3 Tips for What to do When Things go Wrong with Business or Money

As amazing as it would be for every investment, every decision about business or money, to go well, the fact is, it doesn’t. That’s simply not how life works. All investments have elements of risk, no matter how solid they seem.

I recently shared about a business that was step 8 of my $2 to $1,000,000 challenge. While it seemed easy and the first part went well, continuing it has been a nightmare. To the point where I will only continue with 1 person for the foreseeable future.

On the upside, we learned a lot, me especially. Even though some of what I learned I already knew but for some reason didn’t apply my knowledge here. Lessons about money and business are priceless. Even better when you learn them without severe consequences.

Disclosure: We are not financial advisors, seek your own professional advice for your circumstances. This is our experience. This post may contain affiliate links for products or services we use. Read our full disclosure.

1. Get Professional Advice

One would hope you got the advice of a lawyer, accountant, financial advisor and other necessary professionals before starting any business or investing. The fact is, many people don’t, they just leap headfirst into either a business or investing. And then they run into trouble.

With our recent business venture, it was an experiment and since we were unsure how it would go, we did not invest in professional advice. We planned to if it went well and we wanted to continue. However, when I launched a marketing company years ago, I absolutely had a full team with a lawyer, accountant, bookkeeper, financial advisor, insurance broker, mentors, all of it.

Whatever is happening with money or business, get help from the experts when you need it. Recognising this sooner rather than later will save you significant money as well as time.

Whether that’s solidifying your business team of experts or getting financial advise from a professional, it’s necessary.

This also includes tax advice for your personal and business ventures so you know what you can and can’t claim, what to keep track of and how best to move forward.

For businesses, it also includes marketing experts. You cannot be an expert in everything. Marketing is huge now from digital to print, PR and everything in between. Get a few experts or an agency to help with this.

How do you Know Which Professionals you Need?

The professionals you need will vary depending on what you are doing. Above were some examples but do your own research.

For business, generally, a business lawyer, an insurance broker, accountant, bookkeeper, someone for marketing or do some courses and a coach or mentor are a great start. You want to know your business has all the legal bases covered, finances are essential to have accurate and insurance. No one will know about your business if you are marketing it and you need someone to give advice and guide you to success.

With personal finances, at the very least, speak with an accountant for your specific situation to ensure at a minimum you are maximising tax benefits. A financial advisor can be good, do not rely on social media tips but do take time to read, learn and teach yourself about money too.

2. Do More Research

Knowledge is power. Learn what you can and research what you can to gain knowledge.

If it’s a business you need help with, do market research to find out what you need to do, whether it is worth it etc.

For your own personal finance, there are numerous books, podcasts, groups and more as well as the professionals mentioned in tip 1.

With all the research though, have clear goals and set time to actually do it. Know the areas you need help with and start there. Then implement what you learn. It’s no good doing a load of theory without putting it into practice.

3. Know When to Walk Away

Not everything goes to plan or is successful. Sometimes, you need to cut your losses and walk away. Yes, it can pay off to be persistent, stick with things and do everything you can, as we see so often on social media and with the huge success stories

What we see less of are the more common stories. The stories where people lose everything and wish they had cut their losses sooner.

Always be realistic, try to see things factually instead of emotionally and don’t try to regain your loss. Throwing good money after bad is not a smart idea.

Knowing when to do this can be the tricky part. This is why tip number 1, get professional advice is so important.