Abandoning a Good Idea, Part 2

Americans are brought up to believe that quitters never win, and small business people can be especially tenacious in their commitment to their work. That’s a good thing. The irony is that in fact the more effort you’ve put in already, the more difficult it is to simply ditch whatever the problem is.

Think back on some aspect of your business or livelihood that nearly sucked the life out of you: a software program you chose that wasn’t quite right, a product you developed for an unenthusiastic market, a training system that created more confusion than clarity, or a product line with too low a profit margin. Think how difficult it was to walk away from it (if in fact you did), particularly if you had taken extraordinary measures to make it work.

It’s obvious that you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole, but it’s less obvious that you can’t fit an elliptical peg into a round hole.  Sometimes it’s too close to call; or we’re too close and emotionally invested in the situation to call it what it is. Furthermore, a project that hasn’t quite “failed” – there are still some benefits you sincerely like, not the least being another income stream! — can be the hardest to let go.

The danger is becoming too attached to what isn’t working, pouring your best into what may have once been good, but will never be anything more. The danger is hanging on to what is now giving you headaches.

Look at it this way. All of your resources that you use (and by that I mean you, personally) are valuable. Your time, your money, your peace of mind, your management skills, your education, your temperament, your office space, etc. These should all be considered assets to your business. Are you siphoning resources away from the parts of your business that are running smoothly and wasting them on your problem areas?

If you find you’re losing sleep over one troubling area of your small business, it’s a good idea to get a second opinion, keep careful records of the things you suspect are draining your “great stuff,” and follow your intuition. Don’t ever give up the game, but remember it’s not the worst thing in the world to admit when your grief is telling you to drop back and punt.

« Abandoning a Good Idea (Part 1) | Home | Living the Dream vs. the Cost of Insurance »

• Recent Posts

  • The Ability to be Amazed Takes Play
  • Mother Theresa’s 100 Years
  • Become a Small Business “Outlier”
  • Email Marketing and the Golden Rule
  • What Do Big Biz and Dinosaurs Have in Common?
  • The Case For a Smaller Email List
  • Blivet
  • Lessons from a Jewish deli
  • Managing my business credit
  • Choose Plans That Get Traction and Stop Wasting Time

• Categories

  • Basics
  • blogging
  • Business tips
  • creating jobs
  • customers
  • dreams
  • Email
  • Family life
  • Famous Figures
  • Government
  • Humor
  • Learning from Big Biz
  • Learning from others
  • marketing
  • News of the day
  • Reputation
  • resources and assets
  • Sales
  • SEO
  • small business coaching
  • Starting a new Business
  • taxes
  • Tips for a successful buiness
    • Calculating Risk
    • Tips for a successful business
  • Top Story
  • Uncategorized
  • What large businesses do not know

• Archives

  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009

• Links

  • CopyPeopleRead - If you are looking for great writer, please visit Jen’s site.
  • IRS - All things IRS
  • SBA - Great resources from the US Government

• Feeds

  • Subscribe to RSS Feed
  • Subscribe to Comments