The salient point of today's discourse revolves around the critical juncture at which an entrepreneur must contemplate the strategic decision to dismantle their existing business structure and commence anew. This discussion elucidates the often unspoken reality that even seemingly successful ventures may become detrimental, necessitating a profound reassessment of one's path. We delve into the emotional and psychological challenges associated with this decision, highlighting the necessity of recognizing when one's pursuits are no longer aligned with personal fulfillment and long-term aspirations. Through a candid recounting of my own transformative experience, I illustrate the complexities of relinquishing familiar yet unfulfilling elements of a business to pave the way for a more rewarding and sustainable model. Ultimately, we underscore that embracing change, although fraught with uncertainty, can lead to the liberation and revitalization essential for genuine success and happiness in one's entrepreneurial journey.
A salient topic emerges in the discourse: the imperative for entrepreneurs to periodically reassess and, if necessary, radically alter their business trajectories. Kara articulates her personal narrative, reflecting on a phase in her consulting career where, despite apparent success, she felt an acute sense of entrapment. The episode elucidates the dichotomy between external validation and internal fulfillment, compelling entrepreneurs to confront the uncomfortable reality that what appears successful may not genuinely serve their long-term aspirations.
Throughout the episode, Kara delineates specific warning signs that indicate one may be pursuing a path that is misaligned with their true desires. By candidly discussing her own experiences, she creates a relatable framework for listeners to evaluate their own circumstances. The conversation emphasizes the necessity of distinguishing between temporary hardships and an overarching misalignment in one’s business model, thereby fostering a culture of self-awareness and strategic decision-making among entrepreneurs.
Kara concludes by reinforcing the notion that the decision to dismantle one’s current business structure is not synonymous with failure, but rather a calculated step towards creating a more fulfilling and aligned professional existence. She encourages her audience to embrace change as a vital component of growth, ultimately advocating for a more introspective and intentional approach to entrepreneurship that honors both personal values and professional aspirations.
Takeaways:
Entrepreneurs must occasionally make the challenging decision to completely restructure their business to ensure it serves their life better.
Recognizing the difference between normal business struggles and being on an entirely wrong path is crucial for long-term success.
Sunk cost fallacy often traps entrepreneurs in unfulfilling situations; understanding this can facilitate necessary changes.
It is essential to assess whether the challenges faced in business are propelling you toward your desired life or keeping you trapped in dissatisfaction.
The fear of making substantial changes often stems from irrational concerns about perceived failures rather than genuine risks of improvement.
Ultimately, the process of restructuring a business should be strategic, focusing on retaining beneficial elements while discarding those that hinder growth.
Link notes: https://cart.kreativedigitalmediainc.com/ai-work-week-slayer/
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another episode of Design your dream life. My name is Kara. I am your host, and this is episode number 33.
And today we are talking about something that I think every entrepreneur faces at some point, but nobody really talks about it that much. And it is how to know when it is time to completely burn down what you've built and start over.
And I don't mean burn it down in a dramatic, throw everything away kind of way.
I mean the strategic, intentional decision to let go of what's not working, even when it looks successful from the outside so you can build something that actually serves your life.
And this is probably one of the hardest decisions you will ever make as an entrepreneur because it requires you to admit that the path that you've been on isn't taking you where you want to go. It requires you to maybe disappoint people. It might require you to walk away from guaranteed money, which is scary.
And it might require you to trust yourself enough to believe that there is something better waiting for you. But sometimes it's the only way to get to where you actually want to be.
So let me tell you about the moment I knew I had to completely restructure my business, even though it looked successful from the outside. So it was about one and a half, two years into my consulting company, and my calendar was completely booked. Like, it was completely booked out.
I had amazing clients, people who I honestly just loved, I loved and respected. I was making good money. I even had a waiting list. And from the very external measure, I was killing it. But I was kind of dying inside.
So even though I had designated call days, I'm such a planner, you guys. Just honestly, I, I, I theme my days. And if that's a little productivity hack, if you don't theme your days, oh, man, you are missing out.
Because when I share that with people and they start theming days, they're like, kara, it's so cold. Anyways, even though I had designated call days, I was so drained by the end of each week that my mind was completely fried.
Like, honestly, I was giving my clients the best of me, and I had absolutely nothing left for myself, my own projects, and sometimes even my family. And I remember sitting at my desk one Friday afternoon after my last call, and I remember sitting at my desk one afternoon near the end of the week.
