Business Breakup Counselling | Session 2

You've invested years into building your business. Thousands of dollars in courses, coaching and resources. Countless hours, late nights, emotional energy and probably a few tears.

So how can you possibly walk away from it now?

Welcome to The Sunk-Cost Situationship, where you're no longer sure you want to be in this business relationship, but everything you've invested makes leaving feel impossible.

In this episode of Business Breakup Counselling, we're exploring the sunk cost fallacy in entrepreneurship and why your past investments might be keeping you stuck in a business that no longer fits who you've become.

Because the time, money and energy you've already invested tells you what your business has cost you. They don't determine what your future needs to look like.

BUT! Breaking up with your current business model doesn't necessarily mean giving up entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we explore:

• What the sunk cost fallacy is and how it affects business decisions.
• Why entrepreneurs stay committed to businesses that no longer feel fulfilling.
• How financial, emotional and time investments create attachment.
• The difference between committing to your business and keeping it in a situationship.
• Why your business identity and personal identity aren't the same thing.
• How to recognise whether it's time to recommit, renegotiate, reinvent or walk away.
• Why changing direction doesn't mean everything you've built was wasted.
• How to start making decisions based on what you want now, rather than what you've invested in the past.

Are you still in love with your business?

Inside the episode, Bree introduces the Business Breakup Audit, designed to help you explore where you stand in your relationship with your business.

Are you still in love? Ready to renegotiate? Desperate for reinvention? Or already mentally packed and out the door?

Whatever the answer, you get to decide what happens next.

Resources mentioned

Starting Over Society: Join Bree's community to explore your relationship with your business and access the Business Breakup Audit and 30-Day Business Breakup Plan. More here: https://www.skool.com/bree/about

The Business Breakover: For entrepreneurs ready to transform their relationship with their business and start over without starting from scratch.

Explore the program: https://woopreneur.co/breakover

Business Breakup Counselling: Join Bree on Instagram for live sessions exploring the challenges, decisions and emotional attachments that come with evolving beyond your business.

Continue the conversation

If you're questioning whether to pivot your business, reinvent your offers or finally let go of something you've outgrown, you're not alone.

You don't have to keep choosing the same business simply because it's the one you've already invested in.

Your past investment is part of your story. It doesn't have to dictate your future. 💔💋

So this, training, we're gonna start with an actual training, and

then get into coaching if there is anyone that wants to be coached towards the end.

So this is the, business breakup counseling live and

Or coach, and you're sitting opposite me, and we are chatting away about

what's going on with your business and your relationship with your business.

So I think there's a couple of things I want to cover in this session.

So the session is called Sunk Cost Situationship.

So I'm gonna explain what all of that means, but I think we need to first start

off with the understanding that your business and you are in a relationship.

So you're not in-- like your business isn't your baby.

It's not something that is an extension of you, and, is part of your identity.

I actually see them as two separate things.

So your business has an identity, and you have an identity.

And we wanna actually make sure we're separating, from each other so that,

so separating those identities, not necessarily separating from the business,

that will come later if you need to do that, but separating your self from the

belief that your business is part of you, like as in part of your identity.

We're actually in relationship with our business, and that relationship changes

and shifts and pivots as we change.

And, I go into that in more detail in the first session.

So if you haven't listened to that, it's on the podcast.

make sure you check that out in the link in the bio or, in the show notes

if you're, catching this on the podcast.

And yeah, it explains like the difference between or the fact that you are in

a relationship with your business.

So I'm not gonna go into heaps of detail with that.

But I wanna talk a little bit about, what sunk cost is.

And sunk cost is something that you tend to hear a lot in business and

particularly in a financial setting.

and basically, it's the fallacy that sunk cost is an explainer

for how to move forward.

So when we, have made a decision to commit to something, so committing

to, getting coaching, from a business coaching for an example.

Basically, you have weighed up the return on investment before you actually

commit to it, and, once your investment has been completed, you then have the

opportunity to decide whether you're going to continue making that investment

anymore, or if you have decided to move forward and move on without it.

So the sunk cost fallacy in that context is that you-- just because you

have made that investment and you're, you've invested, like hard cash, actual

money into it, that you should continue making that investment over and over

again, regardless of the outcome.

And that's not necessarily the best solution or the best option.

But the other way that people-- The other kind of like clear example of how we,

might have connection to sunk cost is that if we're in like a relationship,

and I'm talking about family, love, friendships, that you have decided

to stay in that connection because of the history, because you've been with

that person or that you've known that friend for countless years, and it's

now like just second nature almost to continue being part of that, connection.

