7 Reasons Why You Should NEVER Quit Your Business

Yes , it's going to be hard , yes , it's going to take a little longer , but , my goodness , don't quit . Look at the people who've gone ahead of you . Look at the challenges that they face , and they survived it and they're here , and I'm challenging you to do the same .

Hi docs , welcome to the EntreMD podcast , where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms . I'm your host , dr Imna . In 2024 , business closures have been at an all-time high . I want to read some statistics for you here .

It shows that for the retailers so CVS , walgreens , all of those they have shut down more than 6,000 stores in 2024 alone , and I looked at the bankruptcy filings for and I promise this is going to get better . Okay , this is going to leave you motivated and energized , but I need to get something out of the way right .

Number of businesses that have filed for bankruptcy , not just the ones that shut down . These are the ones that filed for bankruptcy 22,000 . And in 2023 , it was 15,000 . So they've reported a 16.2% rise in bankruptcy filings . And so why am I telling you this ? Because I am coming on to tell you seven reasons why you don't want to quit on your business .

I want you to acknowledge the fact that it's been a challenging year for entrepreneurs . You can still thrive , you can still win . Many people are . Many of my clients are . We've had a great year . So I'm not saying you can't , but I'm acknowledging that maybe you're coming up against more resistance than you're used to , and I just want to normalize that .

Let you know nothing is wrong with you . Like you know , it may be a little harder , but I'm here to challenge you and let you know that you can still win . Okay , so seven reasons not to quit . And when I talk about quitting , I'm really talking about quitting because things are hard .

Maybe it's harder to get the number of clients or patients you're used to having . It's harder , you know , to fill up your schedule . It's harder to find the team members that you want . Maybe it's just life , life showing up and it's just like , right , I can do all of this life and do this business as well .

Right , and when I say quitting , I don't just mean shutting down your business . For you it may not be shutting down your business , it may just be that you quiet quit and so the dreams that you had for your business , you quietly gave up on that and you're like let's just go in cruise control .

The problem with the way the economic space is now is , if you are in cruise control , you're probably growing in reverse , you're probably pulling you backwards , right , so you're listening . Or maybe you know , like .

You're like I'm going to build this team and I'm going to take this to the next level and you're just like it's hard , I don't want to deal with this , right . So on the outside it looks really great , things are working , maybe you're even growing , but you know that you're holding back so much , so much , and it's not a strategic decision to quit .

It's just like this is hard , I don't want to do it . Now . There is strategic quitting . I've done that . For instance , my private practice . There was a time we opened up a second location and we had it for a few years , maybe two years , and I decided I didn't want to do that . And it wasn't because it was hard .

Entrepreneurship is hard , period right , like so . We become tougher . We don't expect it not to be hard , but I was like the culture that I'm trying to build here I have a number of projects that I prioritize above trying to replicate that culture in multiple locations with multiple managers and all . I was just like that's not what I see .

That was not in line with the vision that I had , and so I had no problem strategically deciding to shut it down . But in the meantime , it was winning right , it was winning , it was profitable and all of that stuff but I was just like I don't want to do it . So , of course , you can strategically quit on things .

Well , what I'm referring to here is quitting because it's just like this is hard , I don't want to do it . Or you had a setback and you're like I don't want to deal with it , or life is lifing and you just have this pressure to go like I just can't deal . Okay , I want to show you seven reasons not to quit . So let's go .

The first reason is it becomes a habit . Every time you do something , it becomes easier to do that thing . Okay , so every time you overcome a challenge and come out on the other side , you become stronger . You're able to handle more challenges . You just have this habit and when things come up , you're like challenges , we eat that for breakfast .

We are champions . That's what we do . When you quit because things are hard , you quit to relieve the pressure . You're just like I can't take it anymore . You quit to relieve the pressure . What it does is it sets you up Like the next time you come in contact with pressure , your response to that is to quit .

And it's not going to be just in your business , it's going to be in every aspect of your life . And so when you have the opportunity to quit and it's not a strategic quit , it's a quit like I can't handle the pressure I want to challenge you to lean in deeper . Lean in deeper . You have the strength , you have the community , you probably have the mentors .

You have the resources to go through that and I want to challenge you to do that . Okay , I want to stop here . I've done this publicly before and I want to stop here and really give a big shout out to Dr Carolina Sualdo and if you don't know her . Look for her on Instagram and follow her .

She's a fertility doctor in Florida and she started her practice a little over a year ago and she is somebody that I watched go through challenge after challenge .

It was hard to start her practice and get it off the ground and all the things that she had to do and all the learning curves and all of that , and she's somebody that I literally started praying for . I was like , okay , lord , you got to help her . You cannot let her quit , because I know that on the other side of this is a magical practice .

