You know somebody once told me, “Never make decisions when you're under the cloud - wait until the sun comes out. “

And that is great advice. Get some space away from the situation.

Let me tell you about the time I most felt like quitting my business...

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• [0:00 ] Changes to this podcast in 2018
• [2:48 ] A time when I felt like quitting my business
• [4:37 ] What should you do when you want to quit?
• [6:21 ] Why it’s important not to make decisions when you’re under the cloud
• [7:18 ] What if God DOES show you that you’re on the wrong track?
• [8:18 ] If you’re going to stick out out - go into “learning mode”
• [10:18 ] Why making the same mistake repeatedly is inexcusable in business

I think it was about a year and a half into my business, Podcast Fast Track that some events happened all kind of right in a row that made me want to quit. I was discouraged, I was down, there were things that made me doubt myself and my abilities - and whether or not should have started this crazy entrepreneurial journey in the first place.

In particular the thing that made me want to quit was that I had a client who canceled his subscription to our podcast production and show notes service. Then another one. Then another one. Three customers in a row who bailed out.just when I thought I'd been doing a really good job for them.

To be honest I saw the first one coming.

The businesses had been growing pretty rapidly and I was scrambling to keep up with the workload. I was trying to create systems so that I could bring others on to help me out - I was doing all of that at the same time.

It was during that time frame I'd made a handful full of mistakes on that particular client’s work. I made the mistakes, not my team, me.

It's strange how that happens - all of the mistakes happening on one client's account. I mean if they'd been spread out over two or three client, I don’t think I would have lost any of them. But that's how it all started, that's how I began wondering if I should quit my business.

Then when the second client cancelled her subscription, and the third one just on the heels of that, you can imagine my state of mind. I mean if you've been there before you're asking all kinds of questions…

• What am I doing wrong?
• Maybe be I'm am no good at this.
• Maybe I should have taken on the risk of starting my own business in the first place.

And sometimes the worst case scenario you hear in your own mind… “This just isn't going to work.”

What should you do when you hit that point?

And if you haven't hit that point yet and you are starting a business, I’m pretty certain you will come to everyone.

So I want to answer the question here, “What do you do when you want to quit your business?”

The first thing I would say is you need to get some space from the issue.

I learned the hard way that I don't make good decisions or good assessments when I'm in the pit of despair. You know I had to get some space, to get away from the situation for a little while so that I could look at it unemotionally even eventually, dispassionately.

Because I want to see what's really happened, not what I feel has happened. When I was able to do that in the situation I told you about here's is what I was able to see...

Number one, the first client’s issues were entirely my fault.

I had made mistakes.

He lost trust in me - and trust is the most valuable thing that I can give to a client so that was completely understandable. That he said, “No thanks, we're gonna to handle this another way” is completely understandable.

The second client was reorganizing his business and decided the podcasting didn't fit into his plans. Okay, that kind of thing happens in any type of business there's nothing I can do about that one.

The third client was in the middle of some heavy life issues. There were two deaths in his family within one month. It makes total sense that they were off-loading all the non-priority things.

Again, there’s nothing I can do about that.

You know somebody once told me never make decisions when you're under the cloud. Wait until the sun comes out.

That is great advice. I'm am glad I thought clearly enough to do that in this situation, and I highly recommend it for you too.

Get some space away from the situation.

Secondly, don't be afraid of the possibility that it could be quitting time.

There's always the possibility that the LORD is using a difficult or discouraging circumstance to redirect you. I'm learning not to be afraid of that possibility - after all, maybe I'm not cut out to be an entrepreneur or a business owner. Perhaps it's something that I was induced into and excited about but it really doesn't fit me. Maybe I made a mistake in my initial decision to take on something like this.

If I'm going to live a humble life I've got to be open to those as possibilities.

And you know in the end, if God shows me that I shouldn't be pursuing a certain course of action or a business then that's a good thing, isn't it? Even if I don't think it is at the time, even if I feel like a failure at the time.

There's actually something very admirable about noticing you've made a misstep and then correcting course. And we can always rest assured God’s got our best in mind.

So in the situation I told you about I spent some time in prayer. And I sought the counsel of spiritually wise people - my wife among them. People that I respect. I did that so that I could determine if the discouragement was a course correction that I needed to heed - like quitting the business - or if it was nothing more than an obstacle or speed bump that I could learn from and overcome.

Prayers for wisdom work. God promises that they do.

So don't be afraid of the possibility that it actually could be quitting time you got to assess.

The third thing - you should go into to the learning mode.

I mean if I get through steps one and two and I feel I should remain where I'm at, you know pursuing the business, then it's time for me to assess what I did to contribute to the problems that occurred.

I already mentioned that I'd made mistakes on the first customer’s service. Three mistakes in close succession for that customer, so what do I do with that?

Well, I need to own it.

There's is nothing wrong in admitting that I made a mistake. In fact, you can't move forward until you DO admit that you made mistakes.

So I had to own those mistakes inwardly and outwardly. I contacted the client, I admitted the mistakes clearly and openly, and I apologized. I told them the steps I was taking to correct the problem and I asked if there was any way I could continue to provide the service they originally hired me for.

In that situation, you know the story - they said “No thanks.” But I did what was right by owning my mistake.

Another thing you need to do when you go into a learning mode is you need to consider God's role in the issue.

The way that I look at that situation is that God's hand was clearly in it. I mean…

• He could have prevented me from making those three mistakes, all on the same clients account.
• He could have made the mistakes minor instead a major in the client’s eyes.
• He could have retained the client for me even after I made the apologies…

But He didn't.

And I've got to trust that God knows what He's doing in my business, that He's got a great purpose in what is happened. After all, it's His business, not mine. I’ve got to learn to rest in Him. Even in a disappointment like that.

When you're in learning mode you also need to pinpoint how all the mistakes happened and tweak your procedures and your systems to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

In business, making the same mistake repeatedly is inexcusable.

It really is - it's inexcusable.

Because as a service provider or product supplier you have committed yourself to deliver a certain amount of value. If you make a mistake - wonderful - we are human and we make mistakes. But we learn from those mistakes too - and part of what we learn is how to adjust the way we are delivering that good or that service so that the mistake doesn't happen aga