In the past couple of weeks, I’ve met several entrepreneurs that are ready to walk away from their businesses for a variety of reasons. In other words, they are ready to quit. The themes are very similar and I’d like to share them with you for two reasons. If you haven’t started your entrepreneurial dream yet, go in with eyes wide open and make sure you are ready to make the commitment, it isn’t easy. I always recommend giving yourself at least 2 years so you can learn and fight through the tough times. If you have started your business, keep at it, everyone is struggling with similar issues - those who are able to persevere in this environment and succeed in this environment will undoubtedly be rewarded in the future. You are not alone, your issues are not unique, and my message is as always DON’T QUIT!
Now, to the top 5 quitting reasons:
1. I’m out of cash. I admit this one is tough and I’ve run into this one before as well personally. This is where the best entrepreneurs shine the most. Even when reality sets, the best entrepreneurs are capable of juggling priorities by focusing and executing on the most important thing - get cash in the door and reducing expenses drastically. The easiest way to finance your company is to bring sales in, are you being creative? Are you out there selling? It’s all about survival, I’ve seen entrepreneurs take on side gigs for the company only to discover another avenue for the business and thrive. When you’re pushed to the brink, that’s the real test for the entrepreneur - will you take the easy way out or will you keep pushing? Don’t let cash kill your dreams and your business. Use your entrepreneurial survival instincts and push!
2. It is just not fun anymore. I can’t get up each morning and be excited about the business. Well, folks, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t know any entrepreneur that can honestly say they get up excited about their business every day. Out of all the reasons to quit, I find this one to be the most annoying. I think there are two ways to look at this. 1 - why do you feel entitled to a job that is fun? Perhaps, a visit to a developing country where opportunities are at a premium will help you realize that just having an opportunity is a huge thing to be thankful for. 2- what defines fun and meaningful to you? Isn’t that what you make of it? I don’t care what you do, you can control your attitude and have fun despite the circumstances. Lastly, it’s really easy to start a business, but it’s really hard to exit a business successfully. If you’ve started a business, remember back to when you started the business with passion and see it through. It’s just too easy to quit, don’t do it.
3. I feel alone and unable to fight the naysayers. Whether it be family, friends, or even investors - you keep hearing maybe it’s time to hang up the towel and move on to a “real” job. You’re starting to feel the criticism just a bit more and it’s causing you to consider quitting. Trust me, you are not alone in your feelings and in your circumstances. You need to get into community of people who will push you, listen to you, and encourage you. Stay far away from those negative folks, the last thing you need to hear is them yapping, you’ve got enough dealing with yourself. Of course, if it’s your family, I understand it’s not easy to do that. Look for entrepreneur networks, start your own accountability group that meets monthly, grab a few entrepreneurs and trade war stories at happy hour. Get some positive perspective, some hope, some inspiration. I’m a part of EO and absolutely love the organization. Find that network.
4. The work/life balance is killing me, I’m aching for the 9-5. Personally, I don’t think this is the right perspective. Why do we always want to bifurcate our lives into work and life? Once you view work as work, it’s pretty easy to burn out and feel unbalanced because when you put in extra hours it feels like you are taking away from another part of your life. What if work and life was really part of who you are rather than at odds with each other? What if your family believed in what you were doing and participated as part of a shared mission and bought into the vision? You would enjoy the journey together and support each other through the good and tough times. I’m trying not to make this trite, but when you view work as something you have to do, you will burn out and the work/life balance will really bother you. Once you are able to grab onto vision, it will permeate throughout your life, family, and who you are - work/life balance will never become a question you have to answer because it never becomes a question. I hope that makes sense.
5. I’ve got a great new idea that I’m more passionate about. I hate to be cynical, but how are you going to be able to make the new idea a success if you can’t see your current company through? I, like many entrepreneurs, have ideas that constantly flow through our minds that seem very compelling. But, the mark of a great entrepreneur is focus and execution. Not many are able to do it. If you have investors that have entrusted their capital to you, employees and customers that depend on you, your responsibility to carry through is even greater. Especially in times of crises, you are needed even more! Stick with it, you’ll learn far more during times of duress than when things are rosy or brand new. Keep executing and kick butt.
I’ve heard other excuses as well - I don’t like my team, I’m in the wrong business, the business model doesn’t work, I’m not the right person, etc. The excuses to quit are plentiful, the reasons to stay in the game especially when times are tough are few. I think the call of the entrepreneur is so much more than just ourselves and our individual businesses and when we finally realize that, we have fun, we have purpose, we have real passion, we have just a little more hope, a little more inspiration, and perseverance to make it. The world needs you to push a little harder and show that there is creativity, hope, and inspiration. It’s a bigger calling. If you’re not in the game, get in. If you’re in the game, stay in. Share your war stories below - Why haven’t you started your business? Does entrepreneurship scare you? Why are you considering quitting? What’s keeping you in the game?