She just needs to stay in it long enough .

And I always tell her every time she , you know , shares a win in the she's a student of the entrepreneur business school Anytime she shares a win , I'm like big shout out to you , because she went through that and , on top of all the challenges in her business , she had some life that was lifing and what she stood , and today she has a great practice , she

has a great team , you know . She's profitable , she's paying herself and it's just a beautiful thing and she's serving people at the highest level .

I love following her Instagram and because they're always , you know , gifts that her patients said you know flowers or whatever they send to her , or you know the reviews that they leave her , and all of that is just beautiful , the work that she does . But it was hard .

It's hard in the beginning , but I'm so proud of her for not quitting because then , when other challenges show up now she has become this person who , when challenges show up , she's like , okay , how can I handle this ? Who do I need to talk to ? She raises her hand in the group to ask a question .

She cold calls other people in the Entree and the Business School . How do I do this ? Because I think and she'll tell me maybe after she listens to this episode that in her mind there's just this thing of of course , there's a solution somewhere , right , like it becomes a habit . Okay , it becomes a habit .

So that's the first thing not quitting for pressure sake , because it becomes a habit and it shows up everywhere , okay , which is not something that we want . The second reason not to quit is because in quitting , you give up an opportunity to develop mental toughness . Now , it is very cool to meditate . I meditate .

It's very cool to you know , say you know , like affirmations or your power words and stuff like that . I do that . It's really cool . It's really cool to visualize what life can look like on the other side . It's amazing . I do that too . But your mental toughness is built when tough times show up , when the challenges show up .

Think about challenges , problems like weights in the gym , right , and so you go , you lift the weight . It hurts , but that's how you grow , that's how you get the muscle . You do not build muscle and comfort Like that's just not the way it works .

And so the mental toughness that you're going to need for the next version of your business and all of that , you build it with the challenges of today . So does that mean I go around going like , oh , I wish I have a challenge ?

No , life will throw enough at you , but every time it comes you want to hold it and lift it like a weight , like navigate it and get through it and hold your own and not have a tantrum . You can have a tantrum , but then stop right , you know . But do all of that so you can build the mental toughness , because this is the deal .

If you're building a business and on your way to a million , you're facing challenges . I promise you that those are baby challenges compared to what you're going to face on your way to 10 million , which are baby challenges compared to what you're going to face if you're on your way to multiple eight figures or nine figures . Do you see what I'm saying ?

And so the challenges of today are practiced so you can win the challenges of tomorrow , right , and so you can have that mental toughness and all that . So when you give up , you quit on the gym . There's no muscle to be had , and if you can't handle the pressure for level one , then you're not going to level two , right .

And so I just want you to think about it . And I'm not saying that challenges are pleasant , that's not what I'm trying to say but we're all going to go through them , and so while you're in them , just go like okay , this is making me stronger . If I can go through this , I'm going to have the mental toughness is going to take for the next phase .

Because this is the deal being an entrepreneur is all about solving problems . It's all about problem solving . It is all about problem solving . It is all about problem solving . You solve problems for the clients . You solve problems with your systems . You solve problems with your team . You're a problem solver . A CEO is a problem solver .

A founder is a problem solver . Okay , so you engage with the process of solving problems . The third reason is that you give up on an opportunity for personal development .

Right , because every problem , like some of it , may be something we did that created the problem , or something we didn't do that created the problem , or it was just what it was , or whatever . But the thing is you have to think about it .

There is somebody who is going through a challenge that's three times the size of mine , 10 times the size of mine , and the person is cool as a cucumber . And the first time I noticed this , this was many years ago . I had 10 people on my team Actually a little less than 10 , but let's say 10 .

It's a nice even number and I felt like I can't take it anymore . My team is driving me nuts and all of these things . And this is the deal .

I got on TV one day and I was watching a Dallas Maverick game and the owner at the time our majority owner at the time was Mark Cuban , and so he was at the game , completely chill , enjoying the game , really into it , and all of that . And I remember sitting and thinking like this is odd . So here I am with 10 employees in one company .

Here's this guy who has 150 companies . At the time he had 150 companies . He had 150 companies was worth 3 billion , okay , and I said he has more than 15 times the number of companies as I have employees and he's chill and I'm not . So the problem is not my team . The problem is not that well , we can't find great people .

The problem is Maybe I don't know how to hire the right people . I don't know how to build the right company culture . I have not learned to regulate my emotions , so every little thing doesn't trip me up , and it's not a them problem , it's a me problem .

