"How do I know if my company is a failure?"
"How do I know when to throw in
towel?"
"Is it time to abandon ship?"
"Should I declare bankruptcy or just skip town and run to Mexico?"
As a business consultant; first in corporate world and now running my own Internet-based advice company, I have heard above questions numerous times. All small and medium-sized business owners have at some point or another wondered if they took wrong path and should quit while they are still somewhat ahead.
The textbook MBA answer to such questions is very corporate and boring. Advisors will typically tell a business owner to look at total debt load and ROI, whether industry as a whole is in a slump, whether there are too many partner or legal problems, whether future demand will materialize and so on and so forth. While these questions are certainly relevant, most important question that a small or medium-sized business owner should ask him/herself is:
"How else can I make a living and would I like it?"
Yes, advantages of being a corporate employee are great. Easy work, fewer hours, no stress, more security and all for more money than your struggling business (for now) can provide. But do you really want to go back to that?
My grandfather was an architect who built boring glass boxes in overcrowded and polluted cities for obnoxious, cheap and arrogant millionaire and billionaire bosses and clients. My grandfather was also a poet who loved to write short, life-affirming sayings that raised soul and redeemed human spirit.
He was on his way to making large amounts of money building these glass boxes, until one day he could no longer handle it another minute, so he stood up in a meeting while billionaires were bickering, declared that he was quitting, packed up his office and drove home to my grandmother and their two young children.
The conversation at home went something like this:
"What heck were you thinking?"
"I can’t go back Alice, I just can’t. That world is slowly killing my soul by minute. I want to breathe, I want to live, I want to smile and I want to laugh."
"How are we going to afford mortgage and BMWs and vacation home and kids’ college funds and ..."
