Should I keep going with my stagnating business or quit?
When a business loses its spark, founders face a agonizing choice between pushing through the stagnation until it pays off or walking away to find something more engaging. This uncertainty leaves them torn between sticking it out with unproven ideas and quitting before they find out if the brand could have succeeded.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 52.3× more often in r/restaurantowners than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Taking a breakDid this help you?
- 2Switching to a different business modelDid this help you?
- 3hire a new ideas personDid this help you?
- 4expand know-how and know who to hireDid this help you?
- 5changing the product line to a custom brandDid this help you?
- 6abandoning the website entirelyDid this help you?
- 7working full-time at a 9-5 job to cover business overhead and employee wagesDid this help you?
- 8using personal funds and money from investorsDid this help you?
- 9cutting losses and shutting down or selling the businessDid this help you?
- 10waiting until bills and personal paychecks are clearedDid this help you?
- 11building a financial buffer in the bank for slower periodsDid this help you?
- 12doing both services at onceDid this help you?
- 13starting small with a new venture and testing interest before heavy investmentDid this help you?
- 14Switching payment processing providersDid this help you?
- 15Pressuring the representative to complete promised tasksDid this help you?
- 16consulting bankruptcy attorneysDid this help you?
- 17trying to sell the equipment or business through a broker or online marketplaceDid this help you?
- 18letting the community know the business is struggling to drum up salesDid this help you?
- 19running the business leanDid this help you?
- 20maintaining a main income jobDid this help you?
- 21training overseas suppliersDid this help you?
- 22keeping the project going slowly at a minor annual lossDid this help you?
- 23selling the business and working a traditional jobDid this help you?
- 24shifting focus entirely to market investingDid this help you?
- 25Treading current business and continuing with the slow-moving projectDid this help you?
- 26Trying new photosDid this help you?
- 27Rewriting descriptionsDid this help you?
- 28Making small price adjustmentsDid this help you?
- 29Directing paid traffic at the productsDid this help you?
- 30Relying on a gut call or setting a rough threshold for time, ad spend, or changes triedDid this help you?
- 31Extracting remaining value and scaling down into a lean micro factoryDid this help you?
- 32Pivoting into a new industry or adjacent product line using existing manufacturing capabilitiesDid this help you?
- 33Selling off the business to customers or third parties while staying on to work through the transitionDid this help you?
- 34Taking an entry-level hourly job like washing dishes for guaranteed pay.Did this help you?
- 35Establishing written rules for pricing and discounts to prevent on-the-spot arguments.Did this help you?
- 36Splitting daily shifts so individuals do not have to work 12-hour days.Did this help you?
- 37Sell easier-to-sell products like solar panelsDid this help you?
- 38Pivot to high-precision industries like space techDid this help you?
- 39Undercut prices in high-volume markets like compressor or auto partsDid this help you?
- 40Taking a salaried corporate job to float the businessDid this help you?
- 41Trying to find another operator to take over the lease for key moneyDid this help you?
