Struggling? Then Quit.
Don’t listen to THEM—because “they”
don’t understand. Here’s why shutting down your web business might be the smartest thing you’ve ever done.
The commercials say Red Bull gives you wings, but all it gave me was anxiety. No wait, maybe that was my business.
Wondering why my phone didn’t ring—and why leads wouldn’t answer their’s no matter how many times I followed up.
Counting the days and the dollars… Just hoping to make it through.
At my lowest point, I started microwaving checks before I mailed them out.
I had heard that would make them impossible to cash… Which I thought would give me a couple extra days to pay my bills.
So yeah…
I know what it’s like to want to quit. I’ve wanted to pull the plug many, many times.
Which is why I intuitively understand something else.
I bet you’re gritting your teeth right now.
Because you probably think I’m about to launch into some speech about how it’s all going to get better.
Well guess what?
That’s exactly why I’m NOT going to tell you to keep going.
I won’t patronize you.
I’m not going to give you a bunch of trite reasons to ignore your problems and charge ahead.
Because you’re past that point, aren’t you?
Your problems are getting overwhelming. You’re not going to be able to fix them just because somebody tells you to face them head-on.
So instead, I’m going to say what you want to hear.
What I think you NEED to hear.
Ready? Here it comes.
Just QUIT already. Do it. I officially give you my permission.
You know you want to.
So why not? Go ahead and quit.
After all, it makes sense, doesn’t it?
You’ve got soooooo many reasons.
Like these thirteen below.
1. Your projects are mostly one-offs—and you don’t really want the jobs that continue.
Once you launch, your clients either roll over into maintenance contracts—where you're stuck catering to their every crazy whim—or you never see them again.
2. You can't find the right clients.
They're waaaaaay too nit-picky. They treat you like a pair of hands instead of an expert. And nobody wants to pay what you know you deserve.
Plus, just when you think the end is in sight—whoops... They need another 4 things.
3. So there you are—stuck on the hamster wheel.
You waste so much time on trying to land sales, and writing up contracts when you DO sell something, and trying to get content, and chasing feedback, and struggling to get clients to pay, and getting them to stop making revisions...
That there's no time left for doing what you're good at.
4. And there’s no way to charge even CLOSE to enough for a project.
Clients either nickel-and-dime you to death or they end up working you so hard you might as well be pouring slushies at 7-11.
Not to mention that nobody has the budget for big projects anyway.
But times are so tight that you feel guilty for complaining… Shouldn't you feel lucky to be winning any projects at all?
So you grit your teeth and just do the work. Which of course, inevitably, takes twice as long. (Gotta love scope creep.)
5. Plus there's too much competition—from both sides.
You're either losing projects to “the big guys”—or losing them to clowns who charge way less than you do for websites.
6. Besides, it's impossible to try to prove your value.
Clients just don't “get” it. You're not designing a garage sale flyer here… You’re trying to build their most important marketing tool!
This is supposed to be how they run their business? Why can't they see that?!? These same jokers will spend $40,000 on a car—but somehow they can't cough up 2 grand for a site. So frustrating, right?
7. You’ve got no life because you’re always working. And because you’re always working, you've got no life.
Clients are always interrupting with one “crisis” or another—and you're already working way too many hours for not enough money.
(Want to know the funny thing about putting out client fires? You're the only one who ever gets burned.)
8. But the bills never stop.
What are you supposed to do—not buy groceries just because somebody only wants to give you $1500 for a site? You’d be dumb not to take whatever money you can get.
(Never mind if a bigger project might have come along…. You need money now, right?)
9. You have no idea where the next job is coming from.
Oh, it'll come. It always does. Usually. (Hopefully.)
But gosh, if you had the time it sure would be nice to have a steady stream of leads.
Oh, and speaking of leads, why does it always have to be feast or famine? Like you're either drowning or dying of thirst... Too much work, or no work to be seen...
(And why does it only seem to happen to you? Everybody ELSE has business.)
10. Is it because you’re not very business-savvy? It has to be‚ right?
You see these guys with million-dollar agencies and it seems like a dream. How do they do it? You mostly just fell into this—and found yourself running a business because it was the only thing that made sense at the time.
(Oh boy... Can your clients tell? Do they know? They MUST know... Maybe that's why they don't treat you with respect?)
11. Worst of all, you’re on your own.
After all, it's not like you can hire. Nobody else knows how to do what you do. (And where would you get the money?)
12. Life’s not supposed to be like this.
You loved what you did—once upon a time.
But the bills got bigger and the checks got smaller and the work got longer and now you're...
Overwhelmed. Totally exhausted. Run ragged.
And alone. So alone.
And at 2 in the morning, when you can't sleep because of the stress...
When the house is so quiet you can hear every click of your keyboard…
That's the killer.
Because the voice in your head—the one that’s saying this is all your fault…
It’s all you have.
13. Bottom line… You’re stuck.
You’re “in a rut.” “On a plateau.” “Unable to move forward.” “In the dip.”
However you want to say it—life sucks.
Which is why I’m telling it to you straight.
Because if you were brave enough, you'd just bail out, right?
Throw it all away and go back to a day job.
Why are you even hanging in there?
You know you should quit, but you never do... How come?
Maybe it's because some weird part of you doesn’t WANT to.
Wait—what?
There’s some part of you that still doesn’t want to quit?
You know what I have to say to that?
Good.
Find that part and hold onto it.
Because if you’re still here—if you’ve read all this and you’re STILL thinking “NO, man… I’m not going to QUIT…”
Then you’re the person I want to talk to.