Pull The Plug
Hi fellow Hiveians,
Today I wanted to reminisce about having to stop the small online business we started!
Pull The Plug
It's the end of an era.. I am ending one of the old side hustles!
There is always a time and a place for something. When it comes to having a small business, there are times where it is going great, and there are times when it's really not worth it anymore. The latter is for sure the case for the micro-enterprise that we had.
We'd been selling things online for a few years now. Like most people, we've found a way to get a little niche into something and then take the ball and run with it. Over time though, that ball was worth less and less, but the time wasn't changing in terms of the devoted time to make it run. Granted, we put less effort into it as time went on, which brings reduced results, but it was waning.
Like many online businesses, during the lockdown years, as much as those pissed me off in terms of being completely unnecessary, it did a lot of good in some interesting ways. A lot more people were shopping online than they would before, and we delved right into that niche and made some decent money. Nothing that you could flash around like a dumbass, but really when you think about it, the money wasn't bad at all!
There were some others that were in that niche as well and they played the wrong game and ended up going into lots of debt which then closed down and had a lot of other cascading effects.
We thankfully didn't get into a bind like that because we were more aware that the time for it was finite and we needed to treat it like a business, not a debit card. Money went in for reinvestment, and it came out the other end as a bit more than we put into it, so it was an overall net-positive. A lot of people, sadly, can't say that same thing so we knew we were fortunate!
A few times this year though, we were looking at the numbers and realized that it was sadly dwindling more so than it had before, and it was eating into the meager returns that were coming in. We knew it was time to just shut it down while we were ahead.. it was a tough choice but a necessary one!
There are so many stories of people who try to start a business and end up not knowing that the decisions they make are the wrong ones. We also had no idea, really but we had wanted to put in the time and effort to make it provide something, so it ended up going pretty well for a while. We even tried to coach some people that were doing similar things, and thankfully it worked out for a small number but most ignored the things we were saying which is fine, to each their own.
It was bittersweet to call it quits though, despite the fact that it truly was the right time. Having to tell the people that got our stuff for so long that we were no longer going to have the business was tough, but thankfully they understood and had some other similar options for what they were wanting, so that was a good transition for them. It's always good when you can help them get what they want elsewhere so it's not a total loss for them!
The next question now is: what other business could be stood up in its wake? That's the tough one!
What about you, have you started a small business at some point? Did you have to shut it down? Let me know in the comments!
-CmplXty. Real human written content, never AI. All pictures are mine unless otherwise stated
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Knowing when it's time to fold up shop is an important part of owning a business. Years ago an acquaintance talked me into sharing a T-shirt business with her. It was a ridiculous idea. I'm terrible with money, with record keeping and have no interest in clothes! I didn't want to disappoint her so I went along for the ride. I still have a couple of those shirts left. We never made money. Nor did we lose money. It was all her and at one point she had enough. That was it. An interesting experience, but I am no entrepreneur and never want to be one. Sounds like you and your wife have more of a head for business.
The online T shirt business is a decent one, if you can make the logos! We've tried that a little bit as well.. it's a bit harder because the entry cost is more but it's not a bad one overall.
Indeed a really important aspect of owning a small business is knowing when to wrap it up. Ideally, we would've closed up shop 1 year ago, but the money trickled in a little here and there so we procrastinated.
I'm glad you had a dabble in it as well though, even if just for the fact that you knew it wasn't for you. A lot of people need to at least try owning a small business because it's a totally different feel to it!
Very familiar and always a tough call to make, especially after having taking the business off the ground but realize it isn't going the way you want and it's also not entirely your fault. Sometimes I do try to find a way to give the business to someone else to run, if it's strictly a time problem on my part but oh buy, that hardly ever works lol.
Yeah I hear you on that man. We referred some of our customers to others that we knew of, but that also doesn't entirely work. Some people just don't like change when it comes down to it lol
Hmm being a salaried worker, I think the closest to starting a business for me would be Hive. But then again, I still see Hive as a hobby. ;)