MBA2369 Q&A Wednesday: How long should I keep going before I quit?

0:09Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show. Powerful business lessons to help you along the journey. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. I'm also the co-founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started back in 2014. And today's episode is Q &A Wednesday. On Q &A Wednesdays, we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you've got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me over at omar at 100mba.net. Today's question is from Everly, and Everly asks, How long should I keep going before I quit? I'm having a tough time with my business. I've been doing it for about eight months.

0:46I'm losing much of my savings in the process, and I'm not sure if entrepreneurship is right for me. How long do I need to stick it out before it's time to quit? Such an important question that Everly asks, and we're going to answer it in today's episode. There's actually two parts to this question. The first part is, should you quit the actual business if it's not working out for you, if it's not making you money? When should you quit? When should you decide to let it go? And then there's the question of, should you quit the pursuit of becoming an entrepreneur? These are two different things. Entrepreneurship is a career just like any other career.

1:23And quitting the career is a whole different thing. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Like I mentioned, there's two parts to this. Should Everly quit her business, the actual business she's running after a certain period of time? And the other question is, should she quit the whole idea of becoming an entrepreneur or being an entrepreneur? And like I said, entrepreneurship is like any career. If you're a graphic designer and you work for a company, you might switch companies. It might get a better offer somewhere else. You might find a better opportunity at a different organization, but you're still a graphic designer.

1:55So we need to address this question first, quitting entrepreneurship altogether. And then we'll get into quitting a particular business or project. And this is going to be really one of those candid and honest episodes where you might get a little bit of tough love from me. And here's the bottom line. You need to ask yourself, do you want to be an entrepreneur? Is this the life you want? Or do you like the idea of being an entrepreneur, the idea of being a business owner? You see, you've got to be okay with, of course, all the good things that come with it, the freedom, the flexibility, the autonomy, the ability to become financially independent, all these great things of being an entrepreneur.

2:34but you also got to be okay with the challenges of being an entrepreneur, the lack of visibility, the lack of consistency, the risks involved. You've got to be comfortable with the negatives as well. And the bottom line is, is that you just got to want it more than you hate the downsides. So you basically got to want it more than how much you dislike the discomfort of it. And if you do want it, if you do want to be an entrepreneur, if this is like your dream job, if this is your dream career, or if this is what you want to do for the rest of your life. And you can't imagine doing anything else unless, of course, you had to.

3:09But the point here is, is that if you really want it, the answer to this question, how long should I wait until I quit? The answer is simple, until. And I love this word until. What do I mean by this? Well, you're going to keep trying to become an entrepreneur or be a successful entrepreneur until you're successful, until you have made it and are able to sustain yourself. It becomes your livelihood until, until, until. Basically, it means don't quit, right? You just don't quit if you want it, because otherwise quitting is going to make you unhappy. It's a short term solution that's not going to make you happy in the long run.

3:47And trust me, I know how it feels when you're on that rocky road of entrepreneurship. It's not fun. It's lonely. It's super, super challenging on your mind, on your mentality, on your spiritual well-being. I think even on, of course, your physical well-being, it takes a toll. The thing about business and being an entrepreneur is that you can't just turn it on and off. Like if you're in a job you don't like, at least you have some respite after five o 'clock when you check out. You have some respite on the weekend. You have some respite when you go on holiday on vacation. But if you're an entrepreneur, it's a lifestyle.

4:22You're thinking about your business 24-7. And that shouldn't be a bad thing if you love what you do. So if you've established, hey, I want to be an entrepreneur. This is what I want to do, and I'm going to do it until I am successful. Then let's talk about the particular business that you're working on. Everly mentioned she's been working on her business for eight months. She's losing a lot of her life savings. Not fun, right? Super stressful, but it's not abnormal. This is actually par for the course. Many entrepreneurs, many business owners, when they get started, they're losing money. And it's seen as an investment.

4:56You have to invest in your business. Now, in the beginning of your business, especially the first few months, the first year or two even, it's very important you're paying attention to your data, to your statistics, to the trends that are happening in your business. You need to be tracking what's happening everywhere. What do I mean by this? You need to be tracking, of course, your financials, how much revenue you're making, how much profit you're making, the number of customers you're having, how many leads are coming in, whatever business it is. You need to track these numbers. Why? Because you need to see the trend of your business.

5:29Where are things going? For example, let's say I'm in month eight of my business and I'm losing money. I'm losing, let's say,$1 ,000 a month. I'm taking money from my pocket and putting it into the business just to keep it afloat. But the next month, I'm still losing money. I'm still not profitable, but I only had to put$800 in. And the month after that,$700. And then a month after that,$650. The trend is telling me things are moving in the right direction. I'm still losing money, but not as much as last month, which means I'm moving closer and closer to profitability. I'm getting closer to my goal.

6:06This is worth fighting for, especially if it's a business that you enjoy, you love, and the product and the service is something that you feel proud of. Listen, most people quit businesses because they quit too early. You got to figure a way to make this work for you. And this is why I always say try to keep your expenses low at the start so that you aren't taking money out of your savings and popping into your business to keep it afloat. But sometimes that happens. I had to do this for years. But if the trend is moving in the right direction, it means you're making the right investment. That means eventually your business will be able to be profitable.

6:40And then what we want to do at that point is make it more and more profitable, right? Increase the margins. Let me give you a list of companies. And I want you to guess what they all have in common. Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Snap, Zillow, Slack. What do these six companies have in common? Well, I'll tell you. They're all public companies that are still not profitable. These are these big, huge business and brands that we know about, and they don't make a profit. Now, this is a whole different story about why these businesses exist and how do they get all this investment if they're not profitable and all that kind of stuff.

