169- Entrepreneur dilemma — whether to withdraw from a project or not

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Struggling Biz Show, we discuss the topic of whether an entrepreneur should withdraw from a project or not — or even withdraw as a small business and fold up his entrepreneurship. And we go into my own personal story and situation to give this episode the realism and material that it deserves, for this story is one of going for the path of SUCCESS for the entrepreneur in terms of HEALTH AND SATISFACTION.

This type of situation occurs when there is NO correspondence from the client for up to six months — especially after the client had committed to providing the entrepreneur with content, with files, with other resources that are needed in the project. In my case, it was a PC with protected content that was confidential — including two backup external hard drives with the archived and stored materials that contained every single version of the developed code and edits for the project.

The dilemma came from both respect for the client, as well as a probability that the client was not well and had disappeared from the business scene (due to an accident, health issues, possible death since he had taken the jabs called “vaccines” recently).

But we faced the dilemma when I broke the silence and contacted the individual (the client) and warned him that I was probably going to fold and not be in business any more (mostly from health reasons). However, I did have a soft spot, as this client was a long-time friend, although he kept changing the rules and the deliverables with a weak schedule that changed every time we talked.

So I had to ask myself the following questions:

Am I being affected by my poor health these days, as I am truly indeed suffering from ailments that are not improving — and even the medics that I had attending me told me to take it easy and find a “hobby” rather than be involved in a business where I was required to be under the stress of deadlines or difficult technical constraints?
Am I feeling more tired and feeling with less energy in doing the projects?
Am I getting tired and disgusted with the project and how it is going, rather than being energized to finish it?
Am I feeling that the money IS OF NO IMPORTANCE, and that I did not like working under these conditions for the project?
Would I rather be doing something that is “fun, challenging and rewarding” to me, instead of loathing the work I am being committed to do for this project?
Do I really need the money at this time? If not, what would happen if the project went away? [NOTE: I had not heard from the client for almost 6 months, and so I got used to having no income from him or his projects, and I got used to an environment where I did not have to worry about him or his projects.]
Am I getting to hate the project and hate what I am doing in it? Do I wish I were NOT involved in it any more?
Do I wish I could apply my time to another hobby or past time that would give me more satisfaction and pleasure and energy just by being in it, as opposed to the project of the client?

and others that you can imagine would result from doing something you are not beginning to enjoy or like due to the methods and environment of the client and the business and the elements of the work in the project.

Well, I had gotten to the point of wrapping all this up and leaving the project to invest whatever little time I have left in my twilight years to better things (like podcasting that I would enjoy, control and feel great with the self-satisfaction of doing something that I could control and see the results).

However, when I finally did speak with the client, I decided to give him one more chance. Although he had promised me for over a year to deliver to me certain elements that I needed in order to do the work and give results, I did remind him that he had never delivered any of these to me within the time frame that he mentioned — and I had this info recorded on the calls I had with him. So I mentioned it to him, and he promised me to deliver these shortly. I calmly shook my head and decided to wait and see if he would deliver them. Because, you see, he mentioned that a retiree from corporate America did need to be in a business after retirement, or else the boredom of retirement would shorten one’s abilities to think, to act, and then shorten his life. A good example of this was the manager’s info in my corporation that showed that after 2 to 3 years after retirement (after 30 years) from the stress of corporate America and the pressure of a dynamic business, most of the retirees died. However, the facts show that those who went into business or a field of teaching or study or self-service or service to others in non-profit groups lived longer and happier lives because they were engaged in something that became enjoyable.

But in my case, I decided that I would not join those retirees who left the playing field too early while they still had a lot to contribute. So I decided to see what I would do and continue — but only on a trial basis.

Well, the first obstacle I encountered was the frustration and anger of not getting the right materials and programs ready for me to use, due to the absence of human contact and the fact that I had to resign myself to communicate only with email and chat rooms and tickets for tech support instead of being able to converse with a human professional (as I had done in my previous job in corporate America). And after several days of this frustration, I was so angered that I was ready to quit then and there — but I let my anger go down because this is the way that it would be from now on. Also, I was told by the client that I could still use a prior program until the latest version of the program I was trying to use would finally be corrected.

So I decided to calm down and go back to the old drawing board.

But, just as if we were in a game of baseball, I counted this effort lost as STRIKE ONE. If I would not receive the materials again from the client, that would be for me STRIKE TWO. And if the rules and program were to change again, then it would be STRIKE THREE, and I would be out of the program for good (after I gave it a chance).

And so I do not worry any more about deadlines or deliverables. I will not try to force the elements of professional courtesy with those in the chain who have to deliver solutions to me so that I could continue with the job. “What can you do?” is now my motto that I murmur instead of the older “We’ll MAKE IT HAPPEN!” when obstacles are encountered — because I realize now that today, you cannot change anything to the proper way of doing things because the people are different and do not share the same work ethic or commitment levels or promises that I had been used to in the workplace. So I resigned myself to be a smiling idiot or the village idiot — you take your pick — but I would NOT let the situation affect my health or state of mind again.

And this would be the mindset that I would have, ready to leave the project, because you cannot re-live the past days of work ethics or professional commitments from others. All you will be doing is setting yourself up for disappointment and failure — and that means personal failure and depression for yourself.

So, with that attitude, I now go forth, seeing that the most important thing for this entrepreneur is to take care of his health, because without that, there is NO small business or entrepreneurship. I am not going to be the football player who sacrifices his body to make a great play in a game — because you do not have a good team to back you up and play with the same fervor, the same excitement and the same level as yourself. The entrepreneur must take care of his health first.

Now, for your own situation, you may be in a similar environment as myself. If you are, then you have to make a decision from the very beginning to see if you can develop a “cost”/”benefit” matrix to see if your sacrifice is really something you would enjoy and therefore participate in — or whether your post-retirement situation will, indeed, bring you the satisfaction that you can enjoy and thrive in for the future.

And so, what will I do in the future? Well, I will relay that to you in a future episode to show you what it meant to this entrepreneur and the results of that decision.

We hope that you can catch yourself before you commit to something that may bring you the negative results or the frustration or wrong path when presented with the choice of either continuing in the business world of entrepreneurship or whether you can just calm down, retire, smell the roses and enjoy the hobbies or elements that will bring you satisfaction .

Thank you for your attention.