accept. When you’ve stopped getting excited about the challenges, and problem-solving feels more like a burden, that’s a sign that growth and learning are coming to a halt. And if you’ve stopped learning and growing as a person and business owner, you’ll feel unfulfilled in your current role, which will lead to resentment.
Knowing when to quit your startup isn’t an easy and straightforward decision or a checklist to confirm if it’s the right time. If it isn’t bringing you financial abundance and you continue to need other sources of income, or if it’s becoming a financial burden for you and your loved ones, it might be an indication to quit. And if you’ve come to the point where you feel indifferent about your lack of motivation or you’ve stopped pursuing your love of new knowledge that comes with owning a business, it might be time to move on to newer and better things.
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