No matter which way you lean politically, watching Hillary Rodham Clinton’s almost-endless battle to become the Democratic presidential nominee might remind you of an important question for all of us, especially entrepreneurs: When is it time to throw in the towel?
If you’ve ever put dollar after dollar into a new business, or fought day and night to keep a struggling business alive, you know how hard it is to decide when the time is right to say, “Enough!” The same, of course, is true when you wrestle with personal questions such as how long to stay in a going-nowhere relationship, bad marriage or unsatisfying job.
Most of us have a hard time figuring out when it’s time to pull the plug on anything we’ve put our heart and soul into.
We know we need to give any undertaking a reasonable chance to develop, mature and build momentum. New businesses, for instance, usually take from two to five years to become profitable. If we’re too quick to quit, we’ll never make a go of anything. And we’ve heard stories of millionaires — if not billionaires — who were deep in debt, down to their last dollar, but because they believed in their dream, were finally able to succeed.
But there’s a big difference between giving something enough time to grow and holding on when there’s no real future. Between patience and inertia, commitment and stubbornness. Next time you’re in one of those 3 a.m. heart-to-heart sessions with yourself — wondering whether it’s finally time to get out of a business, project, partnership or relationship — ask yourself:
Read more.
Photo by Fenix.
When Is It Time To Throw In The Towel?
June 18, 2008 by Rich | 1 Comment
In Advice, Downturn, Operations
cassy on June 23rd, 2008 at 2:41 am
Its not really easy to be successful in business or even in love.There are many things to consider.But if we believe in ourselves we can achieves all our dreams.