- 42Walking away from the lease and assuming the business debt personallyDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We’ve owned our shop for almost 11 years and unfortunately the inflation is probably going to take us out. We’re trying to decide if it’s worth selling.”source ↗
“The problem is that this guy is a fast, slick talker and so far he hasn't really done anything.”source ↗
“In my gut, I feel like this isn't gonna work out with this guy, but his 'commission' is only 1% of sales and he takes care of doordash, a website, gets catering orders, and other helpful stuff.”source ↗
“My brain says keep him because the numbers make sense, but my gut is telling me get rid of him because we would become too dependent on him and his relationships.”source ↗
“I sold my newest location and I was PG’d on a 7k a month lease it was a nightmare I’m so glad I got out of.”source ↗
“Part of me thinks the release is worth it but damn I hating letting this go. I thought I beat Covid, but it’s just going to take me out much later.”source ↗
“I’ve had to take myself out of the payroll to try to make ends meet and the last two months in particular have been super inconsistent and I found myself short on rent.”source ↗
“My landlord will let me walk away from the lease, but I would still be carrying the business debt with me. However it seems like my only other options is to try and find someone to take over the lease and likely dig a bigger hole.”source ↗
“The big problem: our primary end market is in permanent structural decline. Demand will keep shrinking, and the industry will mostly vanish within 5 to 10 years.”source ↗
“Pivot, change industry, to what or to where - I do not know, will have to figure it out and start from scratch with trial and error. I guess this can be done concurrently with option 1 as well but I will need to spend more time and capital to expand as we are already running near full capacity. I have no experience starting a business and turning it successful”source ↗
“Ever since opening, he has been unable to make a profit and has to use money from full-time job to cover employee wages and other overhead costs.”source ↗
“Is it worth continuing? How long should you wait to give a business a chance to succeed or at least break even so you’re not losing money?”source ↗
“Problem is we are out of business, we have no clients and not much in capital”source ↗
“So i have to decide will this factory or any other thing pay for our monthly expenses of 3 lakh rupees (3000$) almost of 10+ people”source ↗
“Is this factory a sane choice or should I sell something that is easier to sell like solar”source ↗
“Should I just quit now that h has left, or should I just keep trying and see if my ideas eventually can be fruitful for the brand?”source ↗
“honestly I wanted to cry cuz I’m busting my ass 12hrs everyday I’m working 84hrs a week, and he’s worried about a fucking dollar like whatttttt”source ↗
“money is tight right now and I don’t make that much, I make like 100$ a day for 12hrs of work”source ↗
“I’m just kind of stuck on if I should find something that can keep me engaged while enjoying it or suck it up for a while until I make a lot more progress.”source ↗
“I'm curious about how long it took other small business owners to feel like their business was actually making money rather than just covering expenses.”source ↗
“When everty other MTV fckr inside the business and outside my business got paid before me and there was a surplus.”source ↗
“I was able to start paying myself in month 3 or 4. First two months were all sales and getting clients, I started invoicing, and then I started to pay myself and haven’t stopped since then.”source ↗
“Yeah - it's more than just "paid all the bills and myself and still had some money left", for me it was when I actually had a buffer - enough money in the bank to continue to pay my bills and myself for a few months ahead”source ↗
“I’m scared of two things: 1. Wasting more time by continuing to force myself into nails when I could be building something I actually want. 2.Wasting more money by abandoning nails and then investing in another business that I might eventually decide I don’t want either.”source ↗
“I'm at odds with which direction to go. I might have about 12k to use what I've already learned about business and go in a different direction, or I can keep going with my slow moving physical product e-commerce business.”source ↗
“I feel that we haven’t executed on what we claimed to be our main differentiator in the market. I still believe in the idea and I think there’s still real opportunity. Just afraid that my ideas might not be the ones to get it there.”source ↗
“Let it go or keep going just running lean through this term?”source ↗
“I'm wondering how much profit one might even make each year on a project like this.”source ↗
“Now high tariffs and high fuel prices are wreaking havoc on this business project as well as I see many other industries hurting.”source ↗
“I can probably keep this project just going slow for losing only around 2k a year”source ↗
“So what do you think? How much money can a single member business even expect to make or should I just go back to investing my money if I even just make 20% under what the business would have made each year?”source ↗
“I have thought about this many times, and my answer changes depending how much my business(s) are currently pissing me off.”source ↗
“We all went all in into the business with the money we’ve been saving up and honestly I wanna get paid more for the time I work”source ↗
“Running a small store, about 8 months in now, and I have two products that have been sitting with almost no sales despite trying a handful of things.”source ↗
“Part of me wants to keep tweaking because I still believe in the products, but another part of me wonders if I'm just avoiding the obvious conclusion that they don't fit what my audience actually wants.”source ↗
“j’ai pris conscience des risques de faire un site de Seiko Mods…”source ↗
“Je songe donc à abandonner mon site que j’ai commencé et perdre tout le temps consacré à ce dernier… ou, changer de produit, c’est à dire créer ma marque de montre personnalisée…”source ↗