As we grow up, moments of stark realization are inevitable. Our parents don’t actually know everything. Dinosaurs don’t still exist. A whole dollar isn’t really that much money.

For Warren Shaeffer, one of those moments meant coming face to face with the darker side of entrepreneurship at a young age.

“When I was 12 years old, my father’s business totally failed. He went bankrupt and I ended up living with another family when I was 13.”

In Warren’s opinion, there are two ways that businesses die. Number one, they run out of money – like what he witnessed up close and personal as a preteen.

Or, number two, the founder quits.

Ensuring your company is making money – and not losing it – is the most basic operation of a business, one every founder, investor, and startup employee is constantly taking a pulse on.

But quitting, giving up, moving on from the project you began… That’s a less discussed, yet very real, founder struggle.

And the key that helps not only prevent these negative outcomes, but gives a company the traction to find massive success… is having the light of a North Star to guide them.

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The Journey is sponsored by our friends at Salesforce Essentials. We use Salesforce Essentials every day and it’s part of our own business journey. Essentials combines sales and service tools in a single app to help small businesses win customers and keep them happy.

See how Salesforce Essentials can help you be your best business at salesforce.com/thejourney.