My greatest learning lesson was that I had to separate the welfare and needs of the business from my personal feelings. A key part of that was remembering that I was in charge. And being in charge meant doing things you didn’t always want to do, and you couldn’t feel guilty for that. It was your business, you started it, nurtured it, ran it. You made choices for it, for better or worse.

Perhaps the real learning experience was one of leadership and a clearer understanding of what it means to “run the show.”

Acting decisively was certainly a part of that – but more than that I think being a business owner and leader of employees became something bigger/more important as a result of having to fire people.

My greatest learning lesson was that I had to separate the welfare and needs of the business from my personal feelings. A key part of that was remembering that I was in charge. And being in charge meant doing things you didn't always want to do, and you couldn't feel guilty for that. It was your business, you started it, nurtured it, ran it. You made choices for it, for better or worse.

Perhaps the real learning experience was one of leadership and a clearer understanding of what it means to “run the show.”

Acting decisively was certainly a part of that – but more than that I think being a business owner and leader of employees became something bigger/more important as a result of having to fire people.

As a business coach, asking the tough questions is a big part of what I do because it pushes us to dig and cannot hide from ourselves. Self-deception is a most dangerous drug.

Disappointing family, friends, and employees when a business fails is very hard.

You faced even more tough questions when you were in the midst of it.

Would it be fair to say that your greatest learning from that situation was the need to be decisive and act quickly? Would that be accurate?

BTW, thanks for being transparent and open, that is one of the qualities I will be talking about in the role of Advocate in the book.

As a business coach, asking the tough questions is a big part of what I do because it pushes us to dig and cannot hide from ourselves. Self-deception is a most dangerous drug.

Disappointing family, friends, and employees when a business fails is very hard.

You faced even more tough questions when you were in the midst of it.

Would it be fair to say that your greatest learning from that situation was the need to be decisive and act quickly? Would that be accurate?

BTW, thanks for being transparent and open, that is one of the qualities I will be talking about in the role of Advocate in the book.

My feelings of disappointment and frustration WERE my personal emotions – I don’t think I explained that clearly.

What I did was recognize the fact that business is business. Yes, there’s a place for your personal feelings in business but when push comes to shove business owners (and entrepreneurs) have to make tough decisions that they may not like personally.

Part of it was mental toughness. Part of it was desperation. I didn’t want the business to fail. Failure wasn’t an option on such a grand scale; the business HAD to survive.

Part of it was “talking myself through it” in the sense that I reminded myself that the business could survive because of the choices I made. I was giving myself (and the remaining employees) a shot, and that’s all I could do.

Had we acted sooner I’m not sure things would have been different. We held out as long as we could, but had we fired people earlier, I don’t think it would have improved our situation. Nowadays, having gone through the experience once, I’d probably be faster to fire, knowing that I can handle it. (I have fired others, for legitimate reasons, where I wasn’t upset emotionally…)

But in terms of acting faster, I think that’s something I’ve thought about a lot in general. It’s hard to be a successful entrepreneur and act slowly or indecisively.

The inner game is that firing people sucks. No matter what the circumstance. When you fire someone because YOU couldn’t keep the business successful it’s particularly difficult. As the boss, it’s your job to make sure things work. You’re paying the bills. When you can’t, you fire people. Even though it wasn’t their fault.