And so if I can grow and become better at hiring the right people , if I can grow and get better at even accepting that I am worthy of a high capacity , high value team , if I can grow my building company culture , if I can learn to delegate better , if I can onboard them better , then I'll have a better team and I'll be as chill as a cucumber at a

basketball game , right ? And so it's not really the challenge and I really want to encourage you when challenges show up , don't be so quick to look on the outside , like , look inwards , and not from a blaming standpoint like , oh I suck , I'm the reason for this , but more from a standpoint of what is this challenge trying to tell me that I need to learn ?

What skill is this challenge pointing to that I need to learn , right , like I need to acquire . Because when we look at that , when we put ourselves in a place where problems and challenges make us better , right , and I will tell you , I'm not a pro pro at building a team , but my goodness , do I have an amazing team ? Like not even an amazing team .

I have multiple amazing teams like amazing human beings that I get to work with and they blow my mind all the time . They come up with things I never could have come up with . They amplify the works of each other and just make our companies amazing .

But it came from a challenge , a problem , a team driving me nuts right , so you give up on an opportunity for personal development because this challenge that you quit on could have taught you lessons that have made your business so much better .

Number four is don't quit because it doesn't even help , right , like when we quit because of challenges , like I want to relieve the pressure , right . And so I've seen people like , oh my private practice , oh my goodness , and they shut it down . But the thing is okay . But you still got a revenue problem .

You still need to create revenue , you still need to create income , right . And you're like , oh my goodness , like I can't . You know , I can't stand my team and you decide I'm not going to train them , maybe I'm not even going to hire any more team members and all that . Okay , cool , but you still need the help , you still need to figure it out .

You see what I'm saying . So it's not that it helps , it feels like it helps in the immediate term , but when you think about it , you still got a problem to solve , you still got to do stuff , and so if you do , then you might as well just do , okay , okay .

Number five is related to number four , and the fifth reason not to quit is because every path is filled with challenges , filled with problems , every single path . And so if you quit on one path , okay , well , I don't want to . I don't want to build this , you know , practice or whatever .

I'm just going to go work a job and let someone deal with the headache . Well , you're going to have to deal with the headache of being an employee , because there's a headache there too , right ? And you're like , oh man , you know , I don't want to think about building , you know , this team and all this stuff . I'm going to do the work myself .

Well , there's also challenges with doing the work yourself

, right ? Because then there's burnout , there's all these other things . Whichever path you choose , the grass always looks so much greener on the other side . But it's green on the other side because somebody is fertilizing it , somebody is watering it , someone is trimming it , someone is getting it manicured and doing all those things .

It doesn't magically become green . So if you go on to the other side because it looks greener on the other side , guess what is waiting for you Work and challenges and problems and all of that . Think about it . Life is like a garden .

Okay , you can have oranges , you can have apples , you can have rose bushes , you can have all of these things , but guess what ? You're always going to have to work on Weeds . They will always be there . You will always have to work and get rid of them . You don't get to quit from that , right , life is like that , okay .

So every path is filled with challenges . It doesn't matter . So what was the point of quitting ? You're quitting to go somewhere else where there's challenges . Now remember , I'm not talking about strategic quitting .

I'm talking about quitting because you just want to relieve the pressure because of the problems , the challenges , the pain , the frustrations , the delays , all of that stuff . Okay , so that's number five . Number six Now , number six is is so scary , and this is the reason why I rarely consider quitting .

I very rarely consider quitting , and that is that you abort the path to greatness . You abort the path . You're just like done . I told you about Dr Swadham and the beautiful practice she has and the things that has become obvious that she can overcome . She'd have lost out on all of that if she quit , and that's why I was praying .

I literally went , I had times of prayer for her . I said , lord , please do not let her quit . Don't let her quit because there's so much goodness on the other side of this . Okay , so let me give an example with myself . When I started off , my first business was my private practice , and when I started off , it was not this version of me at all .

This version of me , I mean , is nothing like the version of me that started a private practice . And that version of me you've heard me say this many times was a super shy , socially awkward , introverted , introvert . And that version of me would not market . That version of me would not sell . Thought selling was unprofessional .

I thought you know I wouldn't need to market because you know I was a good clinician , I had great bedside manner , my patients loved me , and that version of me would break out in hives when I saw a profit and loss statement this is the way accounting worked in my business . My husband would say , okay , we have the meeting with the .

My husband's an accountant by training actually . So he's like we have the meeting with the accountant and all of that stuff . I was like you know what ? I see the patients and I have babies . You guys can take care of the accounting , I don't care . Right , like that . That was it .

