What To Do When Your Business Is Stuck

Originally Published: November 26, 2025

If your business is stuck in the mud, it can be a frustrating experience. You want to make progress and get to your goals, but that just doesn’t seem to be happening for you. 

When this happens, it is often worthwhile taking a step back, considering what might be going wrong, and then taking action. Once you understand the nuts and bolts of the issue, it becomes significantly easier to make progress. 

So what should you do when you get stuck? And how can you break through some of these annoying barriers to reclaim your strength?

Take A Week Off

While it might sound strange, taking a week off is one of the best things you can do when you get stuck in business. When you do this, you’re giving yourself the headspace you need to think through the problems that you’re facing and deal with them in a productive way. 

Sometimes, you feel stuck in business because you’re so busy checking emails and responding to staff queries. You don’t actually give yourself the time you need to move forward quickly and get to where you want to go. You’re “doing” instead of being strategic. 

Taking a week off is usually the best way out of this conundrum. It allows your unconscious mind to get to work and come back as strong as possible to defeat whatever obstacles are in your way. It’s usually far more productive than simply waiting things out. 

Offer to Downsell

You could also try downselling. No, it’s not popular, but it could be what your audience is demanding from you. Downselling is critical for finding the best products and really making the most of what you have to offer. Customers might want to spend less than you’re currently allowing, so giving them this escape can be brand-building in some instances. 

Hire Or Fire One Person

Another approach is to start hiring or firing. Changing the people on your team can make an enormous difference and generate a huge impact.

If you’re missing a key role, then you need to fill it. Even if it is expensive and cuts profits in half for a while, it’s often worth it if you can find the right person. You need someone who can slot into your existing workflow and immediately start adding value with no excuses. 

If you think someone is dragging down your team, then you might also need to look into firing them. Again, it’s a difficult thing to do (which is why companies are so keen to find the right people during the hiring process). But once you get it out of the way, you can finally find someone who is suitable for the role and can move the needle for you. 

Eliminate Sacred Cows

You can also try eliminating sacred cows. A lot of businesses have processes that they just won’t let go of. But relinquishing these is often the best way to move things forward. 

Services like Stagnation Assassin put this at the core of a lot of their advice. Sometimes, you have legacy processes that stick around because you’ve always done things that way. However, these can really drag you down and turn into habits that don’t serve your business in any meaningful way. 

If you can destroy these processes publicly, that reduces the incentive to ever go back. That way, you can ensure they remain in the trash can of your business’s history and can never be resurrected. 

Launch Something Small In A Week

Another option is to try launching something small in a week or less. Sometimes, these micro experiments can reveal more about what your customers want than any market research ever would. Many firms find that their small launches become their biggest products over time, simply because they didn’t expect them to turn out like they did. 

Many succeed because they function as lead magnets, too. The price might be low, but simply paying you money is another reason why you’re likely to win back the same customers in the future. If they’ve done it once, they’re likely to want to do it again. 

Then there’s the psychological boost you get from it. Momentum beats perfection every time, so if you can get something started, then there’s a higher chance you’ll follow through and really get everything done. 

Change Your Target Metrics

Changing your target metrics is also low-hanging fruit for a lot of businesses. You could simply be targeting the wrong numbers for your brand and concentrating on concepts and ideas that don’t matter. 

The best way to avoid this is to bring yourself back down to Earth. You want to change your metrics so that they serve what your company cares about the most. Try to avoid the temptation to chase vanity numbers, like your follower count. That doesn’t always translate to improvements in your bottom line. 

Reconnect With Your Best Customers

If you can reconnect with your best customers, that can work, too. The top 20% are most likely to be the ones who want to pay you again in the future. 

Too many brands spend all their energy trying to attract the bottom 80%. That’s a mistake in our book. These customers are the least willing to pay, so they cost the most to acquire. And they spend less than those who are keen to derive as much value as possible from your services. More businesses have gone under because they’ve concentrated on attracting the wrong crowd compared to anything else. 

Talk To Customers Who Flaked

Lastly, you can talk to customers who flaked and ask them why they didn’t want to stick with your business. These conversations can be a little difficult, but what they say is critical. Listen carefully to their reasons to see if you can spot any patterns. 

So there you have it: some of the ways you can get your business unstuck and back on the path to success. Don’t worry if this whole post sounds like you: that’s just how building a brand feels sometimes, even for top entrepreneurs. 

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