Good stuff Andy. As always. Keep it on the edge.
Hello, Andy,
I just want to let you know your article is very much inspiring.
I just have a video game store in Chicago and your article is very helpful.
http://cybknight.com
Excellent post! Always insightful and a good read.
The only quitting I think about is long term — over the next 10 years, is my industry changing in a way that I cannot (or don’t want to) adapt to? But the beauty of a small business is extreme flexibility. Today we build computers. In 10 years, we might find ourselves purely doing design/consulting for major manufacturers.
In any case, quitting would be too wasteful! All the years of hard work to build the business…I think a lot of entrepreneurs who are thinking about quitting have forgotten what it was like in the beginning. Much easier to course correct than to throw away your momentum and start over.
Taxes and inane bureaucratic hurdles come up a lot in conversation with some entrepreneurs: I suppose those could fall under #1, #2 and #4….
What about:
6. We’re not hitting our targets, and the risks associated with raising more money are much higher than we anticipated they would be.
I guess I’m saying there are times when quitting is the right thing to do. You can’t base your decisions on how much has gone into a venture so far. Those are sunk costs, and you have to look forward.
That said, I’d hate to see entrepreneurs bail on something just because they are burned out a bit.
Great post!
For someone that is born-entrepreneur (me), i can’t see myself quit at all with those excuses (except, no.5 - which i learned about it at some point).
The reason: entrepreneurship is more of a way-of-life for me. I would feel much more miserable by the time i give up and start working in “real job” (that’s why i had a short-career history!). Life is too short to be spent in cubicle.
Guess that is one of the natural advantages of born-entrepreneur. The only time they quit is when death approach them.
Loved this post, Andy — I’ve definitely been there, in the thought process, but am so happy that I powered through, and that I had people to talk to to help with those dark days. People who could help me put things in perspective and see all that we’d accomplished, and what the real priorities were in front of us.
It definitely helps to have a team that you believe in, and who believe in the vision of the company. They help to put decisions in perspective, and to enforce brutal prioritization and take advantage of opportunities as they appear (even if it means long nights/weekends, after many of the same).
Having been through it, I’m a firm believer that 95+% of the reasons to quit can, and should, be overcome — the feeling coming out on the other side makes the struggle worth it.
My favorite piece from above was the thought change around the lack of a need to separate work & life. That they don’t need to be at odds — that realization has helped me a lot.
OK — not my most well thought through response… but really glad you shared this one.
Onward!
Dave
They should give you an effing Pulitzer Andy!
Really nice article Andy, thanks for posting it. Reminds me of how I have thought at various times that maybe it would be time to “pack it in” for one of my web ventures, especially after receiving an offer from someone to buy that particular site recently. At first I told myself, “there’s no way I would sell that site, even for a million dollars”. Then later I thought, after getting discouraged and thinking about how much work it was to maintain the site, “hmm maybe I could sell it and then I could ….”. I was beginning to entertain thoughts of selling it for a while, but something, some gut instinct, told me to just keep pressing on. I told myself “focus on my other, more lucrative projects, but keep up with minimal updates to the site when I have time.” The more time and development go into a site or venture, the more the valuation can increase over time.
So, I think the main keys to success in my opinion would be:
1) Making sure your business or website is really “firing on all cylinders” (of course the exact meaning of that will depend on you as an individual, but would typically involve of course social networking, a ton of marketing, developing business partners/contacts, etc).
2) Really tapping into all of your business’s potential (either current or future) through the optimal channels. [Analyze, assess, consult, apply, re-examine, follow through].
3) Realizing that true success does in fact typically take a long time and tons of work (”no pain no gain,” right?), and that, there may not be any guarantees, but, to the degree that you pour a large volume of hard work, planning, passion, contact/network-building, and strategic decision-making /execution, your odds of achieving “success” in your venture increase exponentially.
Happy venturing everybody, and let’s blast our way out of this sluggish global economy! ^^
One interesting question is is an acquisition a way to quit or an exit. How can you tell?
I think that we’re in an emotional time right now, the economy is weak, bad news is the only news, and the constant barrage can be draining. It’s never a good idea to make emotional decisions.
The sense of a mission is what keeps me in the game. That feeling of wanting to change the world, even by a little bit, drives the passion behind entrepreneurship. With that, there are no excuses. There is only the quest to continue in tough times, and the madness to seek out challenges.
Thank you for this, it came just at the right time.
