- You are here:
- Home »
- Business »
- What to Consider when your Startup Business isn’t Thriving
What to Consider when your Startup Business isn’t Thriving
(This is a contributed post)
Sometimes, it can feel like all those hours and hours of work that you put into your business are for naught, especially when you see the competition doing seemingly better, or when you’ve made hundreds of sales calls only to be turned away again and again
At some point, you need to ask yourself: is it time to close up shop? This is one of the hardest questions to ask yourself, but if you’ve been taking the time to monitor the health of your business, it should be easy to know when it’s time to call it a day and throw up the white flag of surrender.
What questions should you be asking yourself though, before you call it quits? Below you’ll find some of the questions you need to honestly ask yourself about your business if you fear it simply isn’t doing well enough.
1. Have I used all the resources I can to try to make this the best business?
It’s easy to get downtrodden when you’re working yourself to the grind, but it’s key to remember that working smarter is better than working harder. If you’re not using the correct resources, like out-sourcing your frontend website or your SEO, you may need to simply adjust how you’re approaching your business. Consider checking out these Supple Reviews in which two men were able to build an award-winning digital marketing agency all from the confines of a garage. It really can happen! (And, if you need help with your marketing, consider giving them a try.)
2. Is my income increasing?
If you’ve been at this game for several years and you have exhausted your sales team and resources and still are coming up empty-handed, it may be time to call it a day. The entire reason a business exists is to make money, and if you’re not, you may need to completely rethink what you’re doing.
If you’re an engineer or entrepreneur based in technology, it can be incredibly difficult to simply build a minimum viable product, but if you have been working on a project for six to nine months and haven’t even tried to sell it, it’s time to rethink what you’re doing. Sales are the most important part of keeping a business alive, so get that product to the salesfloor.
3. Is this sustainable?
This might be one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself. If you are operating a small team and each of you is getting closer and closer to burnt out, it is not sustainable. Period. Startups take a lot of effort, time, hard work, and end in exhaustion. However, a solid business has steps put in place to migrate away from this type of work to a more sustainable company. If you have put steps into place that should guarantee a more sustainable business, and it is still not thriving in the way you had expected, it may be time to call it a day.
Closing up your business can be heartbreaking, but sometimes, it’s the right thing to do. If you decide to dive back in, ensure that you’ve created a sustainable business long term, that you’re working smarter not harder, and that you’re using all the resources available to make your business profitable.
