breaking up in business
Several months ago, I was grappling with getting a new financial squad. My accountant & bookkeeper team seemed to be slacking suddenly.
If I’m being honest, it wasn’t really sudden.
I had been minimizing and justifying mistakes, unanswered questions & late responses for probably over 6 months.
When I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking about ending the relationship, he asked why had it taken me so long to take action on this?
I had a flurry of responses:
“Well we are in a pandemic. I need to give people a break.”
“They’re probably short-staffed and doing the best they can.”
“That error was during tax time, so they are probably slammed.”
“I’m sure it’ll get better.
My friend said, “Jelisha, are you treating your business like your baby?”
I sat with that question for a moment.
He continued: “Would you feel safe leaving your baby with this babysitter?”
That question hit home really hard. I wasn’t treating my business like my baby...even though I often referred to it as such! If I still had my dog (RIP Juliet) and I had any suspicion that my beloved would be neglected, forgotten, or mistreated (no matter the reason), I’d drop that sitter!
Why was it so hard to apply that to my business? And to my MONEY!?
The bottom line was that I didn’t trust my team anymore. They told me that they were understaffed and stressed...which made me stressed…so I took it as my responsibility to not ask more of them!
Every month, when the fee came out of my account, I was filled with resentment. Yet I felt bad terminating the contract. This relationship wasn’t working out. They weren’t upholding the contract we’d agreed to.
It was time for a break-up.
Are there any necessary break-ups you’re avoiding in your business?
Maybe you have an assistant that is missing deadlines or is making frequent careless errors.
Perhaps you leave every meeting with your accountability buddy colleague drained and hopeless instead of energized and motivated.
Or maybe you’re paying for services that you just aren’t using anymore.
The biggest reason many therapists struggle with breaking up is because we don’t want to start over. I GET it. Looking for the right fit in a new assistant, bookkeeper, accountant, coach, accountability buddy is a whole new project.
BUT the longer you wait, the more energy and money that is leaking out of your business. We gotta plug those up!
I’m happy to report that I’m grooving with a new Dolla’ $quad now. And it’s SO worth it.
It’s worth it to breathe easy every month when I get my financial reports.
It’s worth it to no longer grapple with asking too many questions or feeling like I’m “bothering” my support.
It’s worth it that my questions are embraced.
It’s worth it to gain time & energy and pour it into my zone of genius instead of worrying about things that aren’t my jam.
It’s important to note that all breakups aren’t necessarily because someone isn’t upholding their end of the deal. Sometimes it’s simply because it doesn’t fit anymore.
As your business (and personal life) evolves, grows, and shifts, your needs will change.
You wouldn’t shame a client who needed to terminate therapy with you because they were moving out of state, so don’t shame yourself for feeding your business so that it can thrive. We have to allow ourselves to be supported. That includes knowing when it’s time to let go.