What is the hardest decision you’ve had to make for your business? 💭

[isabelle]

Mornnninggg Seller Community! ☀️ 

Today I'm wondering...

What is the hardest decision you've had to make for your business?

What made it the most difficult? How did you come to the decision?

I look forward to reading your replies ✨

[ber]

I appreciate that @kbc came to an important realization and acted on it.  I don't have employees, only my wife and myself, so today I don't have employer responsibilities.

[Donnie-M]

I thought about this one for a minute and pandemic decisions were tough.  I at first thought selecting an employee to lay off would have been the toughest, but unfortunately when you have to seriously weigh the value of someone in your business, it exposes your failures and successes in training people.  It also exposes marginal employees you should have done something about a long time ago.  So in reality, that was not the toughest decision.

The truly hardest decision I had to make was how long do I keep doing something waiting on things to change like cutting items from the menu.  How far do I go down that road of digging in for a prolonged downturn, versus throwing in the towel, versus don't change anything.  With little information on the extent of lock downs, supply chain issues, etc. how do I predict the course of business with confidence and make good decisions?

So I have focused on reading daily, industry publications especially, and talking to customers about their business plans.  I reinvested the down time in training employees and streamlining operations.  I realized finally that the decisions I make, I will not know the outcome, so I planned for a long term gain by sacrificing short term savings.  It was just get by or come out ahead that was the toughest decision, because there was no guarantee of coming out of this.

Donnie-M

[BreezyPaul]

Hardest decision, how to deal with govt unemployment subsidies disincentive. We are ok on weekends, but during the week, we went to a "lunch" model, limited menu, window ordering, take out, sit on our awesome deck on the lake.

[kellyj]

I just felt like this was a great question, and I want to jump in on this one too. 

Hardest business decision I ever had to make was the decision to close after 10 years in business. Hardest and best decision I've ever made in so many aspects, but I think it's so relevant to this discussion.

I started my floral business in 2009, and grew it into a thriving and acclaimed business - winning awards, traveling the world, doing the things. BUT it came at a personal expense. The business taxed my actual life, limiting my ability to be with my kids, and putting stress on me to constantly take on more and more in order to remain competitive and profitable. Work harder and harder, and in the floral world, there is not always a great way to work smarter. I was increasingly reliant on factors that were out of my control- flooding at the ports kept shipments from coming in on time, natural disasters, costly American grown products for back ups. 

Personal circumstances also played a huge part in what I was growing, literally. But the reason this turned out to be the best ever decision I made was because it opened up different opportunity for me. I listened to a life changing book  - The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. I cannot stress how important this book is in a 1000 ways. 

As Entrepreneurs we're all taught that the harder you work, the plans you set, define your success. And yes, that is true, but it's as equally true to find success in closing a thriving business when it's time and not playing it out until circumstance takes you a different way. 

My take aways:

A thriving career here with Square.

Time for my kids and family that I didn't have previously. 

And an enjoyment for floral design that isn't now defined by monetary value, it's back to being about creativity.

But the hardest decision I ever made was turning the key for the last time.

[KiRoCreations]

Well, I'm just starting... trying to settle on a business name, a website, prices and where to sell.  Right now, I'm making small sales on my Twitter.... better then nothing. 

I think the hardest part so far, and possibly the dumbest, being I don't really know what I'm doing... is taking my $1500 stimulus money (which was for emergencies/extra food etc, being we live on hubby's $1000 SSD a month) and buying all my supplies for my Resin Art small home business... and, after buying all my supplies, making products (which I've got a ton of) and having to rebuy thing's I run out of, to keep people coming back and looking at my new inventory... I'm making almost nothing back. All my money is going into Resin and supplies. I definitely put the wagon before the horse... maybe? I mean, I am making some sales, but, again... I've spent way more on supplies and product, than I've made in the almost 2 months I've been "open". Maybe all I need is a good website... and that will help me grow? I get asked about "having an etsy" all the time, but I don't want to use "Etsy" or other commercial sales sites. I want to stand alone, be seen an my own creator, not mixed with several other potentially the same type of creators.  I don't know, feeling overwhelmed, lost, over spent, completely broke and I'm still trying to get started.... I worry about all the money I spent, and never getting it back to our "emergency fund"... and both of us being disabled, immune compromised and unable to work.... that's a scary thought. 

