How long in years should I go before I give up and close down a business that is unprofitable?
I was listening to a podcast where Kelvin O'Neal
1 was featured. He said, "If you are not making money after 36months(3 years), you've gotta take a behind the barn and shoot it. It's just a hobby. It's not a business."
According to him, "people can get so stuck on a bad idea that they just keep thinking that if I keep working on it, it's going to fix itself. It doesn't fix itself. It was put on your journey to teach you, what not to do."
- To what extent do you agree or disagree with this assertion ?
-Have you had a business that even though it wasn't profitable in the first three (3) years, then it kicked off to bring in good returns in the fourth (4th) year?
1
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqVbhNCt0yF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=Success stories with delayed profitability exist, but they are not the norm. While some businesses may indeed struggle in their initial years before eventually becoming successful, there is no guarantee that a profitable outcome will be achieved in the fourth year or beyond. The timeline for determining when to give up an unprofitable business depends on factors such as industry, market conditions, type of business, and efforts made to turn it around. For me, I won’t spend over three years in a non profitable business.