MBA2010 Q&A Wednesday: Is it time to quit my business?

The all New five Year Business Boost from Comcast Business it's the certainty of a price lock for five years on qualifying Internet bundles plus the most reliable WI fi with their best equipment. And ask about a $500 prepaid card when you add two lines of mobile. The five year business boost only from Comcast Business Powering Possibilities ends 22226 new customers only one year contract required for guaranteed rate. Five year pricing applies to monthly service charge excluding taxes and fees. Best WI Fi based on Open Signal Awards USA Fixed Broadband Experience Report May.

2025 Ready to Save on New Tech? It's time for Dell Tech Day's annual sales event celebrating our customers with fantastic deals and benefits. Perks include Dell Rewards, free shipping, premium Support and more. PCs like the Dell 14 with Intel Core Ultra processors will help you do more faster and with a premium suite of monitors and accessories, you can upgrade your whole setup with amazing savings. Visit Dell.com.

Hey O welcome to the $100 MBA Show. Helpful, practical business advice delivered every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back in 2000 and today's episode is Q and A Wednesday. On Q and A Wednesdays I answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you got a question you want to ask, just email me over at omar100,mba.net Today's question is from Marcus. Marcus asks, hey Omar, Been a listener of the show for some time, never asked a question, but I'm in a rut and would love your advice. I've been running my e commerce business for almost 10 years now and for the last 12 months it's sort of plateaued. I've tried everything to help grow the business and quite frankly I'm kind of tired. I put everything in this business for 10 years and I'm not sure if I should keep going. Should I sell my business and quit? Hey, I had a good run. Should I cash out my chips? Would love any advice you can offer. Sincerely, Marcus Marcus, thank you so much for asking this question on today's Q and A Wednesday because you are not alone. So many entrepreneurs go through what you're going through right here. Their business plateaus, even starts to go down. They put blood, sweat and tears, their own money, their own time, years and years of work and it's almost like the business is betraying them and they're asking themselves, should I keep going or should I just quit while I have some value, while I still can sell this business? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you a few thought experiments that I've learned along the way that you should try so that you can come to a decision if you should sell your business or not. Some questions to ask yourself and it's going to help you come to a resolution. I'm also going to highlight some of the good news in this situation. Yes, there's a silver lining to this more than you think, and I'll outline some options of how to move forward. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

Does it feel like it's getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Fidelity can help you find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way. Get started@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services Member NYSE SIPC.

