When to give up on a business?

"When to give up on a business" and "how not to give up on a business" appear side by side in Google's suggestions. They are the same question seen from two sides, and no motivational quote answers it for you. What answers it is having criteria decided before desperation sets in. Giving up on a business isn't giving up on yourself. Sometimes it's the bravest decision, and the one that saves energy for the next attempt.

The practical path

1. Separate what you can let go of. There are three levels: abandoning a format (the product, the channel, the location), abandoning the whole business, or stepping away from entrepreneurship for a while. Often the right choice is the first, not the second.
2. Use objective signals, not the mood of the day. Signs that it's time to stop or change a lot: - after honest tests, with real conversations with customers, no one commits to paying; - the price customers accept doesn't cover the cost, even after adjustments; - the cash has crossed the red line you set and there is no realistic way back; - debt grows every month just to keep operating; - your health, or your family's, is paying the bill.
3. Signs that it's worth continuing. Customers come back and refer others; revenue grows, even slowly; the problem is execution (price, channel, process), not the market; you still learn something new every month.
4. Ask the zero-money question. "If I hadn't invested anything so far, would I start this business today, the way it is?" If the answer is no, the money already spent shouldn't decide for you.
5. Talk to someone from outside. An accountant, a Sebrae consultant, an experienced entrepreneur. Those inside see little.
6. If you stop, stop well. Organize the closure with an accountant, honor what you can with employees and suppliers, preserve relationships. A dignified exit opens doors for the next attempt.
7. Take care of your mind. Ending a dream hurts like grief. If the pain turns into despair, CVV answers for free, 24 hours a day, at 188.

How Bairo went through it

Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez says he gave up, and also didn't, at different moments. When he wanted to use artificial intelligence and augmented reality in a business and was told it wouldn't work, he gave up, even while believing in it. Years later, the technology became a trend. When he heard the same about natural-based cosmetics, he kept going, and it worked.

After going broke, and after a project in which he was abandoned by people he had helped, he kept going. No one knows for sure how many times he tried, thought about stopping and almost gave up. He tells his own story through the attempt that worked: the seventh. And that one, the story says, carried all the others inside it.

The Method step

This decision calls for step 2 of the Seventh Attempt Method: ask what is inside the no (is it a market, timing, person or execution no?) and step 5: count in lifetime (what is your red line, decided with a cool head?). With both on paper, you decide with data, not with fatigue.

Discover the Seventh Attempt Method

Read also

• How not to give up on starting a business
• How to change your business's course without giving up
• I've tried many times and nothing worked
• The seventh attempt