Before you abandon another business idea, make sure it's actually the idea that's failing.
Have you ever been so excited about a business idea that you could practically see the whole thing coming together?
You knew what you wanted to do. You had the skills. You had plans.
And then came the website, social media, marketing, scheduling, organizing, and approximately 47 other things you apparently needed to master before you could do the thing you actually wanted to do.
Somewhere along the way, the excitement fizzled out.
Maybe you got overwhelmed. Maybe you started questioning whether the idea was worth pursuing. Or maybe you decided, once again, that you just weren't cut out for this business stuff.
Sound familiar?
Yeah. Pull up a chair.
Oh God, She's Got Another Idea
I've been a fiber artist for over 30 years. Knitting, crochet, embroidery, weaving, spinning. If it involves making something with yarn, thread, or fabric, I've probably had my hands in it.
And for years, I desperately wanted to build a business around those skills.
I wanted to make things, teach things, share what I knew, and hopefully earn a living doing something I loved.
Was that really asking so much?
Apparently.
Because every time I tried, the bloody businessing got in the way.
I'd have a great idea, get excited, and dive in. Usually headfirst, occasionally without checking for water.
Then I'd start following all the advice about what a business owner should be doing.
Get a website. Start a newsletter. Post on social media. Be consistent. Build an audience. Keep track of everything.
Sure! Why not?
Did I ever stop to ask whether those platforms were right for me or my business?
Of course not. Everybody said I needed them!
Eventually, I'd become so overwhelmed trying to manage everything that I'd decide I needed a better organizational system.
And boy, could I build systems.
Beautiful, elaborate, meticulously organized systems.
Until I'd come back a few days later, stare at the screen, and have absolutely no bloody idea how to use them.
Brilliant. I'd created another problem to solve the first problem.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Eventually, I'd lose the enthusiasm that had started the whole adventure.
Then came the familiar questions.
Why does everybody else seem to manage this?
What am I missing?
Why can't I just get my shit together?
And eventually, I'd walk away.
Again.
And Then There Was That Look
After enough attempts, the people around me started developing a particular expression whenever I got excited about another idea.
You know the one.
Oh God. She's at it again.
Some weren't particularly kind about it, either.
And the worst part? I started believing them.
There I go again, getting carried away with another ridiculous idea.
Besides, why would anybody want what I had to offer? They could just Google it, ask somebody, or figure it out themselves.
It never occurred to me that what I considered easy might be someone else's nightmare.
Funny how quickly we can dismiss the value of something we've spent years learning.
And every abandoned attempt became another bit of evidence in the case against myself.
Not exactly the best foundation for the next brilliant idea.
Well, That Explains a Lot
I didn't discover I had ADHD until my fifties.
And suddenly, a whole lot of blanks started getting filled in.
No, I didn't magically become organized, confident, and capable of remembering why I'd walked into the kitchen.
But I did start looking at those abandoned businesses differently.
Instead of asking why I couldn't follow through, I started examining where things had gone sideways.
What exactly had blocked me?
Was it the work itself, or everything I was trying to manage around it?
Why did my organizational systems eventually become obstacles?
And here's the question I wish I'd asked years earlier:
Did I actually need to be doing all those things in the first place?
I had spent years trying to make myself fit somebody else's idea of how to run a business.
Nobody had told me I could question the tools, the platforms, or even the supposedly essential tasks.
Or perhaps somebody had. I probably filed that information in one of my magnificent organizational systems and never found it again.
My ADHD discovery didn't turn me into a confidence goddess overnight. I'm still working on that.
And it certainly didn't change everybody else's opinion of my latest business idea.
But it gave me the courage to question the process instead of automatically questioning my abilities.
That changed a lot.
The Tools Are My Bitch Now
There. I said it.
This time, I decided to build a different kind of business.
Over the years, I'd taught myself how to solve technical problems, build systems, and make technology do what I actually needed it to do.
Not always elegantly. Sometimes there's a fair amount of swearing involved.
But I'd learned something important.
The tools are supposed to work for me. Not the other way around.
And a system isn't particularly useful if I can't figure out how to use it when I return next Tuesday.
So now I approach things differently.
I ask whether a tool actually solves a problem I have, whether it fits the way I work, and whether I can easily pick up where I left off.
If it creates more work than it eliminates, we need to have a little chat.
That thinking eventually became the foundation of TechAlchemy.
Because I started wondering how many other people were abandoning good ideas, not because they lacked the skills or determination, but because everything surrounding the actual work had become an exhausting mess.
Before You Throw in the Towel
Here's something I wish I'd understood years ago.
When a project starts falling apart, it's tempting to question the whole idea. Or worse, yourself.
But before you decide you're hopeless at this business thing, try asking a few different questions.
1. What actually stopped me?
Was it something about the product, service, or idea itself? Or did I get buried under the administration, marketing, technology, and all the other businessing?
Those are very different problems.
2. Am I doing this because it helps my business, or because somebody said I should?
Just because everyone says you need to be on a particular platform doesn't mean it's where your customers are or where you should spend your energy.
You don't need to collect social media accounts like they're Pokémon.
3. What would make it easier to come back?
If you walked away from this project for a week, would you know where to pick it up again?
Could you find what you'd done, understand why you'd made certain decisions, and see what needed to happen next?
If not, maybe your system needs a little work. Not your character.
None of this guarantees an idea is worth pursuing. Sometimes an idea really isn't viable, and that's worth finding out too.
But wouldn't it be nice to make that decision based on the idea itself, rather than how badly your organizational system has pissed you off?
I Wish I'd Met Me Back Then
When I think about what might have helped during all those years, the answer is surprisingly simple.
I wish I'd met me back then.
Someone who would have helped me figure out what was blocking me, find a way through, and leave myself a way back.
Someone who understood that I didn't necessarily need another planner, another course, or another lecture about discipline.
I needed a way to make the businessing manageable so I could get on with the things I actually loved doing.
That's the kind of help I want to offer through TechAlchemy.
I'm still building my own business, and believe me, I still have moments when I wonder whether I've gotten carried away with another ridiculous idea.
But I'm learning not to let every obstacle turn into a verdict on my abilities.
And perhaps that's worth remembering the next time you're tempted to walk away from something you care about.
Before you give up on the idea, find out what's actually getting in your way.
It might be something you can change.
And wouldn't that be a hell of a thing?
I'd love to hear from you: Have you ever abandoned a project or business idea because managing everything around it became overwhelming? Looking back, was it really the idea that wasn't working, or was it something else?