Believe it was the Thursday, because I think I did call days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I just felt completely drained. And I realized I could not keep going. And it's not because anything bad happened that day.
It's because I realized I had accidentally built a prison for myself. A really successful, really well paying prison, but a prison nonetheless. And that's when I knew I had to make some radical decisions.
Like I had to restructure my entire business model. I had to let go of some of those amazing clients, people who I really enjoyed working with, and go deep with just a handful instead.
It was terrifying because I was walking away from guaranteed revenue. I was disappointing people who wanted to work with me. I was admitting that the way that I had been doing things wasn't sustainable.
But it was honestly one of the best decisions I ever made because it freed me up to build something that actually served my life instead of consuming it. And here is something that I think is really important to understand.
There is a huge difference between going through a rough patch in your business and being on a completely wrong path. Like every business goes through challenging seasons. Every entrepreneur faces difficult decisions, slow periods, setbacks and obstacles.
That's totally normal. That, my friend, is part of the journey.
But there is a difference between facing challenges while you're on the right path and and constantly struggling because you're on the wrong path entirely. So when you're on the right path but going through a rough patch, you still feel energized by the work itself.
You still believe in where you're going. You still feel like yourself, even when things are hard. When you're on the wrong path, everything feels like it's pushing a boulder uphill.
You're constantly trying to optimize and fix, improve. Nothing seems to be working. You feel disconnected from your work. Even when you're successful at it, it's still just like eh.
You might feel energetically, completely drained by the work instead of energized by it. The question isn't whether your business is easy or hard.
The question is whether the challenges that you are facing are moving you towards the life that you want or keeping you trapped in a life that you don't want. And so how do you know when you're facing normal business challenges versus when you need to completely change direction?
So here are some red flags that I have learned to watch for. Number one, you dread Monday mornings. This is a huge one.
You became an entrepreneur to have the freedom and control over your life, but you find yourself dreading the start of each work week, just like you did when you had a job. That is a red flag. Number two, success feels hollow or unsustainable. You're achieving the goals you set. But instead of feeling Fulfilled.
You're kind of feeling empty or you're successful, but you know you can't maintain this pace without burning out completely. And number three, you are constantly putting out fires instead of building.
You spend most of your time dealing with crises and urgent requests instead of working on the things that would actually grow your business or improve your life. Number four, your business owns you instead of serving you. Oh, so good.
You started this business to create freedom, but instead, you feel more trapped than you ever did in a traditional job. All right, what number are we at, you guys? One. I get to stop counting. Okay, this is number five. Number five.
You catch yourself saying you'll be happy when this is big. When I hit six figures, when I hit seven figures, when I hire my first employee, when I pay off my debt, when I build my email list to X them out.
You're constantly postponing your happiness until you reach some future milestone. Number six. I'm going to try and count, but if I happen to mess up, give grace. You feel like you're performing someone else's version of success.
I've talked about that before. The business that you built looks good on paper, but it doesn't feel like you at all.
You're doing what you think you should be doing instead of what actually lights you up. And number is this. This is the last one. Seven. I want to say seven. You're exhausted, but not fulfilled. Oh, I have been there.
You are working hard and you're staying busy, but at the end of the day or the end of the week, you do not feel like you're making progress on anything that really matters to you. So if any of those sound familiar, it might be time to seriously.
And it might be time to seriously consider whether you need to make some major changes in your business. One of the biggest things that keep entrepreneurs stuck in businesses that aren't serving them is this funky thing called Sunk Cost Fallacy.
And I'm like, oh, my goodness. I actually said that, Right?
This is the idea that because you've already invested so much time, money, and energy into something that you have to keep going with it. But I've already spent two years building a client base. But I've already invested in this training program.
But I already told everyone this is what I would do. But I already built this entire system. Listen, I got it. I really do. It feels wasteful to walk away from something that you've put so much into.
But here's what I know. I know that the cost of staying in the wrong situation is far higher than the cost of changing course.
Those two years that you know you may have spent building the wrong client base, that experience taught you exactly what you want, which is something incredibly valuable. The training program you invested, you still have those skills and those knowledge. The system you built, you can adapt it or rebuild it.