Like if , if I was involved at all , I just attended the meeting but I I didn't do anything , I didn't say anything , I didn't attempt to understand anything . As far as I was concerned , they were speaking Greek and I had no interest in learning how to speak Greek . Okay , and that was that version of me , and it was hard .

Like how are you going to get patients if you won't market ? How are you going to get patients if you won't sell ? How are you going to understand this true financial state of your business if you're not going to look at the numbers ? And so it came with so many challenges .

But I could have run away and , to be honest with you , when I first started my practice , I realized I had to market and sell because I didn't know , I thought I had the shingle and they would my lease and all that I would have escaped .

But you know , I had a lease , had all these utility things , I had signed up for working with insurance companies , I had an EHR . I was just like , fine , you know . But I quite quit because I was just like , okay , we just got to see what happens .

But I'm so grateful , I'm so grateful that you know , first of all , my husband's like until you get all the patients you want , right . And so started the process of putting myself out there , talking to referral sources , doing all these things , and , my goodness , I developed mental toughness . You know . I got the personal development I needed .

I started learning to market , I started learning to sell , I started learning to build a referral base . I started learning to understand you know numbers Like I wouldn't even hire anybody In my private practice I had an alter ego . Her name was Ella .

I'm like thank you for calling Ivy League Pediatrics this is Ella , literally , because I could not imagine hiring anybody . I was like , how am I going to pay these people ? I could not even imagine paying an MA right , and now I spend quite an impressive amount of money on payroll right .

So all this stuff the practice that was profitable I would never have had it . I would have just said , oh , it didn't work for me , how did I know it didn't work for me , I quit , how would I know ? And so my practice got profitable . I would have missed out on that .

My practice got to the place where I had a team that gave me some time freedom , so I was able to . For instance , I hired another doc who worked a day a week , and so I had a long weekend every weekend . I started leading a team so I could buy some of my time back .

And then I got it to the next level , where my team is actually running the practice and I haven't set foot in the building in the last three years right , so they're running .

So I built that level of a team and it freed me up so I can do all these things that I do with EntreeMD because I could turn around and say , okay , things are changing for physicians .

I do with EntreeMD because I could turn around and say , okay , things are changing for physicians , let's see how we can support , let me see how I can retool myself and then how I can help other doctors retool themselves . So , who knows , the books may not have been written . The EntreeMD podcast that has almost 500 episodes would not have existed .

The Thousands of Lives Touch , the EntreeMD Business School , wouldn't have existed . Our company being on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies for two years in a row would not have happened . Me homeschooling my kids , my four kids that would not have happened .

And I just want to brag my daughter , who's 16 , she just graduated from high school , right , because she's homeschooled , so she just liked to work , she worked through the summer , and all that because she had her little cadence going on , so she was able to be on a speed track of sorts and she just graduated and it's so cool .

But anyway , I totally digress with that . But none of these things would have happened if I quit on my practice because it was so tough and , believe me , in the beginning I thought I was dealing with the biggest problem there must have been on planet earth . But it's not true . The problems I had then they don't even register as problems for my team .

Talk less of a problem for me . You don't quit because you abort the path to greatness and I'm still going . I'm 45 . I have so much life left in me . I have so many things to do . I have so many lives to impact . We have 100,000 physicians that we're trying to reach and support .

So thank you so much for listening to this podcast and please share it with the doctors in your world . We are on a mission , but I would have aborted all of that , all the doctors' lives we have had almost 400 doctors go through the EntreMD Business School and all the service we have done for them over the years .

Over the last four and a half years , like none of that would have happened if I quit . And now your journey is not my journey , but your journey is phenomenal , though right . Your journey is as unique as your fingerprint and it's beautiful and it's amazing and , oh my goodness , like I would love to see it . That's why it hurts my heart .

When doctors quit , I'm like , oh my goodness , I was waiting to see that . I will never know , right , but lean into it , because if you can take one challenge after the other , after the other after the other , you'll win and you'll be on the path to greatness . And we don't know what it will be , but I promise you it's good . It's good , okay .

So that's number six and then number seven . I think this is a friendly reminder . The seventh reason not to quit is because , like , yes , you may have challenges . Yes , you may be going through problems . Yes , it may be really hard . Yes , sometimes you cry . Yes , you know

nobody understands you . And please , if nobody understands you , I want you to come into the on-trending world . We will understand you . We get it . Okay , okay Now , but nothing is wrong . This is the seventh reason not to quit , because , even though you're experiencing all that , nothing is wrong .

This is the seventh reason not to quit because , even though you're experiencing all that , nothing is wrong . Success takes longer than you think . And success , the path to it is hard , but it is so rewarding if you don't quit , it is so good .

