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Earlier this year, I found myself sitting in the airport in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with my husband, wrapping up a vacation. I remember texting a friend who runs a business a lot like mine, venting a little, and asking her if she ever has days where she just wants to burn it all down.

I don't know if you can relate to that feeling. I genuinely love the work I do. But Q1 is already a stressful season for those of us in the accounting world, and sitting in that airport, I knew something had to change. That conversation is what kicked off one of the scariest business decisions I've made all year. I want to walk you through the whole story, and more importantly, what actually helped me move forward with it.

The Business Decision I Was Avoiding

Over the past year or two, my business had genuinely grown, and that's something I'm so grateful for. But somewhere in that same stretch of time, we added a 4th kid to our family. With 4 young kids at home, the workload I was carrying started catching up with my actual capacity. I had two options in front of me. Hire more help, which honestly felt like just adding ANOTHER thing to manage. Or scale back.

I chose to scale back. That meant letting go of nearly half of my done-for-you bookkeeping clients, and saying goodbye to both of my part-time employees.

Why This Business Decision Took Me Months to Make

Knowing something needed to change didn't mean I moved on it right away. For months afterward, guilt kept me stuck. Guilt about my clients. Guilt about my employees. Guilt about “stepping back” when I felt like I was supposed to want to keep growing.

If you've ever sat on a decision because you felt guilty for even considering it, I want you to hear this. That guilt doesn't mean you're making the wrong call. It just means you care.

What Finally Got Me Unstuck

It wasn't courage. It was my numbers.

I knew exactly what the done-for-you side of my business was bringing in. I knew what it cost me to run it, between paying my employees and the revenue I'd lose by scaling back. And I knew what stepping back would actually look like financially. That clarity is what helped me move forward. It didn't remove the fear and guilt completely, but it gave me something solid to actually stand on instead of just guessing.

Your Version of This Business Decision

This isn't just about my decision to scale back. Maybe your version of this is deciding whether to open a second location. Maybe you're contemplating whether to close your brick-and-mortar and go fully online. Maybe it's whether you can finally hire a store manager so you can step back from the day-to-day operations yourself.

Whatever your scary decision is, the principle is the same. You cannot make a confident decision on numbers you don't actually know. Knowing your numbers won't make the fear disappear completely, but it can give you the confidence you need to move forward and actually make the call.

You Don't Have to Feel Ready

You don't have to feel 100% ready to make a big decision. You just have to know your numbers well enough to make that decision with clarity, instead of guessing and hoping for the best.

If you've got a big, scary decision sitting in front of you right now and you just need someone to talk it through with, send me a DM on Instagram. I'd love to be that person for you.