Are You Done With Your Business? or Just the Way You're Running It?

When you first start a business, you are a little insane in the best possible way. You wake up thinking about it, go to sleep thinking about it, and talk about it to people who absolutely DID NOT ask.

Everything is interesting because everything is new. Your first order comes through and you take a screenshot of it.

You probably send it to somebody. “LOOK! A complete stranger just gave me money for this thing I made.”

That's a very weird and wonderful moment.

Then another order comes in. And another.

Before long, you're packing orders for people you've never met and watching money come into a business that used to exist only in your head.

This is what you wanted.

And then, somewhere along the way, it starts feeling like work.

So, What Changed?

I remember sitting at my computer one Monday morning with my green drink beside me, staring at a list of inventory, emails, follow-up calls, and invoices. I didn't want to do any of it.

That bothered me because this was my business.

This is where founders can get themselves into trouble. We don't just notice that something feels different; we automatically decide what that feeling means.

“I don't feel like doing this today” can quickly become “Maybe I don't want this business anymore.”

That's quite a leap.

Before deciding what the feeling means, ask a simpler question:

What changed? The business, your job, or you?

Start looking at the Business first.

Did sales change? Are customers behaving differently? Is cash getting tight, or has volume grown faster than your operation can handle?

Sometimes the feeling that something is “off” is pointing to a real problem in the business. Before deciding the whole business is the problem, figure out what's actually happening.

Then, look at your Job.

The work you're doing today may have very little to do with why you started the business in the first place.

Maybe you started because you loved creating, cooking, designing, consulting, or selling. Six months later, you're chasing invoices, managing schedules, dealing with vendors, and wondering why everybody keeps asking you questions.

Then the answer hits you: because this is your job.

The business may not be the thing you've stopped enjoying. Your job inside the business may have changed.

Then, look at You.

You may simply be depleted. After working seven days a week, it's probably not the best time to contemplate a complete restructuring of the company at 11:30 p.m. because somebody sent you an irritating email.

If you can, go to bed.

The company will still be there tomorrow.

But sometimes one good night's sleep isn't enough. Look at your schedule and put something on it that gives you a chance to recharge. Maybe tomorrow isn't possible and the next few days are already packed, but schedule it anyway.

Give yourself something outside the business to look forward to and enough distance to see whether the problem still feels the same when you come back to it.

And don't assume you have to choose only one of these. The business, your job, and you affect each other. Cash may be tight, your role may have expanded, and you may be exhausted from trying to manage both.

More than one thing can be true.

The point is to separate what's happening long enough to see what actually needs your attention.

Sometimes a Business Doesn't End. It Fizzles.

Founders don't always make a clear decision to quit. Sometimes they slowly pull away. Follow-ups take longer, problems stay unsolved, and another idea starts sounding much more interesting.

Eventually, something they were once obsessed with slowly fizzles out.

Maybe the business really wasn't viable. The customers weren't there, the numbers didn't work, or the idea wasn't strong enough to continue.

The sad part is when a founder never figures out which one it is. Maybe the business needed to change, or maybe their role inside it did. But as they give it less attention, eventually there isn't much left to evaluate.

And yes, maybe you really are done. But before you walk away, find out whether you're done with the business, or just the way you're running it. If it's the way you are running it - then that's something you can work with.

Try This the Next Time It Happens

The next time your business starts making you crazy, take two minutes and write down what was happening at that moment.

Then look at three words:

BUSINESS. JOB. ME.

Mark whichever ones apply.

You don't need to solve anything right now. Just make a note.

If it happens again, do the same thing. After a few entries, you may start seeing a pattern. Maybe the same part of your job keeps frustrating you, one business problem keeps resurfacing, or your worst moments happen when you're depleted.

Now you have somewhere to start.

You Haven't Met This Version of Your Business Yet

You can't possibly know everything your business will need in the future because you haven't yet met that version of the business or yourself.

You meet both by building and growing.

The business that had ten customers may need something completely different from you when it has fifty. The work changes, the decisions get harder, and you learn things you couldn't have known on Day One.

That's part of what makes the first 1,000 days so interesting.

You're not just finding out whether the business can work. You're finding out what it takes from you to keep it working.

Remember when the first customers showed up and you thought, Holy crap! This is working!

Well, it worked.

Now the business is giving you different problems to solve.

And if you suddenly don't feel the way you did when you started, don't let that feeling pull you away before you understand what changed.

Get curious about it. You're an entrepreneur. You figured things out when you started the business, and you can keep figuring things out as it grows.

Ask yourself:

What changed in the business?

What changed in my job?

What changed in me?

The answer may tell you it's time to leave.

Or it may show you exactly what you need to learn next.