Four reasons why you should let go your idea

Sometimes it is better to give up on investing in a bad business idea. [Courtesy]

Winston Churchill is famous for his quote, “never ever give up”.

A lot of entrepreneurship advice is centred around staying the course, not throwing in the towel, holding on and all that other good stuff.

But sometimes a business refuses to respond to your best efforts to keep it alive.

So, when do you accept you’re throwing good money after bad? At what point is it OK to give up? Here are some indicators.

1. Your idea is a money-sucking hole

Building a great business requires money – and often, a lot of it. However, if you’re always pumping in cash and there’s not much progress to show for it, you may need to rethink your business model or do away with the business altogether.

Profitability is a crucial survival component when you’re in business.

If you get the feeling that you’re sinking too much money with minimal returns, it may be time to let go.

2. You lack the motivation to continue

Entrepreneurship requires a lot of internal motivation to keep going – you won’t always have people cheering you on.

There’s little that’s glamorous about running a business. It’s a roller-coaster of great tidings and deep disappointments. Sometimes you’ll fail and lack the will to keep going. But if you care enough about why you’re in business, you’ll find the push you need to keep going.

However, if you find you’ve completely lost the zeal to wake up and work on recovering your business; if it all it conjures up in you is negativity, then you may need to let it go.

Don’t waste your time on something you can barely muster the energy to even think about – time is a precious resource; don’t waste it on deadweight.

3. The idea has no longevity

You can only be in the formative stages of your business for so long. Your idea needs to begin to bear fruit at some point. In business, the fruits are good revenues, a return on investment and an idea you can scale.

If your idea lacks scalability, then chances are that you’ll soon hit a dead end.

As Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg once put it: “Ideas do not come out fully formed, they become clearer as you work on them.”

However, if you find that your business isn’t showing signs of being anything more than what it was when you started out, you may need to figure out a new growth model. Or go into an entirely different business line.

One of the best ways to dig yourself out of a hole if you’re stagnating is to look at what your competition is doing and where their business is. Can you implement some of their growth models to stay alive?

If you’re completely off course, there’s no shame in starting over and doing it better the second time round.

4. It might be the best business decision

You’re not doing anyone any favours by working on a clearly failing idea. If you’re not moving forward, stop wasting your time and energy.

Drop the excess baggage your business may be carrying – which could be physical assets, more staff than you need or rental premises you can’t afford – and fly lightweight.

If this doesn’t move you forward, then you may have to accept that it’s time to shut down and refocus your business.