Faith and Strategy: How to Face Business Challenges Head-On

Tough decisions aren't a sign that something's gone wrong - they're simply part of the entrepreneurial journey. Whether you're dealing with financial pressures, team conflicts, or necessary business pivots, these crossroads moments can feel overwhelming without a clear roadmap to navigate them.

Tammy Hershberger breaks down the decision-making process for entrepreneurs facing difficult choices. She offers a structured approach beginning with problem clarification - digging deeper than surface-level issues to identify root causes. By setting clear goals as your compass, you transform reactive choices into strategic plans that align with your business vision.

Data gathering plays a crucial role, but Tammy warns against the paralysis that comes from excessive analysis. The key is collecting sufficient information to make informed decisions while remaining open to both conventional and creative solutions. What sets her approach apart is the integration of spiritual guidance alongside business strategy. Through prayer, scripture, and patient waiting, entrepreneurs can discern whether options represent God's best direction versus merely good ideas.

The decision-making framework continues with seeking wise counsel from those who've faced similar challenges, committing to clear action once analysis is complete, and transparent communication with everyone affected. Most importantly, Tammy shares personal experiences that highlight the importance of resilience - the ability to learn from outcomes, adjust course when needed, and persevere through setbacks.

"I don't care what you throw at me," she emphasizes. "I'm going to come back." This resilience, more than any single decision, ultimately determines an entrepreneur's journey. By approaching tough decisions with clarity, courage, and faith, you'll transform challenges into stepping stones toward lasting business growth.

Have you faced a tough business decision recently? Share your experience in the comments or reach out to lightupyourbusinessllc@gmail.com with your stories and episode ideas!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing the Podcast

Transcript

Tammy Hershberger: 0:01

Welcome to the Light Up your Business podcast, the show where we dive deep into the world of small businesses. I'm your host, tammy Hershberger, and each episode will bring you inspiring stories, expert insights and practical tips to help your small business thrive. Whether you're an entrepreneur just starting out or a seasoned business owner, this podcast is your go-to source for success in the small business world. Let's get started. Two sorts for success in the small business world. Let's get started. Hi everyone, I want to welcome you back to another episode of Let Up your Business podcast. I'm Tammy Hershberger and today I want to talk to you about how to navigate those hard decisions in business. Every entrepreneur faces those crossroads where it's moments where a single decision can alter the course of your business. In this episode, we're going to dive into some of the most challenging yet essential parts of entrepreneurship, which is making those tough decisions. So, whether you're dealing with financial pressure, you have to fire someone on your team. You have to pivot your whole business. Maybe you and your business partner are having issues. Who knows? There's so many things that could be going wrong. Those are tough calls that you have to make, and it's usually part of the journey. So I want to break down the decision-making process from you know, anything from identifying the core issues to executing that final call, managing the consequences that come with those decisions. I want you to kind of walk away today with practical tools, kind of a mindset shift, and then I'll give you some examples of my own experiences to help you lead your business with clarity and courage in those uncertain times. So if it's financial pressure, team dynamics, you know, shift in strategy, whatever it is, we all hit those crossroads. Everyone has to figure out what to do right, and I kind of want you to think about, like what is the step-by-step processes that it's going to take to navigate that, and then I'll give you some of my own examples. So tough decisions aren't a sign that something's gone wrong. They're just a part of running a business. It's reality. You're going to have upset customers. Sometimes You're going to have employees that don't get along. You're going to have employees that don't show up for work. You're going to have partnerships problems. Sometimes You're going to have things that happen in business. Sometimes you run out of money. You need cash flow, you need lines of credit. Whatever it is, we've all been there.

Tammy Hershberger: 2:13

The best part about those moments is, even though nobody wants to go through them, they do test your clarity, they test your leadership and they test your ability to move forward even when the path isn't clear. Avoiding them, which I've seen people do tends to create bigger problems. So the goal isn't to escape the moment. It's more about handling them and handling them correctly. So you want to clarify the problem right. So before you're just like, hey, here's a solution, you need to take time to sit back, talk to the people involved, talk to your business partner, talk to whoever you need to, to find out what is the issue that you're experiencing.

