Don't You Dare Quit
As a client hopped online for her video session, I could sense her energy was low, her eyes seemed sad and she didn’t start the call by looking into her webcam with the light I know she has. Her voice was a little quivery as she described the nature of her situation with her early stage start up.
No news was how we started. A few weeks ago it was all possibilities, pitches were being made and they had gone better than great! Now…crickets. Radio silence. No news. No returned phone calls. No email replies. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
The proposals and pitches weren’t being rejected, there was no response.
She had been feeling heartbroken and sorry for herself. Then she took action.
While it didn’t completely eliminate the feeling of discouragement, it eased the grip of angst she was under and allowed her to come to our session, low but with a heart and mind that knows her journey is just beginning.
I listened for a bit, as good coaches do, and when she was wrapping up her summary of frustration I opened the door to share some wisdom I’ve acquired of 20 years as an entrepreneur, and as a business coach and it got me to thinking this afternoon that you might like to hear it too. So here’s the Reader’s Digest Version:
“Don’t you dare quit. Someone somewhere is counting on YOU to do this work.
You have a solid business model in an early stage. If the revenue model wouldn’t work, or the proof of concept run earlier this year had been an epic failure, I would have told you, and we would have evaluated whether it was time to pivot or pitch it. Today, you do not need to do either.
The work you are doing in your business is a calling. It’s so important you can’t NOT do it.
There will be days you’ll want to surrender, there will be days you will want to step away, cause it’s a LOT. I know.
If you step away, you’ll never come back to it. Now isn’t the time to step aside. Now is the time to lean your shoulder into the plan we’ve developed and work that plan.
When the little bitty shitty committee shows up for its meeting, politely let them know the room they need is otherwise occupied and they will have to meet somewhere else.
Don’t you dare quit. Don’t you dare.”
When you feel this cloud overcoming you here are 3 things I want you to do:
Be grateful – Gratitude is the fastest way to shift a funk. Write it down. Write down what you are grateful for every day in your business. Wins don’t need to be measured in size. A win is a win.
Phone a friend – Or your coach, or your battle buddy or accountability partner, heck, call your mom. But don’t stay alone with the thoughts in your head. That is very dangerous. Find the truth teller who will tell you what you need to hear and then get on with your day.
Get busy – you’ve got your plan now go work it.
Now go on…you’ve got your work to do.
Debbie Page Whitlock is a business coach and leading authority on business cash flow for women entrepreneurs, and writes on all things related to creating sustainable, scalable and potentially salable businesses and other useful bits of business wisdom she’s acquired on her 20 year entrepreneurial odyssey.
