Discontinuing Product Lines and Embracing New Horizons
How to make difficult decisions and align to the right one’s in your creative business.
Making difficult decisions is an inevitable challenge in business. Whether it's discontinuing a beloved product line, changing our pricing structure or offerings, or even closing up shop.
These choices can shape the trajectory of our businesses, leading us to new places that are full of opportunity, growth, and success. But sometimes, tough decisions are required to get to what we’re going next.
How do you make these tough, yet necessary decisions? And how do you know it’ll work out or if you’re making a huge mistake?
We don’t know until we try. And that can be a huge risk - for better or worse.
In this blog post, I delve into the toughest decision I’ve made in my business, what brought me here and how I’m navigating the uncertainty of it all.
This post is purely based on personal experience & opinion. Take what resonates, leave the rest.
First, the big news…
I made the decision to discontinue 4 product lines; Pins, cards, postcards, and bumper stickers. This will leave my stickers as the only product line I will carry for the foreseeable future. And those might go eventually too.
This wasn’t planned. Nor was it taken lightly. And a significant shift from what I thought I’d be doing.
So what the heck happened? And how did I know this was the right thing?
Noticing
“Burnout what my biggest sign that something was amiss. ”
Burnout what my biggest sign that something was amiss. However, for the longest time, I thought it was simple a mismanagement of my time and energy.
I did what I could to course correct by hiring contractors for the tasks I wasn’t great at, shifting my working hours, saying no more often, practicing self care.
Yet the burnout lingered so I had to dig a little deeper since the “not doing” was only helping temporarily.
I then started looking at what I was doing within my business.
Was it researching new products or manufacturers? Ordering supplies? Designing the items? Doing proof and print checks? Counting, photographing, writing, and uploading new products to 4 platforms? Was it marketing? Was it packaging and fulfillment? Was it the number of streams I had to manage - some bringing in much more than others?
I was still doing a lot, even with help. That’s when I realized I would have to make some bigger shifts in order to work more efficiently. However, I had no idea what that looked like.
Receiving help
To get an objective opinion and advice from someone who had gone through this, I hired a business coach with the savings I had put away.
“The metaphorical weight of counting, storing, selling, packaging, and shipping inventory was already swallowing me whole. To add other people, spaces, and systems into the mix was not feeling great. ”
In that process I realized that the business I had built, could only grow (and stabilize) if I was willing to do more; More products, more streams of income, more sales, more help, more space.
For me, “more” was the wrong way to go and didn’t feel like the answer to my burnout.
Additionally, the metaphorical weight of counting, storing, selling, packaging, and shipping inventory was already swallowing me whole. To add other people, spaces, and systems into the mix was not feeling great.
Simply put, my product-based business didn’t align with my vision or values. And my burnout was a symptom of that.
This was a hard wall to hit because I thought it was what I wanted. Now what?
Exploring your vision and values
I spent months exploring what my vision and values looked like and how that aligned (or didn’t) with my business. Looking at the business I had vs. the one I wanted to build.
From there, I explored how each option or path felt.
“Having more clarity, ironically, plunged me into the Dark Night of the Soul for months as I explored the depths of these feelings and came to terms with what I had to (and truly wanted to) do. Whether I liked it or not, the reality was staring me in the face.”
I imagined my business continuing on how it was. It felt heavy and tiring.
I imagined a hybrid business of products and services, which felt a little better.
I finally imagined a business that was product-free and purely focused on service to others through freelance illustration. I felt relieved, excited, happy.
How it felt, was the way I knew which decision to go with.
Now that I had this clarity, I had to spend time digesting (and grieving) the fact that the current business model wasn’t the path for me. With this came doubt, fear, questions, limiting beliefs, self worthiness.
Having more clarity, ironically, plunged me into the Dark Night of the Soul for months as I explored the depths of these feelings and came to terms with what I had to (and truly wanted to) do. Whether I liked it or not, the reality was staring me in the face.
Planting seeds
“I foresaw this end being a gradual unwinding. A gentle goodbye. An honoring of what the products meant to me. And still do, for the time being.”
Once I came out of this, I was more clear about what it was I wanted to build and what I wanted to align with. The direction and actions that came with that, became clear too.
However, now, I have to execute on that plan.
Since I’m a bit of a risk averse person, I didn’t want to do a fire sale and shut it all down in one day. I foresaw this end being a gradual unwinding. A gentle goodbye. An honoring of what the products meant to me. And still do, for the time being.
While I sell off my products and officially put this burnout to bed, I’m also planting new seeds of opportunity with my freelance services; Connecting with new clients, focusing on personal projects, signing up to illustrator directories so I can share my availability to take on work. Even branching into offerings that I’m truly passionate about; Tarot readings and oracle card design.
While I didn’t plan for this big shift, I’m welcoming it in the hopes that it’s moving me towards feeling better in my business and working more joyfully. After all, business is tough enough. We should really find as much joy as we can in it.
Will it work out?
It’s hard to say where any of these decisions take us and how they’ll work out. But we’ll never know until we try!
And yes, I’m still panic, nervous, fearful, doubtful. Nothing is certain. But I do know that what I was doing wasn’t working so now I have to explore what could work better. Trust and faith are a big part of this transition.
We must trust how we feel and lean into that with great confidence and passion. If it doesn’t work out, we can always make a new choice or find ways to work within our restrictions and limitations until it does. One way or another.
One thing that is guaranteed, creative entrepreneurship is a fluid journey that is forever changing and constantly pushing us to new places. Surrender to that reality, and you’ll be alright.
Are you facing a difficult decision?
If you’re facing difficult decision in your business, know that you’re not alone. Also know that this experience:
does not prove your value, worthiness, skill, or potential for success. It’s simply part of your growth as an entrepreneur and creative.
may be a product of circumstance. Timing. Redirection. And, at best, realignment. So relieve yourself of the idea that you have / had full control over this.
is helping you to improve your business to ensure its (and your) long-term sustainability and success.
is not something to ignore, rush, give up on, or blame yourself for.
will naturally bring up emotions like fear, doubt, panic, anxiety. This doesn’t necessarily mean the decision is wrong. It may just mean you’re stepping into growth and something new so these feelings are natural! But, that will be something to discern for yourself.
may not be something you can get through on your own. Explore ways to get support through free business groups or a coach, if that’s available to you.
Have you experienced this before? Or maybe you’re going through it? If so, share your story in the comments below.
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