Have you ever closed a business? It’s hard, isn’t it? Anyone who has been through that knows how emotional it is. Your business is like your baby: you can’t just cast it away! But, there are times it’s best to bet on yourself!!
You are good at what you do, so make the decision to move on and trust that you know what you’re doing.
However, decisions aren’t always simple.
Perhaps an investor has asked you to stay on and work through the transition period to help. Or, maybe you’re having a hard time letting go of the business you’ve worked so hard to build.
When I closed FITzee Foods and embraced my life as The Pitch Queen, I went through all of those questions.
I knew that I would be able to serve people far better if I left FITzee Foods behind, and fully jumped into my new endeavor by believing in myself and what I knew was possible.
Knowing this helped make those hard decisions a bit easier. It helped me decide that it was best to close my old business, and completely jump into the new one.
I made that choice, and have not looked back since!
Mada Seghete, a guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, worked for several small startups in app development. After two failed businesses, she had to move onto a new business, and found her best success when she jumped in completely, leaving the old business behind, and completely embracing the new one!
Know Who You Serve – Bet on Yourself
It’s important to know who your business serves, and how you can serve them.
How are you figuring out their pain points? How are you making their lives better?
When you are closing your business, and figuring out how to go about that process, having a clear view of how you seek to serve your ideal client will help you make pragmatic decisions.
Does your business continue to empower you to help your customers with their pain points?
If YES, are you going to continue to help them solve some of their pain points?
If NO, then why even bother to continue with the business? It there is no long-term profit or purpose behind continuing, it’s better to say NO and just close the business.
It’s possible that you’ll experience fear around your decision, but it’s time to trust yourself and jump with two feet into your next venture.
Will it be hard? YES. Will it be the best decision you can make? YES! Don’t waste your time, energy, and money on a business that is no longer in your long-term plan.
Down the road you’ll be glad that you said NO, made the leap to your new business, and bet on yourself.
Practice Detachment in Business
The process of closing a business is difficult and it’s easy to make emotional decisions. Removing emotions and practicing detachment will help make wise decisions easier.
Practicing detachment and changing your mindset will help you through difficult decisions and emotions like:
- Wondering if you are a failure
- Feeling like you’ve wasted your time
- Second-guessing the decisions you’ve made
Having business partners and investors will help make these smart decisions a bit easier for you.
For Mada Seghete, having a business partner made all the difference. He was able to take a pragmatic approach, as she struggled with the emotions and the hard times that came as part of hearing NO and saying NO to her old business.
Closing your old business feels like a failure, but the reality is that these “failures” are helping push you towards success. They’re teaching you lessons you wouldn’t have learned otherwise.
When you keep focused on how you can serve, and how your business empowers you to serve, you can see those failures as steps towards success: and your very best YES!
And…when your new business is a success, you can celebrate what it feels like to bet on yourself!
Commit to Your New Business
Imagine yourself as an investor, and you have two people who are asking you to invest in their business.
One of them works on the business, and has no other job. All of their time is spent on the business. They are all-in, and committed to the business.
The other person works on the business part time. They have another business, but they know that this one will succeed: if they can just get the money for it. They’re busy, though.
As an investor, you want to invest in the person who has said YES to being all-in with their business! Who has pushed aside and doubt or fear and truly believes in themselves. You know that they’ve already given everything to the business, and they are committed.
Investors aren’t investing in the business idea: they are investing in you. When they choose to invest, they want to know that you are a wise investment, and that you are all-in!
When it comes to ending your time with one business, you need to make that cut complete. You will not be able to move onto a new business and find success if you still hold on to the old one.
In Conclusion
Going all-in with your business is the way to find success. Spending time in one, or the other will hold you back. It’s only when you are able to let go of one, and fully leap into your new business that you will be able to achieve your greatest success!
What have you had to let go of in order to be successful? Have you ever had to close a business and make the transition to a new business? Tell us about your experience in the comments!