7:11But the point here is that there's a lot of businesses that just take a long time, depending on the business model, to be profitable. I don't like those types of businesses. I like to be as profitable as possible as soon as possible. But I know the reality that sometimes any business is going to take some time to get to that point. A year, maybe even two years. Now, if you can't afford that much runway, that much loss over two years, then you might have to pivot the business. You might have to change the business. You might have to alter the business. Or you might have to quit it because you just simply can't go bankrupt from a personal standpoint.

7:47in terms of your own personal finances. But if the trend looks like you'll be okay, that if you can project out that your business will be profitable and you'll be able to pay yourself back all those loans you gave the business, because remember, your business is its own entity. And of course, speak to your accountant, speak to a financial expert about this. But when you do put money into your business, it's seen as sort of like an investment. You're an investor in your own business. Then it's actually worth it. If you can stick it out and make it happen, fantastic. But if you have done the projections, have done the numbers and say, oh, I'm going to run out of money.

8:20I'm not going to be able to do this for much longer. And the trend shows that a miracle is going to happen in order for me to do this. The numbers don't lie. Then changing the business, pivoting the business, changing the product offering. This might be something you have to do. This episode is brought to you by The Jordan Harbinger Show. Are you looking for a new podcast that's smart, that's interesting, that has great conversations with some amazing guests? Well, I highly recommend The Jordan Harbinger Show. I'm an avid listener because, in my opinion, it's the best interview podcast out there.

8:52The host, Jordan Harbinger, a good buddy of mine, he does a lot of great research about the guests. I know this personally because he's a good friend, and I've seen him do this when he was visiting me on holiday. The result is you get an interview and a discussion with these amazing people that's original, that's new, that's interesting. He asks the questions that nobody asks, and he pulls out some of the best stories from his guests. One of my favorite episodes is with Neil Brennan, a comedy mastermind with highly successful Netflix specials and one of the co-creators of Chappelle Show. What I love about this episode, as well as all his episodes with his guests, is that he brings out the person behind the talent.

9:33By the end of the episode, you get to feel like you know this person intimately, and you learn a ton of lessons through stories and experiences along the way. I also like his Skeptical Sundays episodes. Recently, I listened to the one on fireworks. I don't want to ruin it for you. Go ahead and listen to it. You'll absolutely love it. You can't go wrong. Every episode is brilliant. It's no wonder The Jordan Harbinger Show was named Best of Apple in 2018. Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. there's nothing wrong with pivoting your business there's a great book by jenny blake called pivot that is all about this pivoting your business allows you to keep it going to make it more profitable make more money and that's okay and by the way in my opinion it's one of the first things you should do before you even consider closing the business down because you've invested so much time money and energy into the business already that's some cost let's make sure that we can utilize this with the same business by just changing a little bit to make it more profitable.

10:35It could be something as simple as offering a high-end service or product that can cover this gap, having a couple high-paying clients in the meantime helping you make the business more profitable. The bottom line is that you need to do the numbers. How much more can you go? And if the trends, let's say your losses are reducing by 10 % each month, you know that in six months, you're going to break even and you have enough money to do that. Great. If not, is there some way you can change the business? You can make an offering that can help you get you that revenue that can help you sustain for another six months so you can hit that break even point.

11:12Here's the bottom line. I've had businesses that crashed and burned, that ran out of money, that I had to close down. And that's OK. I kept going. I wanted to be an entrepreneur until I was successful. And I learned lessons through those failures. I learned lessons through those experiences. I made sure I didn't do those same mistakes. I made sure I, you know, when I started that next business, I incorporated the learnings I learned from the previous business. It's okay. Most of us, we have some options, even if it doesn't feel that way. Something I learned in my life is that if you want something bad enough, you'll figure out a way to make it happen.

11:47Thanks so much for listening to the$100 MBA show. And thanks Everly for the question here on Q &A Wednesday. If you've got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me over at omar at 100mba.net. I'll make sure to answer it right here on Q &A Wednesday. And of course, if you haven't subscribed to the show yet, go ahead and do that right now. Hit follow on your favorite podcast app, whether it's Apple Podcasts or Spotify, Overcast, whatever it might be, we're on every platform. So go ahead and make sure you do that so you get our next episode automatically. Smash that follow or subscribe button right now.

12:16Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Entrepreneurship is hard. There's no way around it. It's super, super challenging. In my opinion, it's probably one of the most challenging career choices ever. And that's why not everybody does it, right? That's why most people don't do this, right? Most people, you know, get a job and they have a career and they have a fun and, you know, pretty comfortable lifestyle. And that's great. And that's awesome for them. And it doesn't mean you can't have fun or have a great, creative, comfortable lifestyle with entrepreneurship. But especially in the beginning, you're going to struggle.

12:47You're going to have to work for it. It's an investment. Everything is a balance, meaning if you're going to take on more risk and more hardship, the chances are the reward is going to be higher. Most entrepreneurs I know that are successful grinded for 10, 15, 20 years, faced adversity, faced risks, challenges, didn't know if they're going to make it. And then eventually figured it out, started having a profitable business or businesses, started building their team, hiring amazing people. And now they have a fantastic, rewarding, fulfilling life. Because they sacrificed. They put it in. They put in the work.

13:22They put in the time. They put in the effort. And if that sounds inspiring and exciting to you, then you're going to love this journey called entrepreneurship. But if it doesn't, it sounds like, wow, that's a pain. Then it's better for you to just recognize that and be okay with that and say, hey, maybe I can be a great number two or number three or somebody who would help somebody build a great business. Self-awareness in a lot of ways is the key to happiness. Thanks so much for listening. And I'll check you in Friday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

13:57We'll be right back.