Resonated with me…I’ve been this place…where I tell myself that I feel like I’m falling out of love with my Digital Marketing Agency and falling more in love with my TechBlog and monthly TechMeetup that I host….I am realising that that is a bunch of hog wash…and that what I need right now is a little break from things..so I’m taking a 4 day mini vacation…plus I’m getting more help to execute what I need to have done.
If you can’t get up and do it again you won’t be no good to anyone. If you fail, get up and try again. It’s not how many times you succeed but how many times you fail.
We have been fortunate enough to actually prosper in this economy. I can’t wait until things turn around, I might be able to quit my day job
Unfortunately I here about people getting down and wanting to quit all the time. There are a million reasons someone can come up with to quit.
Then what? How long do you have to be in a 9-5 before you get bored with that or you start thinking - damn I wish I worked for myself. Those are the real motivators - the other side of the fence or subsitutes for what you are doing now.
Entrepreneurs want to be in control of their future, and a 9-5 just isn’t that inducive to that mentality.
I’ve been an entrepreneur for about a year and a half now and I’m beginning to understand the different struggles that come up. All I can say is I’m glad I came across this post, it was exactly what I needed to read.
Thanks.
Andy,
A good post this morning and I enjoyed the thinking behind it.
I’d add one more item: “Responsibility”.
As entrepreneurs, we’ve probably hired people, and taken in money from family, friends, angels, or VC’s. While most people recognize the ‘risk profile’ required for a new startup, if they’re working for us, or have invested in us, we have a responsibility to give it our utmost. We might fail, but until that point, we need to recognize what we owe to the ‘risk capital and risk people’ that have entrusted their time and money with us.
Well said and spot on!!!!!!
This is great post on a topic that doesn’t get much air.
This post reminds me of Seth Godin’s book “The Dip”. Lots try, only a few succeed. Entrepreneurship is cool, exciting, rewarding… it’s the modern day version of being a basketball star…. many dream of making it to the NBA, but there are only a few (out of millions) that truly succeed… in entrepreneurship, there are many “young aspiring high schoolers”, but only one Kobe. Those who quit will never know what it feels like.
You’ve read my mind. It’s been hard for me this past couple of weeks and finally got my motivation back. This article just gave me the extra bump. Thanks.
Getting motivated in order to keep the venture going is one of the big challenges that every entrepreneur will face. However, I believe that the reward is going to be huge as long as someone is persistent enough to endure through all the things that are contained in the excuses that are listed above.
I would never quit my bizz!
Thanks Andy for the reminder that there are others out there who go through all the mind games that I have done for the past 8 years as a solo-preneur.
It’s those emotional edges that hold us (me) IN the game (in the form of EXCITEMENT & PASSION) as well as push us (me) OUT of the game in the flip side of FEAR and LETHARGY.
As one of my mentors reminds me, “Fear is simply Excitement without Breath”
Learn to master emotions, and you master your self.
Andy, great piece! You are great at getting me motivated and to keep moving forward! Thanks!
Great post. I’m currently working on a startup myself. And, yes there are times when I find myself wanting to quit, but post likes these really inspired me and push me forward.
Thanks!
Quitters do not win and winners do not quit!
Easier said than done. Aside from responsibility, quiting itself isn’t the evil, the hard part is to choose to quit the right thing at the right time, and one has to make sure he makes this decision out of rationale instead of impulse.
Your words are so to the point but the photograph tells it all.
It can be hard to carry on but one success makes it all worthwhile.
If you are tempted to toss in the towel, think of the last bad boss you had for a few moments. If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will!
Great post! Successful entrepreneurs take calculated risks. They know what they really want and where they are going. Thanks for inspiring others.
Thank you for the inspiring thoughts. I can tell you that I almost gave up many times but need and the will to make it kept me going. Today I measure my success by looking back and seeing how far I’ve gone.
Great article. A little too late in my case. Business up for sale and too far down the process to stop. But then I’m not giving up on entrepreneurship but rather something that has completely drained me and my family for two years with no end in sight. Sometimes it is important to know when to move on.
Or does the above sound like yet another excuse.
Oh well
Started reading this post ready to hate it.
Now ready to admit it is spot on.
Left corporate world 1.5 yes ago to launch my biz.
2 wks ago, took to heart what I overheard a successful investor tell someone “sometimes it takes more courage to quit
a failing biz than to stay in it’. I was ready
to quit. The next Mon, phone started ringing off the hook for side consulting jobs. Now I’m too busy working to find time to quit. And I’ve realized a new revenue stream, per article point #1
(Innovate or die)
Thanks for this great post,
I guess you can never know, you got to trust your intuition…I also wrote a blog post about quitting in startups which was inspired by Seth Godin and others, I will love to hear what you think about it… http://sharelomer.blogspot.com/2010/06/kung-fu-of-quitting-like-attracts-like.html
Thanks,
Sharel