So the journey takes a little longer than people think , because Instagram makes us think that you decide to start a business today , you do a few things and then you go sip margaritas on the beach and live happily ever after and there's nothing that could be further from the truth . You know that . You're a physician .

You know , you know , right now am I saying it's going to be as hard as medical school ? No , I don't know if there's anything harder than medical school and residency Okay , but no , it's not that kind of hard . But you understand what it takes to succeed . You understand delayed gratification . You understand it took you a decade at least to become a physician .

You understand this . Right , it takes a minute . It takes a minute and that's okay . Like I see people you know quit for some people is when they start year one , year two , year three they quit . I'm like you haven't given it enough time , you haven't given enough time to put in the reps to do the work .

And some other people it's not that they quit like they've been in business for years , maybe a decade to get , but they've quit on the path of improvement . They've quit chasing the vision . They've quit chasing the dream because maybe they tried to build a team and they did it for a year , did it for two years and it didn't work .

It takes a little longer , but when you quit , then what You're not going to quit and then it will work . That's not the way it works , right ? Like , please don't quit . It takes a little longer , yes , it's hard , but the ROI , the return on investment , of not quitting , is ginormous .

If you talk to people who are very successful I love reading autobiographies because you'll find that they went through one hardship after the other . After the other you'll find out , you know what there's nothing wrong with me or there's nothing wrong with this . This is the way .

But sometimes , when you're in it , there's so much pressure , so much pressure that you're just like make it stop . We quit because we're like make it stop and I want to invite you . Okay , it takes a minute Now . It takes a longer minute if , when you're in that season , you're not putting in the work , you .

It takes a longer minute if , when you're in that season , you're not putting in the work , you're not doing the work , you're not staying focused , you're not working with proven strategies and you're just beating around the bush and all of that . Like , when you're in the season , use the season , do the work , put the work .

You may not see the results right away , but you will right , I'm telling you it works . We just had a coach .

We had a coach who's a part of the Entremet Business School and she does such phenomenal work , you know , helping women physicians and all of that , and she always wanted to start a group program and I think she may have launched it a number of times .

It didn't really work , or she tried to , she was getting ready to launch it and she's just like , yeah , she wasn't going to do it or whatever . And I watched her make a decision , a quality decision . This was during the On-Term De-Business School Vision Retreat .

Some of her classmates held her accountable and she owned it and she said she was going to launch it . And she launched it and she had her first successful launch . She has a number of women in there number that she wanted . I think she exceeded the number she wanted and the doctors are already recording wins .

They're already having their lives transformed and their lives maybe wouldn't have been transformed it would have taken so much longer if she didn't say yes , if she didn't choose not to quit , but she didn't quit and they're going to have such a magical experience because she didn't quit . So this is my challenge to you Do not quit . Don't quit .

You have a business . It is beyond you . It's about the impact that you're going to have in the lives of the people you're called to serve . It's about the financial freedom that you're going to create for you and for your family . It's about the time freedom so you're finally free to live life on your terms . Yes , it's going to be hard .

Yes , it's going to take a little longer , but , my goodness , don't quit . Look at the people who've gone ahead of you . Look at the challenges that they face and they survived it and they're here , and I'm challenging you to do the same . Listen to me . If you're here and you're a physician entrepreneur , you have access to the EntreeMD podcast .

You have access to the books we've written . You have access , if you want , to the EntreeMD business school . You have access to stuff on social media . The people who started businesses before you a decade before , two decades before , there was such a stigma with being a physician entrepreneur . They didn't have people to go to like you do .

They didn't have Facebook groups to go into . There was nothing like the Entremdi Business School . There are very few podcasts if there were any that were specifically for physicians who wanted to get in entrepreneurship .

No matter how hard you think it is , it is so much easier than it used to be back in the day , and so you make those people proud and you don't quit on your business . You make it work .

I'm here waiting to celebrate you , because on the other side of the delay and on the other side of the pressure is a business that gives you a vehicle to impact so many lives and to create financial freedom and to create time freedom , and it will absolutely rock your world . So I'm rooting for you . Don't quit . If you need our support , we're here .

If the podcast is what you want , it's here , and I'm committed to bringing you episodes that will rock your world . If the books are what you want to read , go to Amazon . We have books for you . There's no fluff . They're really designed to take your life and your business forward .

And if you're like I really want to do it , like I mean , I want to put myself in a

community where I'll be supported , where I'll get mentorship on a daily , weekly basis and all of that , come join us in the EntreMD Business School . You have so much support . Any way you want it , so you go in and I'm waiting to celebrate .