And what you get to do is actually choose and decide whether that relationship

is still worth your investment.

And again, it's talked about a lot, from a financial perspective, but we're also

talking about, time, energy, emotion.

Like all of the ways that we invest our-- in relationships, in business can

be different than just in a monetary.

So when we are looking at sunk cost It's this fallacy that because we

have invested in the past, that we need to continue investing.

And like it becomes this psychological thing where, gosh, I've put so much money

into my business, I've put so much time into my business, and what's it all for?

I've invested all of this time in my business, and I'm still not

getting the results that I want.

Or I've invested, $30,000 into coaching and courses and stuff like

that, and I still haven't, got the results in my business that I want.

And so the the emotions that come up with making a decision at that point

is, I've invested so much already, so it's stupid to not continue investing

because, it's like I'm I'm eventually gonna get results kind of thing.

But here's the thing we need to know about sunk cost.

It's a predictor of what it cost you, but it's not a predictor of

what outcomes you're gonna get.

And so it's not gonna help you decide how to move forward.

And in fact, it's possibly going to keep you stuck because you think, I

have invested five years into running a business that, has taken me away from my

family, from my children, from, making, X amount of money in a regular job.

and so I have to keep going."

it starts to become this like stubborn, fight that we have with ourselves.

"I have to keep going because I've already invested all of these things, and it would

be a loss to have not gotten the results."

And, we wanna see the, investment paying out, so we continue investing the same

thing or same way into, the business, and it doesn't actually result in the outcomes

that we're wanting because We are just going through like the motions because

we have invested in the past, we're going to continue investing in the same way.

So what does this, all of this kind of have to do with breaking up

with your business or potentially breaking up with your business?

What you could find yourself doing is getting stuck in, the fact that you

have been in business for five plus years and you haven't had the results,

and you're now questioning like, "If I was to just give up today and move on,

what do I do with all of the history, the past, where I have invested in this

way and it hasn't given me the outcomes or the results that I'm looking for?"

And so if that's something that is coming up for you, I want you to remember that

how you invested in the past got you results, got you information, gave you

feedback and, and yeah, information about, decisions you can make from today.

And we get to make a choice at any given time, whether we want

to continue going on forward.

And it doesn't mean that you necessarily need to close up shop completely

and give up on entrepreneurship and go back to working a nine-to-five

if that isn't, what you want.

but it can look like, deciding to, completely shift your, your

business suite or the way that you deliver your offerings.

It can look like, changing your business to being a part-time

business and part-time, employment.

It can look like selling IP of resources that you have created and that you

are, able to someone else is able to remarket so that you can get back the

investment on some of the time and, the effort that you previously, expended.

Those are different ways that you can visit or revisit the idea that, you

have this sort of sunk cost, that may be creating this, resistance for you

to make a decision to actually change and move forward within your business.

And then the other part of this equation is the situationship side.

So the title of this, episode is The Sunk Cost Situationship.

And what I'm saying here in essence is that your business requires a

commitment from you and you are choosing potentially to not make a

commitm-commitment to that business.

And that is in, in essence, what a situationship is.

There's two parties that, one person wants a to work in a certain way, and the other

person is not as interested in that way.

So that's what I guess a situationship is.

we have one person really invested in the relationship and the other person

not keen to do it in that kind of format.

they want it to be casual or whatever.

So if we take that context of a situationship in relationships and

apply the lens that your business is a relationship, you are in relationship

with your business What ways are you treating your business as a situationship?

In what ways are you not committing to your business and making the commitment

to do certain things in a certain way, explore, particular, offers,

or reach out to, potential leads?

Whatever you're doing, in order to not commit to the relationship

that you have within your business.

'cause it's-- basically what it's doing, what your business is

asking is for you to commit to it.

And if you are feeling like you are in a place where you've invest all of this

time and energy and heart into your business Throughout the last, few years,

and it hasn't resulted in the way that you are hoping, then you're less likely to

wanna commit to it going forward, right?

And we just-- at this point, we need to work out what do you actually want?

Because, you have this information, things haven't worked out as you

wanted, it's, you've got this prediction of what it costed you

through, the time and energy invested, and now we need to make a decision.

Do we wanna actually commit to the business?

Do we wanna commit to the business in the current format?

Do we want to, explore, different avenues within the business?

Or do we actually wanna close up shop on that business and do something different?

Again, doing something different doesn't mean you need to give up

the idea of entrepreneurship and go back to working a nine-to-five,

if that's where you started from.

It can look like starting a a whole different new business, right?

