Should I quit my business strategy? 5 questions to ask when you think it’s not working

Let's get into today's video: What to do first if you are struggling with something in your solopreneur business and you're kind of thinking about quitting it or putting an end to it. 

This could really be anything within your business: This could be a service that you launched, and maybe no one signed up for it yet. This could be a product that you've created that no one has bought yet. This could be a marketing strategy that you've experimented with, but it hasn't led to any sales yet. This could be a system or a process in on the back end of your business that you've been you know, maybe attempting to implement for the operation side of things, any type of strategy, system process, anything that you might have in your business that you've been playing with or trying out, and it's just not quite working. 

And so you're kind of thinking, “Is it time to cut my losses and just put an end to this and do something different? Should I just give up on this particular strategy or system or technique or process?” 

In this case, maybe you've been trying something for a while, whatever it may be, and it's just not working the way that you anticipated — so you're starting to feel dejected, frustrated and you're really ready to give up and you are ready to quit. 

First of all, I want you to know that that is 100% valid. Okay? It is okay, it is valid to feel that way. And it is also okay to quit. There is nothing wrong with quitting. However, you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself…

That's why I want to share with you the top five questions to ask yourself when you think that things aren't working and that it's time to quit. I want you to ask these questions of yourself before you give up on a particular strategy. 

Question number one: What makes me think this is not working? And is that true? 

For example, your thought process might go something like, “No one is buying this service, therefore the service isn't good.” Or, “No one wants this service because no one is buying this service. No one wants it and therefore I should no longer offer this service.” 

So, is that entirely true that no one wants it, or that the service is not actually good? Maybe your service actually is really awesome! Maybe there are people who DO want it, but you are promoting it to the wrong people. Or your messaging needs some finessing and the way that you're talking about your service needs a little bit of work, or maybe you aren't being visible enough. You're not putting yourself out there enough. You're not talking about your service enough. You're not cutting through all the noise that's out there. 

You can see here that the initial thought of “Because no one is buying my service, that must mean that it's either not good or that people don't want it,” that there's actually a false equivalency. There's a gap in that thought process. It's not actually true. 

That's the first question that you want to check in with yourself: What makes me think that this thing is not working? And is that true? Is that accurate? 

Question number two: Do I have enough data and information to prove that this isn't working? Where is the evidence? 

If you've only been using a particular strategy for three days, that's probably not going to be a long enough amount of time to confirm whether it is working. That's not really enough evidence. 

Some strategies that you might be testing out also might be much longer term. So even something like three months might not actually be enough time for something depending on what it might be. Here, you're really checking in with, “Have I actually gotten used to this strategy?” For example, if you are testing out a new time management tactic, you're trying out a new way to manage your time effectively in your business, you're testing things out, and you might not be accustomed to it yet. You might need a little bit more time, a little bit more opportunity to test it out to know whether it's actually working for you if you are deciding to incorporate a particular time management tactic, but you keep on forgetting to use it. 

Or you haven't really used it enough to know whether it's really working, or you have to consciously force yourself into doing it because it's not the natural thing that you've been doing up until now. It might just need a little bit more time and space for you to test it out to see whether it's a good fit for you. 

In another example, with a marketing strategy, checking in with that question of “Do I have enough data and information to prove that it's working? Do I know if I have sufficient evidence to prove that this is or isn't working?” 

When it comes to something like marketing, an example could be — if 10 people see a promotional post that you created, and none of those people buy, well, that's probably not enough data to know whether it's an effective strategy. 10 people probably isn't quite a big enough sample size for you to go with. And depending on, you know, your industry and and the way that you're promoting and what you're promoting and how warm your audience is all of these different pieces, even 100 people might not be enough of a sample size. It's going to vary, it's going to depend on a lot of different factors, depending on what sample size is an appropriate amount or is there enough data that is sufficient evidence and proof. So it's really going to depend on the situation. 

That was question number two: Do I have enough data and information? Do I have sufficient evidence to prove that this thing is not working? 

Question number three: If this was working, would I want to do it? 

We want to ask this question to determine whether it is a good strategy or process or tactic or technique for you, regardless of whether it appears to be working or not. Do you enjoy it? Is it something that you would be interested in doing? Or do you feel like you “should” do it? Are you only doing it because you think that is the only way or it's the best way to do something because some expert has told you that you must do this and some business guru is like “you absolutely need to do this, it is the only way, this is the best way.” 

Is that the only reason that you're doing it? Regardless of whether it appears to be working… Do you want to do it? Does it interest you? Does it light you up? Does it feel enjoyable for you? Is it something that you want to work in your business? 

So that was question number three — if this was working, would I want to do it?