Tammy Hershberger: 2:48

Sometimes it's a people issue, where maybe a system could be going bad and it's not working right. Maybe money's the problem. And so when you look at that, and if it's a people issue, you want to get to the root of it, right? Why is Jimmy and Joe not getting along? Why is my customer and my employee not getting along? What decision needs to be made to clarify those things?

Tammy Hershberger: 3:13

If it's a money issue, is the budget out of whack? Is it something that you know the product is? We've had that where we've created a new product, right, and we've kind of set a price of what we were going to shoot for. Then I did the job costing and I'm like this chicken coop or this dog shelter, horse shelter, dog kennel, whatever it is is overpriced, it's not going to work, and so then we have to readjust, right. And then you kind of need to look at like, if it's a business partner problem, is this something that we can work out a solution for? Do you need to buy them out? Does someone need to get out? Wherever you are, there's always a solution. But you got to dig into what is the problem, because we think these surface level issues and they're never surface level there's something deeper, right?

Tammy Hershberger: 3:55

Maybe Joe said something to Jimmy that Jimmy just it irritated him and he's never gotten over it, and maybe you just need to sit down with them and say, okay, what is the problem? Let's apologize, let's move on. Maybe it's like you're flat on a money We've gone over the budget too much and now we have to cut back that budget. We need to cut expenses. Maybe you need to go look for a line of credit, because maybe you need to just get by, because it's the slow season. There's all these different things.

Tammy Hershberger: 4:21

So the next thing you need to do then is, once you've kind of figured out what is the issue. You need to set a goal. So it helps to ask, like what's the outcome I'm hoping for? Well, like I said with Jimmy and Joe, they need to get along, they need to work together as a team. So then the goal would be to figure out what is the issue. How do we get them working together?

Tammy Hershberger: 4:40

Again, if it's I need $50,000 for a new building or whatever you're trying to do, then you need to figure out how do I put that kind of money in the budget? How much sales do we have to hit to get that kind of revenue right? For me it was figuring out the cost of that, that new chicken coop we're going to build. So it's like I went through, I figured out all the job costing, I figured out how much it's going to cost me, and then I went back to my designer and I said, ok, here's the deal, what do we have to change, what do we have to fix? And then we need to reprice that thing, because it's not going to make any money the way it was. And then we also learned the second, third, fourth, fifth that we build is going to get better, because we're going to get faster building it because it was a brand new design.

Tammy Hershberger: 5:23

I need to look into where can I get material cheaper, right? Do I need to buy in bulk? Do I need to find a different vendor? Like what is it that we need to do? So, set that goal, have it clear, because then, when you have a clear goal, it reduces your stress, it cuts costs, your business can grow in different directions, you can maintain your team culture and I'm telling you, team culture is huge. If your team doesn't get along, if they're not on the same page, if some work hard and some don't, you are going to destroy your business because your team won't get along. You're going to get lazy people in there who are going to annoy the really good team players, right? So you've got to kind of look at all this as a compass when evaluating your options. Without a target, it's easy to make decisions that are kind of reactive instead of strategic, and then from there you need to gather the facts kind of reactive instead of strategic, and then from there, you need to gather the facts.

Tammy Hershberger: 6:13

Once the problem is clear, it's time to pull the facts together, right, which is kind of what I was just talking about. But you need to look at the data. Is it in the financials? Look at your profit loss. Look at your expenses, look at your future expenses. Do a rolling budget. You know, maybe we're fine today, but in six months we're going to be in a problem. Well, if you know that, then you know you can start, you know cutting costs. You can start cutting back on benefits or you can start pushing the salesman to sell more or find new revenue streams or whatever it is. That way, when you get the six-month mark, you're not in a big problem because you don't have the money.

