The Hardest Choice Any Entrepreneur Will Ever Make

People tell you that the hardest part about starting a business is when it fails and it all goes to shit. I disagree with that.

I believe that the hardest part is when your business works, and it makes money and it ticks along and functions well, and it’s exactly what you set out to build and you realise you don’t want to do it.

You realise that no matter how good it is, it’s not what you want to do with your life. Maybe you’ve built an agency, and you’ve made huge strides, and you realise that you honestly hate your business.

The hardest choice you’ll ever make is to shut down or leave a business that you just don’t have it in you to keep on building. And it’s okay to do that. You have to follow what you’re passionate about, more than anything else.

I’m a lucky guy. I love what I do with my life. But I’ve had moments when I’ve recognised, with other projects and paths, that I was unhappy, miserable, and over it. In those moments, I didn’t walk away because they were a fucking disaster. I walked away because it was time.

If you love what you do, that’s amazing.

If you don’t, there’s nothing wrong with making the hard call, even if someone else says it’s the wrong call, even if it feels like you’re throwing away an opportunity.

Because if it’s an opportunity you don’t want, there’s no point in holding onto it.

[This post by Jon Westenberg first appeared on Medium and has been reproduced with permission.]

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