Herman School of Business
Quit This And Start That...
Now that you realize “this” isn’t working what are the mechanics of getting out of “this” so you can start “that?”
Money has been spent and it is gone and there is still a monthly drain for your venture that was the big idea. Commitments like a lease you can no longer afford to pay, a car you bought that made you feel like a big shot but is killing you, the time you spend at your retail store where there isn’t enough stuff retailing because not enough customers are coming, maybe you just discovered you are with the wrong person in your life…or maybe you realized you really don’t want to be a yodeling pizza maker after all.
Whatever “this” is has to go. Failing to get out of a burning building when the smoke detectors are blaring away could result in your death. Staying in a bad relationship or a bad business or chasing a dream you no longer have will not get you happy. In an airplane (I flew Jets) when a warning light went on you act fast or you could die. We had three steps to follow immediately; Maintain Aircraft Control, Identify the Problem and Take the Necessary Actions, AND LAND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. In other words, Do Not Fly A Broken Airplane! In fact…if the actions you take don’t allow you to maintain aircraft control…bail out rather than crash and die.
Applying this to your situation…can you stay calm and shut down the business as efficiently as possible, getting money back from a sale of the entirety, the assets, or the real estate? Can you take action to stop “this” from being out of control? Do you have the ability to plan for an exit that lands safely on the ground or is “this” swirling towards certain catastrophic failure and you just seem to like going down with it due to your own unwillingness to bail out?
When you know your life is on the line in an airplane there is no hesitation to act. In your current “this” you could be embarrassed, or lose a huge sum of money, or have to find a new “that” but don’t know how…so, you are not facing death and therefore don’t feel compelled to do anything just yet. Maybe that is what separates the really successful person from the one who almost makes it but never does. Being afraid to start what you did was something you had to overcome…but you never saw “this” becoming what it is now. You are either an Ostrich or a Deer-in the-Headlights if you resist changing “this” when it isn’t working. If a jungle fire wipes out the place where a Lion is the King of that space the Lion doesn’t lie down and starve to death…the Lion moves on to find a new jungle.
If you are halfway up the ladder towards your goal and you realize what is at the top is no longer what you want…climb down and start over…that is what successful people do.
There will always be a price paid to start over but if starting over leads to success it is always worth the price.
- Posted: 17 April 2009
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business failure
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