Most founders face at least one dark night of the soul.
The Beginning: Why Start a Business?
You’re smart and talented. You value freedom and autonomy. Working for others feels restrictive.
So, you start a consulting business. You’re great at what you do, and the business grows. But then:
The Growth Challenges
The workload becomes overwhelming. Hiring people seems like the logical step. Yet, they don’t deliver the same quality as you.
Frustration sets in. Why can’t they get it right?
More clients come in, pushing revenue past the $1M mark. You hire even more people. Overhead increases. Cashflow drops. Stress skyrockets.
The business grows, but freedom shrinks. Management isn’t what you want. Uncertainty clouds your decisions. It feels like the business is suffocating you.
The Turning Point
Quitting isn’t an option. It’s your business. Besides, clients and the team depend on you.
Then comes a critical moment: evolve or crash and burn.
This moment hit me around year 10.
I had to ask myself: Do I have what it takes?
Shifting Perspectives
The answer was yes, but it required change. I stopped proving my intelligence and endurance. Instead, I stepped back and thought like an investor. I began treating my business as an asset.
I asked myself what I truly wanted:
- Exit and cash out?
- Keep it and scale?
- Hire someone to run it?
The Plan to Move Forward
I learned all three options required the same foundation:
- Stop billing by the hour.
- Generate recurring revenue.
- Decline one-time projects.
- Convert services into products.
- Build systems to run the business without me.
I chose to exit. But by the time I was ready, the business was running so smoothly I could have kept it.
The Real Lesson
The true transformation was realizing I deserved happiness. I no longer needed to prove my worth.
And you don’t either.