When they wanted to quit—but kept going
As an entrepreneur, you expect things won't go perfectly all the time. But when does it starts to feel like too much, how do you know you should keep going?
January 3, 2020
Ask any founder of an established natural products brand whether they encountered any challenges along their way up, and they’ll likely laugh—hard. Of course they faced challenges, they’ll say—plenty of them—some so frustrating, nerve-wracking and even heartbreaking that they came incredibly close to throwing in the towel.
But, as evinced by their brand’s success today, the fire inside of them just wouldn’t die. Whether it took looking inward at their own leadership abilities or getting creative with marketing on a meager budget, this entrepreneur not only survived the roadblock or curveball thrown their way—they thrived because of it.
Here, nine inspirational natural products founders share what pushed them to the brink, what made them stick it out and what happened as a result.
“About two years ago, the business had been growing and growing, and we’d just moved into our new facility. I realized I was losing control of the ship and things were happening outside of my control. We had an employee who was extremely hotheaded and prone to bursting out at people. One day, he and I really got into it. He was cursing at me in a language only he and I understood: Japanese. I was so upset—not just about this incident but because I felt like I didn’t have a grip on the company culture anymore—that I almost quit. I was ready to call my investors to tell them to find another CEO because I’d had it and wasn’t fit to lead.