[cozccs]

Always know your numbers. (cost ,sales ,how much the market will bear.) I also believe in accurate bookkeeping with the proper knowledge of doing so.  have a unique branding along with continuous current offerings ,deals to keep your customer base coming back and bring in new customers .

[fernandmoss]

The hardest decision I have had to make for my business has been the decision of starting it or not. The decision was, "do I create this business ground up?" "Do I take this risk?" Because that is what it felt like. It felt like I was taking a risk and in truth it was. It was a calculated, well researched, and well thought about risk. But do I do it? What made it most difficult is the obvious factors. What will I do about money? Am I ready to be "poor" again? What if I fail? What if I am not good enough? What if...I don't deserve this?

Well.

What it comes down to is a choice. Simple as that. Am I going to jump into this new business of mine in what feels like fear but really it is jumping into trust. To trust I can do this. To trust I have the skills. To trust I deserve this. To simply trust. Or was I going to live in fear? Was I going to always wonder what if? Because this was a chance. This is an opportunity. And I know first hand...not everyone gets opportunities. Therefore...I couldn't pass it up. I have always been the person to just text that boy at 13 years old and put my heart on the table ready for heartbreak just in case. And it did...break. What I learned was that those skills helped me get to where I am today...and for that I am grateful.

When living in gratitude you become so grateful for the little most basic things life has to offer because you have been without those basic necessities before, it seems that you stop wanting after a while. 

I want this. So I choose to give it to myself. I choose to believe in myself and trust myself. And if I "fail," well, failure doesn't exist. 

Failure is not real because nothing is a complete failure. I will learn. I will go through it. Because I know...I will come out the other side and this I will always carry with me.

Thank you.

Janelle

Owner + Aesthetician

Fern + Moss Waxing Studio

Please follow our adventure @fernandmosswaxing

[SerenityWellnes]

Hardest decision was definitely taking on employees, and then once I took on one...to take on more. I never thought I could or should be a boss, but it's been an aspect to owning a practice I don't regret and take very seriously. It certainly made my practice grow exponentially, and I have great retention, but it's been a learning curve for sure. 

[VanKalkerFarms]

Mine is right in my user name, well actually it's there but no longer part of our business.  2020 was the first year since my Great Grandpa came over to the states from Holland that our family is not farming or participating in Farmer's markets anymore.  We are now exclusively a Garden Center open to the public, and we still have a wholesale Fresh produce distribution of produce.  It was for sure the hardest decision I have ever had to make for the business, but also in a weird way was also the easiest.  Without getting too far into the weeds we had over 200 acres of fresh produce, not grains.  It is all planted by hand, obviously with tractors and equipment, but the plants are literally planted by a person not some giant seeder.  Well all those plants have to be cared for by hand and then ultimately picked by hand.  That takes a large labor force to accomplish all this and a ton of time.  working 15-18 hours a day 7 days a week isn't good for 30 years and it takes its toll. Farmer's Markets sound great until you realize to have a full booth setup with 4 20' x 30' tents and 45 tables of produce ready at 6 am that means we start at the farm at 2 and are setting up at the market location by 4am.  That takes a special kind of employee to work those days between all the other long days. Prices in the vegetable industry are ridiculously low and you can find many examples of when prices were higher wholesale in the 80s and 90s than they are today.  And labor was getting harder and harder every year to get people to work in the sun bent over most of the day.  I didn't want to get into hiring H2a workers because that's just a whole other level I didn't want to get into housing people.  We've always paid well with the lowest paid person usually making $4 above minimum and many making 6-10 more than minimum, but it is very hard work and many don't even make it the first day or first week..  We tried moving away from the more labor intensive crops and I had a solid group of 20 people but every year at peak you'd hire on an additional 20 people and 75% of them couldn't keep pace with the good people so it would just cause issues that the good employees were mad the poor employees were there.  So we crunched numbers and looked at options and decided if we switched to being only a garden center we could still keep 50% of the employees working and build the garden center even bigger and cover more areas of that industry to make up the million dollar plus income that we were choosing to let go.  

In the end it has been by far the best decision ever as we are now much more profitable and have a good chunk of our lives back as the garden center season is only 15 hour days for like 3 months and 2-3 months of 10 hour days.  We had enough "spare time" to start up 2 bakeries, that we always wanted to do, and they have been super successful despite opening in Covid era and already winning best of the region awards.