Tammy Hershberger: 6:43

If it's team performance, right. You want to get clear data. So talk to everybody involved, get everybody in. You know, if I know what's going on. Talk to your managers, your production managers, whoever it is. You want to get customer feedback. Maybe it's that new chicken coop we're going to put out. Well, as we start to show it, we're going to get feedback on that, right. And so we want someone my sales team to tell me feedback. Like the chicken coop's too expensive, it's too small. We don to tell me feedback like the chicken coop's too expensive, it's too small. We don't like this, we don't like that. Well then, we can take that information and we can modify that chicken coop to try to make it more relevant for more people, right? Or maybe it's in the wrong budget range and we got to get lower costs, so then we have to shrink it or cut back on some of the accessories or whatever it is, and then all of that helps you to make a good decision. In reality of like this is real. This is how we can move forward.

Tammy Hershberger: 7:32

Now, remember, I know some people analysis paralysis happens. So they get all the data, they are looking at it and then they just get lost. There's like so much information they can't make a decision because they need too much time. I have a friend of mine that is very much like that, like they just get stuck because there's too much information. I'm kind of the opposite. I see basics and I move, and sometimes that's not good, but you always want to make sure you don't need every little detail, but you need enough to make a good decision.

Tammy Hershberger: 8:00

Okay, then you're going to explore your options, lay out every possible option. So, if it's financial, maybe it's line of credit, maybe it's a credit card, maybe it's you know, just talking to God and praying and believing that you need more sales. Maybe it's talking to the bank and figuring out you know, can I get a loan on some equipment? Do I need a loan to get equipment? There's different strategies you can do there. Maybe it's investors. I don't know what your situation is, but you want to find out. What are my options. Look at the risky ones, look at the unconventional and then look at the safe, like to see what your options are. For me it's like when I bought a camera for doing this podcast, like I looked online. I looked at reviews. I saw the different options, like budgets you know all that's or the pricing, so I could see if it was in my budget. That'll help me make a decision. Sometimes the best solutions are the ones that don't seem the most obvious.

Tammy Hershberger: 8:54

This stage is about being curious and open. Don't judge the options too quickly, but allow room for creative thinking. Then you want to assess risk and the reward. Look at each option and ask yourself what's the potential? What's the upside? What's the upside, what's the risk right? You need to see that. Be honest about what could go wrong and consider whether the reward is worth the risk. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not Plan ahead for what could go sideways. This doesn't mean you're being negative, it just means you're being prepared.

Tammy Hershberger: 9:25

So, worst case scenario, if I'm trying to think of an example I don't know chicken coop, for example, if I put it out there and it doesn't sell, well, I've made one of those, so one, we just don't do it again or we make it smaller. You know, when you're buying inventory, maybe you're going to do a new product. You might only want to get 10 or 20 or whatever of that one. You maybe don't want to buy 5000 because000, because 5,000 might not sell, and then your money's all tied up in 5,000 that you're going to have to discount so bad to get rid of them. Then you're going to look into intuition and God's guidance. This is always my favorite topic anytime I get to bring God into a conversation.

Tammy Hershberger: 10:04

If you look beyond the logic and the data, there's a deeper layer to decision making that's more spiritual. In those moments where clarity is hard to find, it's not just trusting your gut, it's about turning to God and seeking his wisdom. Prayer is huge, so you want to lay out your options and ask for peace and direction on those and then wait on the Holy Spirit to tell you which way to go. Get in the word of God. Get into ways that, like you know research and then talk to the Lord. And if you're looking to bring more people on, talk to the Lord and ask him to bring the right candidates for you. If you're looking to go into business with a business partner, pray about it. Make sure it's the right thing. If you need loans, talk to the Lord. Maybe it's not that I need a loan, maybe I just need to trust more. I have been there more. I have been there.