That's what, we can be looking at here with, making this decision.

So the way I support people is I look at, what are we-- how do we

feel about the business right now?

We need to first assess and, essentially audit how we're feeling.

So I actually have created an audit that helps you to do this.

and my idea of doing these, sessions is to actually coach people live around,

where they're at within their business.

Like, how do they actually feel, audit the business, and then

work out a plan going forward.

So we have the business breakup audit that helps you assess.

Firstly, there's four criterias that it can, tell you.

Are you still in love with your business?

Is the question.

So we have one result is, "Yes, I'm still in love with the business."

Another result is, "I am ready to renegotiate with my business."

So that's looking like sitting down with your business in, context of this

metaphor, sitting down with your business, having a coffee with it, and asking,

"What are you willing to renegotiate?

What are you willing to, compromise on?

What are you willing to do in order for this relationship to continue

going forward and, for there to be love in that relationship?"

So renegotiating is one way of doing that, and that could be something

like changing your work hours because, working from, seven AM till seven PM

is just not working for you anymore.

It's not what you want, and maybe you wanna have like shorter days, over

a period of, shorter, weeks perhaps.

So renegotiating.

The other options are reinvention.

So that's looking at how can we take the business that currently

exists and reinvent it in a way that we are, taking maybe past IP

and repackaging it, or we could be, reinventing like the actual business

model that we're, presenting with.

we are looking at maybe changing, the delivery method of how we communicate

and support our customers and clients So that's option number three.

And then option number four is that it's over, that you've realized that you and

that business are going separate ways.

there's-- you've already decided the, the relationship is over.

You're pretty much, in your head, you've already packed your bags,

and you are out the door, right?

So those are the four different categories that we can, audit your

business and figure out where you're at.

And from those areas-- So obviously, with-- when you're still in love with your

business, there's nothing for you to do.

You are sorted, and probably my content is not you know, not for you

because you love your business, and you don't need that, that support.

And, if you ever do fall out of out of love with your business, you come

back around and, we can hang out.

But if you're one of the other three, then we can make plans from that.

we have a-- In my Starting Over Society community, we have a, a plan, which

is a workshop and worksheet that helps you understand, depending on

where you're at in those areas, what you can do in the next thirty days

to get back on track and start to fall back in love with your business.

So if you wanna check those out, then make sure to check out the link in the

bio or show notes if you're listening on the podcast, and, you'll be able

to, yeah, jump into the community.

The community is free.

You can, sign up for a, access to the plan for twenty-seven dollars, or if

you join as a as a member, you can get that included in the membership as well.

So yeah, check that out.

And the plan is with these live streams, as I said before, to coach

people that jump on live with me and help them understand firstly

that audit part and then the plan, what they can do from today.

if you wanna jump into one of these live streams in the future,

I would love to coach you.

We're gonna be doing them at least once a week in October.

I might impromptu, jump on live if I've got some time.

I'm not really sure what time of day that will be, but yeah, we're gonna do

these on a semi-regular basis, and then I think what will happen is we will

transition to doing them, mostly just in the society, in the Skool community.

So yeah, jump into that if you are wanting to explore all of this.

And I think that's all I need to share today.

Basically covered off, what sunk cost situationships look like and why you

might be stuck in that, that relationship, and not feeling like you can get out

of it because you have invested so many years and so much energy and so

much love and so much, patience into having this business be what it is.

But it's okay to actually make a change and make a decision

to do something different.

And you're gonna be, finding that, there's this level of, resistance and

kind of incongruence that's happening within your, energy center, within

your soul, within your, your being.

You'll feel it, I think, for most people will feel it in their body before they

start to like understand or know that there's this, incongruence between the

relationship of you and the business.

if you ever have experienced, friendship breakdown or relationship breakdowns,

with family or, loved ones, spouses, then you will know what it feels like to

have this feeling of almost like umming and ahhing between, making the decision

and once you actually make the decision, everything's so much easier in the sense

that, you can start to move forward.

There are still, things that you need to resolve and difficulties

perhaps that you need to move through.

But the decision is the tipping point that helps you move forward.

And that's something that I would love to support you and help you with

inside my Business Breakover program.

So if you'd like to hear more about that, then reach out to me, in the

DMs or jump into the society where you can find out all about it.

or jump onto the website woopreneur.co/breakover,

and that will take you to the sales page for you to check it all out.

Okay.

That's me today.

I think I will leave that here, and I will see you on our next business breakup

counseling session, and I can't wait to do like a live counseling session so make

sure to jump into the next one if you're available, and I will see you there.

All right.

Take care.