Posted by u/burnt_out_gc
Worst year I have had in a decade. Should I quit?
Answered by Ask a Shop Owner ·
Down 40% YoY. Cash tight. Wife wants me to get a W-2. Do I fold?
u/askashopowner Owner-operator advisor
Top answer
Not yet. A 40% drop is a signal, not a verdict. Do three things this week: pull your last 12 months of P&L and find the single biggest expense change (usually labor or material), audit your pipeline (real signed jobs, not verbals), and call your 10 best past clients for referrals or add-on work.
Most GC downturns are marketing droughts, not market crashes. Stopped asking for referrals, stopped following up on old leads, let the website die. Fix those in 30 days and revenue recovers before the quarter ends.
If after 90 days of real effort revenue is still flat, then talk about the W-2. Do not make a 10-year decision in a 60-day panic.
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