So Marcus is tired. He's burnt out. He's built his business for 10 years. He's got a thriving e commerce store, but it's plateaued for the last year. Things are just not moving forward and he's looking to quit, looking to sell his business. Not sure if he wants to now. I want to just stop for a moment and say this is hard. This is not an easy situation. Why is this not an easy situation? Because entrepreneurs don't like quitting things. They feel like they should keep going, they should persevere, they should keep pushing. But there's a voice inside of market saying, well, maybe I should just cash out now. I've got the business. At some point, should I sell it and just take that profit from the sale and retire or live off it? Start something new, whatever. It's also very hard because as entrepreneurs, many times our business is an integral part of our identity. We almost can't imagine our life without it. So that's why there's kind of resistance, especially if you are very involved in the day to day. So in today's episode, I'm going to share a few thought experiments that I learned along the way. Some of these I've learned from other entrepreneurs who sold their businesses, like Dan Andrews, who wrote the book before the Exit. So if you're in Marcus's situation as well, you can do these thought experiments yourself. The first one is important because we all have limits, right? Willpower is not unlimited, okay? Perseverance is not unlimited. And sometimes we can't think clearly because we're so burnt out. We're so tired, we're so frustrated. We've given so much to the business. And you feel like, man, this business is just not doing it for me anymore. It's not working. It's not being as successful as it used to be and you're just not thinking objectively. This is not a good state to be in to make a big decision like selling your business. The first thought experiment or the first thing you may want to explore doing is stepping away from the business for a period of time. Now, before you say, omar, this is impossible. I can't step away, I can do this. Well, ask yourself, what if you got in a car accident? What if you had a medical emergency where you couldn't work for two, three, four weeks? What would happen to the business? Okay? Hopefully you have some systems in place. You have a team, you have somebody to look after while you're gone, okay? If you don't have somebody, get somebody, okay? Even if it's somebody who's just kind of like your right hand person, an assistant who can just do the things that you normally do, whether it's payroll or pay bills or whatever it is that you feel like you're responsible for doing, even if you can't get somebody. My advice to you is take a look at what's the absolute imperative tasks you must do, like pay your bills or pay salaries or maybe deal with vendors or whatever it is in your situation. See if you can automate it or at the very least, see if you can do all those tasks in three days and you can take off the rest of the month. So you do those things for three days and you take off, you come back and you do them again. The point here is that you need to step away from the business. And I'm talking about fully, okay? Where you basically hand the keys to somebody else or say, hey, I'm checking out, you have autoresponders on and basically you're on a sabbatical. You know, you're going to live for three, four weeks as if you don't have the business, okay? You haven't sold the business, you haven't given it up, you haven't quit. But essentially you're going to live the life as if you did so that you can get some perspective, so you can start thinking, is this something I'm enjoying. Is this something that I wouldn't regret? Okay. Is this something that is allowing me to see things a little bit clearly now? Now that I stepped it away, stepped away for a few weeks now I'm thinking, you know what, it's not all that bad. Or maybe I was seeing things wrong, or maybe I really miss my business and maybe the opposite. But one thing's for sure is that you're gonna get some clarity by just stepping away. I had a few rough patches in my time with my different businesses that I've built over the years. And even taking two to three weeks stepping away really makes a big difference. Now, I think you need at least two to three weeks because it takes about three or four or five days to unwind, even just to get used to the fact that you're not checking your email and your slack and all your messages and being on all the time. So stepping away is one experiment you can try. Experiment number two, and this is from Dan Andrews book Before the Exit. It's called the Mediocre CEO. And this basically means replacing yourself. Now, this doesn't have to be a permanent change. This could be even just an experiment. But the point here is that you are one person, okay? And you can replace one person. Imagine you just replaced yourself with what he calls a mediocre CEO and he says mediocre because, hey, let's not try to pretend that we're going to find our perfect clone. Somebody's going to do everything exactly the way we do at our level, our satisfaction. No, we're going to get somebody who's just basically going to make the business coast just do as well as it's doing right now. Somebody basically is going to be able to take responsibility. Now you might be thinking, I have to pay this person. Maybe I can't afford it. Well, you can work something out. Maybe you can work something on a commission basis. Maybe you can work something where there's some equity involved. Maybe you can work something out where they do get a salary based on their performance. Or maybe you can give up your salary or a portion of it and give it to the CEO, a combination with some bonuses or some sales, targeted bonuses. The point here is that replacing yourself will make you feel like, okay, the business is still running, someone's still responsible. How would that work out? A couple things might happen. One, you might realize, okay, I missed this company. I think I just needed a break. I'm going to come back and I'm going to go full force. Another outcome. Outcome could be, I don't miss it at all. And actually, this mediocre CEO is doing a fantastic job and the business is doing okay. And actually, we got out of a rut and a fresh pair of eyes helped out. And guess what? You can just continue having the mediocre CEO run your company. And now guess what, you become an investor in your own business. And you didn't sell the whole company. You still have, you know, a good portion of the company if you didn't give up too much equity in this deal. And now you're free to do what you wanted to do when you wanted to to sell the company. Another hybrid approach of what I just talked about, another thought experiment is raising capital, getting investors and saying, hey, I got my E Commerce business to this point all by myself. I want some investors so I can take some money off the table as well as replace myself. Hire a team, hire some managers, hire a CEO. I'll be chairman of the board. Yep, you're going to give up equity, but you won't give up the whole company. And at the same time, you're no longer chained to it. Other people are doing the work for you. And now you're going to retire. Or you can enjoy the life you were thinking about living after you sold your company. Now, all these options I'm talking about, you can implement in relative time. Raising capital is going to take you some time, six months or so, especially if you're new to that world and you need to network and learn about all that. But if you're an established business that has traction, it's going to be a little bit easier than somebody who's brand new. Now, what's going to take a lot of time, and this is the part of the lesson that's a reality check, is selling your business. Selling your business is not something that happens overnight. It's something that can take as long as 18 to 24 months. I know personally a lot of entrepreneurs who sold their business. The last one I spoke to, it took them 24 months to complete the sale. For the company that bought them to come to a price, to agree on something, due diligence needs to be done. The sale didn't really close until it was 24 months after the initial conversation with this particular buyer, they were shopping for buyers or they were trying to find buyers even before that. So the reality is, if you want to sell your business, it's going to take you some time. You're not going to get any immediate relief. The other options, you're going to get some immediate relief. And it's a good option to do before you go down the line of selling your company. And if you try to rush the sale, you're probably not going to get the best deal because they will sense it. Buyers will sense that you are sort of desperate to sell your company and they'll lowball you knowing that you want to get it off your hands. So I'm just giving you the truth of the matter so that you can just get right with it so you can come to peace with it and say, okay, I can't sell this business right away. Let me look at the other options. Even in the process of going through the sale or finding a buyer, I can, you know, go through these exercises. In my opinion, it just sounds like you're tired. The break idea is a good one. But also thinking about replacing yourself as much as possible. Replacing the tasks you have to do, the responsibilities, the meetings, the pressure, the regular to do's that you're doing every day. You can build a team around people that are doing this. Maybe it's going to eat into your profits a little bit, but at least you'll still retain the business and you'll have people working, doing the things you don't want to do anymore. There's a great book that just got released by Jenny Blake called Free Time. It's all about freeing yourself up and building a business that works for your sanity.

