How to Know It’s Time To Burn It All Down (And When It’s Just Tuesday)
from KC Green's web comic strip "On Fire,"
Before You Walk Away, Let’s Talk About What’s Really Happening
Every founder I know has had a moment where they wanted to quit.
The secret late night Google search:
“Should I shut down my business?”
The exhausted thought spiral:
“Maybe I should just get a job.”
The mid-afternoon fantasy of walking away and starting fresh.
Like a movie star striding away from an explosion.
Except instead of a fireball, it’s your entire business.
And for a moment, the thought actually feels...
Freeing.
It’s not just you.
I’ve been there.
And I’ve worked with dozens of founders who’ve been there too.
And here’s what I’ve learned:
Most of the time, you don’t actually need to burn it all down.
You need to fix what’s making it feel unbearable in the first place.
So before you set fire to everything you’ve built, let’s figure out whether you really want to quit or if you and your business just need a reset.
Are You Actually Over Running Your Business, or Are You Over How It’s Running Your Life?
Christine was convinced she’d be better off shutting her business down.
She was making $1.5M a year - more than she ever had before - but she felt exhausted, overworked, and trapped.
She hadn’t been on a date with her husband in 3 months.
Her days were filled with hand-holding clients her team should have been able to take care of.
Whenever she even thought of slowing down, her nightmares of a completely empty pipeline would return.
She thought the only way out was to burn it all down.
But when I asked her,
“Would you still hate this if you had a clear role and your team had theirs? If everyone could do what they’re best at without burning anyone out?”
She let out a belly laugh that seemed to release weeks of tension.
Then she sighed and said,
“I mean…no. But that’s a dream.”
And that’s the real issue.
We think it’s a pipe dream.
Not entrepreneurship itself, but everything we have to sacrifice to be successful at it.
Our every waking moment.
Our sanity.
Our relationships.
But here’s the truth: You don’t have to give it all up. And I’ll show you how.
💭 If This Is You, Here’s What to Do Instead:
Before you burn it all down, ask yourself:
“Do I actually hate my business? Or do I hate the way it’s running me?”
What would change if you restructured even one thing - your role, a workflow, your decision-making process - to free up mental space?
That’s exactly what we do inside The Founder Reset, a 3-week sprint to fix the #1 thing draining you right now so you can begin to get your time, energy, and sanity back.
If you’re tired of feeling trapped, book your 15-minute introduction call to find out if we can help.
You Keep Pivoting, But Are You Addressing The Root Issue?
If you find yourself scrapping everything and starting over more than once a year, we need to talk.
Because I’ve seen the cycle repeat itself:
You’re frustrated with the way things are going.
You think the answer is another pivot.
You scrap your current approach and start over.
…Only to find yourself back in the same rut six months later.
Hitting a little too close to home?
That was the reality for Christine, too.
She’d look at solopreneurs with lower revenue but higher margins and wonder if she’d be better off going back to working alone.
Because at least then, she wouldn’t have to manage other people.
At least then, there’d be no external pressure to fix a business that felt like it was falling apart from the inside.
But did she really want to do this alone? No.
Did she actually want to fire her team? No.
Did she want a business that ran like a well-oiled machine instead of barely holding it together?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
More Revenue Won’t Solve A Broken Business Model
If you’re constantly second-guessing your direction, the problem likely isn’t what you think it is.
It’s not your offer.
It’s not your clients.
It’s not even your team.
It’s that you don’t have a system that gives you the clarity to make good decisions.
💡 Here’s what that looks like in practice:
You don’t have visibility into what’s working, so everything feels like a guessing game.
There are no feedback loops guiding your decisions, so you keep switching directions instead of doubling down on what’s actually profitable.
Your team isn’t operating with clear ownership, so you keep getting pulled into tasks you shouldn’t be involved in.
💭 Like a lot of service providers, Christine practiced wishful thinking:
“Once I hit [insert arbitrary revenue metric], things will get easier.”
“Once I hire [insert absurd amalgamation of 20 different specialties], I’ll be able to let some things go.
“Once I land bigger clients, everything will change.”
But scaling doesn’t fix inefficiency.
It exposes it.
Christine was convinced she would make more being back on her own, but in reality, her business was leaking money from inefficient workflows and a team that wasn’t set up for success.
Once we:
Standardized, documented, and delegated recurring admin tasks to her full-time admin (funny and sad).
Transitioned from on-demand 1-1 troubleshooting to team office hours that facilitated cross-training, collaboration, and learning
Implemented weekly stand-ups that transitioned ownership of client updates to her team
She realized she didn’t want to shut down her business.
She wanted structure.
She wanted accountability.
She wanted breathing room.
And with her operational structure refined, her team had more capacity than before - recouping our service cost within 60 days.
She actually made more while working less.
You’re Not Failing; You’re Just Doing Everything Alone
One of the biggest reasons founders spiral into burnout?
They don’t have the right support.
They’re trying to:
Do all the client work
Handle operations
Market themselves
Manage cash flow
Handle anything unexpected
And eventually, they hit a wall.
If your entire business is still you holding everything together, it’s not sustainable.
It’s a ticking time bomb.
💭 If This Is You, Here’s What to Do Instead:
Instead of pushing through, start building the right support.
If you don’t know where to start, The Founder Reset is designed to fix the #1 thing draining you right now so you can begin to get your time, energy, and sanity back.
💡 Christine’s Feedback:
“If we hadn’t implemented this, we’d still be having disorganization, and I probably would have lost my mind and fired everyone, or they would have quit because they would have been so frustrated with me.”
Before You Burn It All Down, Ask Yourself This…
Are you quitting because you truly don’t want this anymore?
Or are you quitting because you don’t see a way to make it work for you?
If it’s the second one, we can fix that.
In fact, that’s exactly why Operations House exists.
You Deserve a Business That Works For You
Not one that works you to the ground.
Burning it all down may seem like your only way out.
But it’s not.
If you’re at your breaking point, we’re here to help.
Because you deserve to actually enjoy the business you’ve worked so hard to build.