[pessosices]

Dang @VanKalkerFarms, that's a heck of a big and hard change. I'm sorry that things got so crazy, but I'm glad that the change is working out overall. It's so great that everything is going well despite all the chaos. Happy for ya, friend!

[Nathan2k]

Got rid of my best friend to hire a pro cat that ran circles around him. 
 I cried but business is business, and friends is friends…

Still stung though. 

[Shenda]

Mine is investing in more marketing, advertising. social media, bookkeeping, and hiring someone to take some of the load. I can't pay them the hours it will take to train them and then to actually do the job. I am struggling with keeping up with our growth. I am having to invest a lot just to keep but with the rising prices and inventory. We have a seasonal business, fireworks, we are open 20 days a year. Only have income realistically 2 days/year. At the moment I can afford to hire someone for marketing but not to pay for supplies and services or vice versa. I know social media is the best inexpensive or free way to advertise on a budget but Fireworks are explosives. Social Media platforms prevent us from utilizing them to the fullest extent. Radio and TV are pretty obsolete and won't hit my targets audience. 

[PetitePaws]

Can you use Google Ads and also contract with someone for SEO (search engine optimization)?

[OOS]

I know, but the problem is that I'm funding this all alone. So, I have to watch the pennies right now. Google ads were pretty expensive the last time I looked at them. And to do the SEO thing right now is way out of my league. 

[PetitePaws]

I completely understand. Right now I spend about $100/month on Google Ads and turn the ads off when I get super busy and have to turn away business. So, my annual spend on Google Ads is under $1,000/year at this point. But it was around $200-$250/month for the first year. I would increase it during peak periods to get more new clients. For the SEO, I followed the directions on my website builder on how to get found on Google, then chose the keywords and phrases and monitored them a bit - maybe once a month - and I'm not a computer person. I have a degree in fine arts. Good luck on finding the solution for your problem. As far a social media goes, unless you advertize, organic growth is very slow. For me and my business, the only reason I use social media is to bolster legitimacy and trust. As a new services provider that appeared out of no where, I felt that having an active social media page with a decent amount of followers helps. But of all the things that take the most time, it's maintaining an active social media page. The Google Ads are effortless. Best of luck finding a solution to the issues you're facing. But hey, you're growing and that's fantastic!

[Mackingitright]

Deciding to quit my job and go full time  to put all my time into my business. It was hard to do because my fear was what if I can’t make this work then. I will put my family in debt and pushing forward. I had to tell myself that you’re going to make this work there is no options and that’s when I decided to go forth with my choice.

[gswanson]

Hiring and firing 

[OOS]

The hardest decision I've had to make regarding my business so far is choosing the name. I wanted something that would be easy to remember but unique enough to stand out. 

If there was a second difficult thing, it was deciding how I wanted to market my business. I chose an app that helps people find pros to perform services. I use Thumbtack. So far, that decision was the best one after deciding to become an ordained minister. 

As a wedding or ceremony officiant, one has to get creative sometimes. 

[PetitePaws]

I'm a new entrepreneur. I opened my business three years ago when I was 24, and it has grown to the point where I need to start hiring people. Up until now, it's been just me with my life partner as a backup, whom I pay as an IC. Hiring and managing is a big step. I have to create training materials, oversee customer satisfaction, and learn to use new management and scheduling software. Then there's payroll, supervision, and everything else, including finding quality, reliable team members. I'm currently turning away a lot of business because I don't have the capacity, so I know I need to take this next step to grow my business, and this fall is the time to do this. It's just a little scary! I also want to create an online store - but that's for next year. The hiring comes first.

[XSWarehouse]

Laying of good employees is always the hardest decision.  Through no fault of their own, sometimes the business climate forces those decisions.  

[MamiesToffee]

We bought a bus for our business. We tried to get a loan, was turned down several times. We did get one offer, but the interest was 40%. We said thanks, but no thanks. 

We thought buying the bus was the hardest. We are have found that finding a parking space for the bus is the hardest. Storage places won’t allow business trucks to park and ($150 a month) is crazy. Our city doesn’t allow us to park in our driveway or street. I’m still looking!