I’m a very big fan of Entrepreneur magazine and read it cover to cover when I receive it each month.  I am personally disappointed in the fact that they don’t have a section every month on exiting your business but that discussion is for another day.  What I’m writing about is a letter from a reader that complained to the magazine that:

… I think your readers would be well served if you addressed the seemingly taboo topic of how to recognize that it’s time to throw in the towel.

Now I do agree that the magazine does not actively address this topic, but some personal ownership is required here.  Remember, we’re entrepreneurs by heart and soul.   The word “entrepreneur” is a verb not a noun!!  We have been told since we decided to go on our own how many businesses fail, how we will not make it, how it must be hard to not get a paycheck, the hours, the commitment, etc. and… yet there are 26 million of us in the United States right now.   We hire 80% of the work force and is what defines the American dream.  We don’t trace inside the lines, we don’t follow the leader and we don’t listen to others about our business.

In our culture of “it’s not my fault” and “they should have told me”, this type of letter doesn’t surprise me.  Accept the responsibility that it’s your company and no one knows it better than you when to call it quits.  Survival is all we are trying to do right now and there are numerous days every month that I want to quit.  Then I pick myself up, fill my glass half full, work my butt off and go home to do it again.

If you want some quick advise from someone who deals with this every day here it is.  If your not having fun anymore than get out.  The only thing that will make you successful is your passion and love of what you do.  Passion will get you over the low days and the unconditional love will help you when it hurts.

We all hurt right now and it’s going to be a while until we get back to the “fun” times so if you don’t enjoy what you do then I recommend you consider to throw in the towel.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Sell Your Business, Exit Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.