Some time ago, I wrote about a sister I admire so much in this community, she has a great personality and good business skills, I wrote about her business and how she was holding up with her business despite the bad economy. She made a decision not to give up, most importantly I remember telling her about letting her staff go but she choose to pay her staff from the extra money made from external jobs, her intention was to keep putting food on the table for her staff during these hard times.
However, last week she called me to tell me about her plans to close down the business after the holidays, I wondered why she was making this choice, and here are the reasons she gave me.
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Bad location: When she started the business, it was the most convenient and affordable place at the time, but while she kept running the business, she discovered how limited the region was to what she was selling, she would have done better in a more exposed region, doing business in this secluded area, although cheap was not generating as much profit as expected.
Absence of electricity: One major issue we have in Nigeria is the absence of electricity, but it is more major in some parts of the country than others. The light was reasonably stable when she started business in this region until suddenly, the light became a big issue for almost a year, there was no sign of electricity in the town, this made so many people relocate very fast, the category of people who relocated include a higher percentage of her target customers. This slowly affected business but she remained hopeful that with the restored light, more target customers would move in and business will bounce back, she has however been hoping for a long and she is losing faith.
Unstable employees: Most people want to work in a convenient place, it is rare to find employees that would stay during the days of building and take the business up to the ladder of success with the owner, if you find such an employee as a business owner, do well to hold them tight and appreciate them well. Despite her extra nice nature, these employees keep walking away from time to time.
People also love to work in a place where they can grow, if there is no space for staff to grow, it is expected that they would leave in no time. As a result of the business being at a stage of growth, and not having the financial capability to support herself and the business appropriately, the staff keeps leaving from time to time. This makes her feel very discouraged.
Inflation: We are experiencing a high rate of inflation in my country right now, lot of business owners are complaining about the difficulties attached to making a profit as price fluctuation happens steadily.
Lack of sales: Since most of her targeted customers relocated, it has become really difficult for her to make sales and she has complained about running on a loss for the past few months now, but for the sake of having the spirit of consistency, she has tried to hold on with the high hopes that, everything will change.
Seasonal sales: The region where her business is located is a student region, she records good sales whenever students are around but the reverse is always the case when there is vacation. She has been trying to hold up with the circle as the breaks were often short and the money made from the good season would usually cover up until students get back. This time around, however, tertiary institutions in my country went on a strike for as long as 8-9 months leaving the business out of profit for almost a year and I tell you it hasn’t been funny.
She told me that, she would most likely be closing the business temporarily at the end of the year, she made up her mind the moment her recent staff told her about the intention to leave. My sister just applied for a job with high hopes of getting the job and she might not have time for the business as expected.
She told me that, she will be giving another shot at business but for now, she wants to take a break and learn from all the mistakes she has made during the course of running this particular one so when she is ready to go into business again, she will definitely do better.
Her siblings and family members have told her numerous times to close down the business since the stress was not worth the profit made, but she was building for a better future according to her, this better future was however becoming too tiring and it was not forthcoming, so she is choosing to close down the business for the main time and start afresh again when she is ready.
I think this is a smart choice, ( I may be wrong, feel free to correct me), although it is painful because I have watched her nurture this business (she calls her baby) for 3 years now, she has put in everything and sacrificed a lot to ensure the business grows but since it isn’t yielding profit even after years of sacrifice, I think it would be safe to say there is no better time to quit by now. With all the experiences gained from running this particular business, she will be able to perform better in the next one, according to her she will be taking a break from business for a few months or a year until she can conveniently build the business structure of her dream. I would really like to know your opinion in the comment section, do you think my big sis is making a smart move by choosing to take a break from a business that isn’t yielding any results, or do you think she should remain persistent and how long can she remain persistent. Thank you for your time.