You could do it better the second or third time. Nothing you've done is wasted if it brought you closer to understanding what you actually want to create.
When I made this decision to restructure my business and let go of those clients, I was walking away from guaranteed revenue. But I was also walking towards something that would actually fulfill me and serve my life in the long term.
And so the question isn't whether you've already invested a lot in your current path. The question is whether continuing on this path will actually get you where you want to go.
So let me be clear about what I mean when I say burn it all down. Like I said, I'm not talking about literally starting from zero or throwing away everything you've built.
I'm talking about the strategic decision to let go of the parts of your business that are no longer serving you so you can rebuild in a way that does serve you. And sometimes that means changing your business model completely. Sometimes it means letting go of certain customers or clients or retiring programs.
Sometimes it means pivoting to a different niche or a market. Sometimes it means completely changing how you deliver your products or services. But it doesn't necessarily mean it.
And I will say that again, it doesn't necessarily mean throwing away all of your experience. Now, I will say this. Sometimes people pivot into completely new industries, and that's what they decide to do.
I feel like that's a huge pivot, and that's not burning it down. That's just like starting over to me. I like, that's just like reinvention.
So again, it doesn't mean that you're throwing away all your experiences or your skills or your networks or your knowledge. It just means that you're being strategic about what you want to keep and what you want to release in your business. All right?
When I restructured my business, I kept my core expertise and my best clients. I kept all the systems that were working.
But I let go of the business model that was draining me, the clients who weren't a right fit and the way of working that was consuming my life and calendar.
So the result was a business that made me more money, served my life way better, gave me way more freedom, cleared my calendar, and also made me feel aligned with who I actually am. So I want to talk to you about the fear that keeps people stuck in situations that are not serving them.
Because I think that this fear is often what prevents people from. From making the changes that they need to make. So the fear could sound something like this. Here's. Here's a few little examples.
What if I'm just being dramatic? What if I just need to try harder or be more grateful? What if I'm making a huge mistake?
What if I walk away from something good and never find anything better? That's a scary one. What if people think I'm a failure? What if people lose respect for me? What if I can't recreate my success?
What if this is as good as it gets for me? Oh, these fears are normal. They're so human. And they're also the very things that keep you trapped in situations that are slowly killing your spirit.
And what I know about these fears is that they're almost never as bad as staying stuck.
The worst case scenario if you don't make a change is that you're going to spend years or decades of your life doing work that drains you, building a business that owns you, and never actually creating the life that you want. I don't know, my friend, which risk sounds scarier? So how do you know how to actually make this decision?
How do you know if you're in a temporary rough patch or if you need to make a major change? Here are some of the questions that you could ask yourself and my friends.
Listen, when we're trying to figure this stuff out, you really need to go into self discovery mode. So here are some ideas that some questions you could ask yourself. I'm not going to number them because Cara, you know, gets confused and lost.
So here's a question. I honestly want to say a number, but I'm not going to. Here we go. If nothing changes in your business over the next six months, how will you feel?
Not if things get better or if you fix the problems, but if everything stays the exact same, the exact same, how do you feel? Relieved? Anxious? Excited? Trapped? Go ahead and think about that journal about it.
Maybe you're out on a walk or on a treadmill, so you might have to come back to this section. But honestly, ask yourself and reflect. When you imagine your ideal Tuesday, does it include the work you're actually doing?
Not your ideal vacation Tuesday, by the way, but your ideal working Tuesday. Are you excited about the work itself or are you just excited about the money it brings in?
And if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about your business, what would it be? And then ask yourself, is that thing fundamental to your business model or is it something you could actually change? All right, we have a few more.
What would you do if money weren't a factor? I know this is such a cliche question, but it's so revealing.
If you had enough money in the world to live comfortably for the rest of your life, what would you still be doing? Is it the work that you're doing now? I always say this, like, with the clients that I'm really deep in. I love them so dearly.
Like, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would show up. I would still show up because I love them, I love working with them, I love the work we do together.
And so I think that's a huge piece of having fulfillment in your life. All right, moving on. What advice would you give to a friend in your exact situation?
Sometimes we can see clearly for others and we just cannot see clearly for ourselves. And the last question is, what's the cost of staying versus the cost of changing?
So not just the financial cost, but the emotional, physical and spiritual cost. What is the situation costing you in terms of maybe your health, your relationships, your happiness, your dreams?