Tammy Hershberger: 10:49

Sometimes that answer doesn't come right away, and that's okay. But trust God means having that patience and the faith that he's leading you in to what you need to do next. Faith is not. I heard someone recently say about faith how you can't build more faith. You don't need more faith. Faith is faith. You need to get in the word of God and find out. What does that say about who God is and what he wants for you and how he will prosper you More than enough. Abundant overflow.

Tammy Hershberger: 11:13

And if something feels off, sometimes I call it my gut instinct, but usually that's kind of a way to say God telling me like kid that's not the path you should go down. That's not the way I want you to do that. And then you need to pause. You need to ask God is this really God's best for me or is it just a good idea? Need to pause. You need to ask God is this really God's best for me or is it just a good idea? Because I get myself on password. I'm like I got the answer, I'm going to find the solution, and then I realized like, wow, that cost me more money than I should have. That loan was a terrible idea. I tried it my way and I got denied, or whatever happens.

Tammy Hershberger: 11:41

So make sure you wait on God's peace, because it's powerful. If you're stepping into a decision and you're sensing that I don't have peace on it, I'm telling you don't move yet. Okay, now, I'm not saying everything has to fall on your lap to do something, but if you know inside in your heart, in your Holy Spirit, that that is not maybe what I should be doing, you need to wait. Then maybe get a second opinion, Talk it through with someone that you trust another business owner, a mentor, your husband, business partner for sure, an advisor, a coach, someone who's been through something similar. I think, and this is my opinion.

Tammy Hershberger: 12:17

But, for example, if you're married and you're struggling in your marriage. I don't think you want to go talk to someone who's single, never been married, because they don't know what it's like to be in a marriage. They don't know what it's like to struggle. They don't know what it's like to have to commit and work together and you know sometimes you have to give up so your spouse can have what they need in the same way, right? And so I think you have to be careful. It's hard to talk to someone about business who's never owned a business. They don't know what it's like to go home and not leave business at after 5 pm, and so a non-business owner is not going to understand that Me as a parent, I can't give advice to parents. I can have an opinion. I can't give advice because I'm not a parent. I don't know what it's like to have to raise these little kids. So for me probably don't ask me for advice. I can give you my opinion, but I can't give you sound advice because I've never done it.

Tammy Hershberger: 13:17

Sometimes an outside voice can help spot blind spots or confirm what you've already feel deep down. They say you can't see the forest or the trees, and that just means that when you're in a mess or in a situation or in a struggle, you don't see past that struggle, right. And so someone on the outside can be like, hey, you're being too hard on that person or you're not being fair to the situation, or you're not thinking about God in the situation, and they see things that we don't see. So just be sure to seek some input, but don't seek validation. You still have to make the final decision. Then you get to the point where you make the final call. At some point you have to decide. Some people just can't make decisions, and then nothing happens, nothing changes. And once that call is made, you commit to it.

Tammy Hershberger: 13:53

It's not about being 100% certain. It's about being clear enough to lead confidently, right. And your team? If you have a team of people and you're making decisions, they have to be behind you, they have to be sure that their leader is confident, or they're going to be in fear, they're going to be unsure, they're maybe not going to be able to make this thing happen. And then just remember, you have to communicate the decisions that matter right to the people that matter. So it's not just about you, because maybe it's going to affect your team, maybe it's going to affect your clients.

Tammy Hershberger: 14:24

Be honest with them, be human, right People. We're all human. We all know that we struggle. We have these issues and things go awry and things happen. And then share your why behind, why we're changing or why we're replacing Jimmy, or why we're going to have to let go of people, or why we're going to have to cut back on expenses, because then people can get behind you and understand that you're not just making decisions that affect them. And then, importantly, you have to manage the aftermath of that decision.

Tammy Hershberger: 14:50

Some decisions lead to wins right. Others lead to lessons. If it goes well, you celebrate that right. You had clarity, you had courage and you took it and you made it happen. If it doesn't go well, you step back, you reflect and you adjust, and just don't have shame about it, because shame will destroy you. One decision rarely defines your business, but how you respond to the outcome absolutely can, building resilience.