Want to buy a car your way? Of course you do. That's why CarMax offers an experience designed just for you. Want to start online, then visit the lot, then go back online? Sure. Want to talk to a real person or chat online? Either works. Want to take your time and compare all the makes and models? No problem. Then make up some time by filling out the paperwork at home and schedule expressions. Express pickup or home delivery Done. When it comes to how you buy, CarMax puts you in the driver's seat. Want to drive? CarMax delivery restrictions apply. Seecarmax.com for details.

To wrap up today's Q and A Wednesday's question. I feel for you, Marcus. This is not an easy situation, but you have options. This is what's amazing about this situation. Number one, you're a business owner. You own an asset which is a business that's making money, that has achieved a level of success that so many people do not achieve. Okay. It's really hard to get a business that has traction, that has customers, that has product market fit. You have, you know, past so many hurdles. You have a real valuable asset on your hands. So congratulations, you should be proud of that. Okay. Now that you have this valuable thing, don't give it up for nothing. Don't give up all your hard work for nothing. Explore some of these options, get out of your head a little bit and get some perspective. And I'm here to tell you, businesses do plateau. Why? Because sometimes the things we did to get to certain levels just don't work beyond certain levels. Okay? So you might need to change up things. You might need to get maybe a consultant to come and take a look and audit your business and say, hey, do this, do this, do this. My advice to you, and this is something that I've done in my own business, is find somebody who has taken their business or a business to where you want to go that have gone past your plateau and ask, hey, can I get an hour of your time? Can you take a look at my businesses? I'll be an open book. Take a look what I'm doing, tell me why I'm stuck and what to do about it. LinkedIn's your friend here. Find people that maybe were presidents or operations or VP of such and such in companies you know that are where you want to be and just reach out to them and say, hey, I don't know what your hourly rate is, but I would love to grab an hour or two of your time so I can get over a few hurdles. And you're going to spend a few hundred dollars, but it's going to be way, way worth it and it might give you some perspective to get over these challenges and keep moving forward. Thanks so much, Marcus for asking today's Q and A. Wednesday's question. If you've got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me over at Omar MBA Net and I'll make sure to answer it right here on the $100 NBA show so that not only you but others can benefit from the discussion as we wrap up. Make sure you're subscribed to the show. Make sure you're following the show so you get our next episodes automatically. Also, leave us a rating and review. Let us know what you think of the show. We read every single one of them and we'd love to hear what you think. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I always say that entrepreneurship business is like a high impact sport. It's like American football or rugby, right? And if you follow like American football, they don't play every day. They play once a week because the impact is so hard that they can't play every week. They only play 18 weeks in the season. It's not like basketball, which is a non contact Sport, which is 82 games in a season. So be aware of the fact that business is intense. It's intense on your emotions, it's intense on your head, on your body, on your well being. So you got to take care of yourself. You got to understand that you just can't take impact after impact, year after year after year. It piles up. So stepping away, taking breaks, taking weekends off, getting perspective is helpful. Even if you feel this urgency. I gotta hustle, I gotta work, I gotta make up for my losses. Understand that this is in your benefit in the long run because this is a marathon, not a sprint. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

Building a portfolio with Fidelity Basket Portfolios is kind of like making a sandwich. It's as simple as picking your stock and ETFs, sort of like your meats and other topics, and managing it as one big juicy investment. Now that's pretty good. Learn more@fidelity.com baskets Investing involves risks, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC Member nyse, SIPC.