These questions don't have right or wrong answers, friends, but they can help you get clear on whether you're dealing with a normal business challenge or a hard season, or whether you need to make some fundamental changes. So I want to tell you what happened when I finally made the decision to restructure my business.
Because I think it's important for you to know that fear is usually worse than reality. Yes, it was scary. Yes, a hundred percent. I had some uncomfortable conversations with people. I had to let go of things. Yes, it was temporary.
There was a temporary dip in my income while I rebuilt. There was. That was so scary. But the relief, honestly, was immediate and overwhelming. As soon as my. For me, as soon as my calendar cleared up.
And it gave me freedom and flexibility so I could travel and actually travel. When I travel, I generally don't take calls. I'm about to go on a three week travel adventure which I will talk about later. And I'm not taking calls.
Like I'm still working for clients and doing things, but I travel and don't take calls. And I'm going for three weeks. And so, I mean, that is what I wanted. And I, like, I finally felt, like I said, I could breathe again.
I had energy for even my own projects. And I enjoyed my work so much better. I looked forward to Mondays because Mondays again.
I rescheduled my, you know, theme days, and Mondays are kind of like this free planning day. There's so much space and creativity. I just love it.
And within six months, I was making more money than I had ever made before, working fewer hours and actually enjoying my business again. I had space to think strategically instead of just, like, reacting to whatever came up. I had more time with my family and my personal hobbies.
And most importantly, I remembered why I became an entrepreneur in the first place. Like, I remember what it felt like to build something that excited me instead of just maintaining something that truly was draining me.
So here's what I want you to understand. Making the decision to change course when something isn't working isn't giving up. It's not being ungrateful. It's not being dramatic.
It is being strategic. It is being honest. It's being responsible to yourself and to the people who depend on you. Your happiness matters, my friends.
Your fulfillment matters. Your dreams matter.
And sometimes the only way to honor those things is to let go of what is not serving you, even when it looks like success on the outside. I am not saying this decision is easy. Far from it, one of the hardest. And I'm not saying that there won't be challenges or setbacks.
I'm not saying that you should make major changes on impulse or without thinking them through. But I am saying that staying stuck in a situation that is slowly sucking your soul or killing your spirit is not noble.
It is not responsible, and it is not good for you or the people who depend on you. Because sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is burn it all down and rebuild something so much better.
If you're listening to this and thinking it might apply to your situation, here's what else I want you to do. I want you to ask yourself these questions. First, I want you to be honest with yourself about how you're actually feeling about your business.
Not how you think you should feel, not how it looks from the outside, but, like, how are you actually feeling when you wake up in the morning and you go and start your day. Second, get clear on what you really want.
Not what you think you should want, not what other people expect from you, but what would make you honestly super excited to work on. Like, what would just light you up. And third, identify what's working and not working in your current situation.
What parts of your business energize you and what parts drain you. What would you keep if you were rebuilding from scratch?
And fourth, calculate the real cost of staying versus changing so what is the current situation costing you in terms of your health and your relationship? Your happiness or your dreams? And what is the cost of staying? And number five, give yourself permission to want something different each.
Even if you're not ready to make those changes yet, allow yourself to acknowledge that you're not fully satisfied with where you are. And remember, you don't have to figure it all out at once. My friends, you do not have to have a perfect plan before you start making changes.
You just have to be willing to admit that where you are now isn't where you want to stay forever. The beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur is that you always have choices. You're never truly stuck, even when.
When it could feel like it sometimes. Maybe for you, burning it all down means completely changing your business model. But maybe it means just letting go of certain clients or services.
Maybe it means pivoting to a different market or niche. Or maybe it just means making smaller changes that add up to a bigger transformation over time.
The point isn't that you have to make drastic changes immediately. The point is that you have permission to make whatever changes you need to make to create a business in life that actually serves you.
You started this journey for a reason. You had a vision for what your life could look like. If your current reality doesn't match that vision, you have the power to change it.
It might be scary. It might be uncomfortable. It might require difficult conversations and temporary setbacks.
But on the other side of that fear is the business and life you actually want. And I promise you, it is worth fighting for. All right, my friends, thanks so much for listening to another episode.
And remember, you have permission to change course. You have permission to want something different. And you have permission to build a business that actually serves the life you want to live.
I will see you next week.