Tammy Hershberger: 15:19

I have to tell you stories about this. Big decisions can take a huge toll on us, so it's important that you check in with yourself. You have to rest, you have to process, you have to talk to someone. You just have to take a deep breath before you jump into new challenges. You got to stay grounded in your purpose and give yourself space to recover, because that long I can never say this word longevity it doesn't sound right, as a leader is going to happen right.

Tammy Hershberger: 15:45

So for me, I've experienced, you know, with my business. I had to let it go and it about destroyed me, but it didn't. I got back up. I mean, every time the devil's thrown something at me, it knocks me down. I take a beating sometimes, but I get back up. There's one thing that is about me I don't give up. I don't care what you throw at me, I don't care what you say to me. I don't care. I'm going to come back. I'm not going to just lay down and die, and I think too many people do that. Business failed, marriage failed, friendship failed, I don't have enough money, I went broke, I went this, that, whatever, and they just quit and they lay on the couch and cry and then just give up. That is not the person God made you to be. You are giving too much power to the failure. That is not how it works. You got to get up. You got to do it again. Show your wife, your kids, your friends, your family, someone else that's looking at you. You can do it, you can get back up, you can do it, you can get back up, you can make it again.

Tammy Hershberger: 16:34

So I'm trying to think, um, do I have any other examples I could give you? I mean, I've done businesses that didn't always do great and they, they did okay and I was able to eventually move past them and close them and I didn't own money and we didn't bankrupt them, but they just weren't the right fit, they weren't my purpose, um, and I just keep going. I mean, they were lessons. Everything I've ever done, even if it was really tough, I learned a great lesson. So it's kind of like it's a great education I made, met some great people. I, you know, sometimes made money, sometimes didn't, but I always learned something and when you learn something it's not waste.

Tammy Hershberger: 17:09

Always remember you're not alone. I've been there too. I've had to make choices that. Remember you're not alone. I've been there too. I've had to make choices that I would never thought I'd have to make, and I did and I kept going and people stood beside me and people that I thought that maybe wouldn't didn't, but they may come back. I mean, so you just, you never know how it's going to go. But just know you're not by yourself and just keep growing, keep doing it. So, to recap this journey through the tough decision making process, just remember understand the issue, weigh the options, trust your gut and then make the bold decision right and take action.

Tammy Hershberger: 17:44

I encourage you to reflect on your decisions you've been putting off, consider how that you might be able to move forward on something that you've been kind of pushing off because you don't want to make the decision and then just do it with clarity and confidence. I thank you so much for joining me on this episode. I hope it's given you a good roadmap, kind of, to navigate those tough calls as you face. You know business decisions and making those tough calls. When you lead with clarity, when you seek God's direction and you lean on the strategies that we talked about today, I believe you'll be equipped to face uncertainty with confidence and make decisions that move your business towards lasting growth.

Tammy Hershberger: 18:21

If this episode encouraged you, share with a fellow business owner who might need to hear it, share with anyone that you can think of, that might help. It doesn't have to be a business owner, and I'd love to hear from you. Send me a message or comment with one tough decision that you've had to make and what you've learned from it. Let's keep growing, let's keep leading with purpose. Let's keep doing it together. Remember that tough decisions are not just part of business. They're part of becoming a leader. They're part of being a husband, a wife, a church member. These things are going to happen. These decisions will have to be made.

Tammy Hershberger: 18:55

I thank you for listening. I ask you to like, share, subscribe, comment and send me episode ideas. You can email me at lightupyourbusinessllc at gmailcom. I thank you all for listening and I will see you on the next one. And remember, in the world of business, every success story begins with a passionate dream and ends with a strategic billion dollar handshake. Stay ambitious, stay innovative and keep making those deals that reshape tomorrow. Thank you all for tuning in and until next time, remember. Proverbs 3.3 says let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. That way you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. And remember. If you like what you heard today, click the follow button so you never miss an episode.