The CEO’s Survival Playbook – 3 Ways to Avoid Burning Down Your Business
- Sep 15, 2025
- 6 min read
Garet Free is a best-selling author and executive coach who helps ambitious leaders stop white-knuckling their way through life and unlock authentic confidence. He blends raw yet loving honesty with transformational practices to turn self-doubt into rocket fuel for success.
Struggle is second nature to you. You’re an entrepreneur or senior executive, and your life is hard in a way that many may not understand. Your days are filled from the moment you wake up until the moment you lie down to sleep, but it feels like you’re just spinning your days away. You’re going nowhere fast. Burning the candle at both ends, lit by a flame thrower.
Does it have to be this way, or do you enjoy being miserable? You’ve got the ideas, the grit, and the funds, but you can’t seem to bring them all together in a cohesive way to make the business excel within the timeframe you think it should happen. Morale has tanked, and the company is on the verge of floundering. What gives?
The struggle is real, but staying in it is optional. If you want to turn your business (and life) around, it’s time for you to do something different. Whatever you’ve done up until this point isn’t serving you if you’re still reading this article, so here are three things that you can implement today to get you out of the doom spiral of being a struggling entrepreneur.
Here’s the 3 plays every CEO needs
Self-care
Every sale you close, every relationship you build, and every big decision you make depends on how you show up. If you’re burned out, your judgment falters. If you’re grounded, you create results. Self-care is the most overlooked growth strategy, and implementing it today will pay dividends you didn’t think possible.
The investment (or lack thereof) that you make in yourself will send ripples through what you create, so show up for yourself before you show up for your business. Your business will always be there if you show up every day (or most days) in tip-top shape and ready to make sound decisions.
Pouring your heart and soul into your idea so that it can become a business may seem like the requirement for success, but it’s not sustainable. I’ve seen countless entrepreneurs and executives burn out because they emptied their energy into a business idea. They were left with obesity, chronic medical conditions, and a team that couldn't care less.
You are the first relationship that you ever had, and that relationship has to be nurtured just like any other connection. How you show up for yourself sets the tone for the entire company. Are you showing up depleted, irritable, and running on fumes? Don’t be surprised when your team mirrors that energy.
Start with the first hour after you wake up in the morning:
Stay away from your phone.
Hydrate. Lemon water with a teaspoon of sea salt.
Move and stretch. Body weight squats & touch your toes, hang there for a minute.
Spend some time writing (pen to paper, like Morning Pages taught by Julia Cameron).
Spend some time in silence or meditate.
Go on a walk.
Go to the gym, lift weights.
If you say you don’t have time, get up 30 minutes earlier. Email and other notifications can wait. As you adjust your morning ritual, take a moment at the end of every week to reflect on your successes, areas for improvement, and set your priority for the following week. You will see an improvement in how your week flows if you’re consistent with the investment you make in yourself every day. As we know, even with energy and clarity, a business can’t survive without revenue.
Sales
If you don’t have sales, then you don’t have a business. In the early stages, give away your product or service in exchange for a testimonial. When the market isn’t willing to pay for what you offer, you don’t have a business. A few development partners that get early-stage value in exchange for being a reference will take you way further than trying to scrape pennies from someone who really doesn’t want or need your product at first glance.
All eyes should be focused on sales. It’s a culture thing. The decisions everyone makes should ultimately drive toward closing a sale. If something doesn’t generate revenue, then why are you doing it? As your business grows, you'll encounter nuances, but until you are consistently profitable, sales remain the primary strategy.
From the receptionist to the CEO, everyone should understand how to link conversations to customer value. If the team you have in place can’t or doesn’t think this way, then it is your responsibility to adjust the course to focus on sustainable sales.
Customer retention is also a critical piece of your sales strategy. For every customer you lose, you must acquire two new ones to maintain growth. Once you secure a sale, the company should devote an equal amount of (or more) energy to keeping that customer engaged and excited. Recurring revenue provides a stable base, so treasure it.
Sales teams often get a bad rap, but at the end of the day, you have mouths to feed. It’s up to you to ensure that everyone knows the role they play in the financial health of the business.
Instead of sales and growth metrics being the sole responsibility of the sales team, consider holding the entire company accountable for new sales and customer retention. Have it at the top of everyone’s scorecard. This will help set the tone for the importance of delivering sustainable customer value.
Don’t allow distractions to bring you down. It’s too easy to chase after the new shiny object in the room instead of squarely focusing on what matters, commas after “Total”. When you’ve tried everything, it may be time to change course so that your goals are still achieved.
Pivot
Do something different, and don’t be shy about it. To be successful, you must be an avid problem solver. Step up and confidently empower yourself and your team to try new things, rather than sticking with the status quo. Before something starts to feel stale, it’s time to pivot.
Take a chance on yourself and your business. You've already taken a significant step by opening the front door, so don’t let yourself stop there. Prove to yourself and your haters that you can innovate to the point of outsized success. If failure doesn’t invigorate you, then it’s time to have a hard look in the mirror.
Failure is the best information. It provides clarity on what not to do, enabling you to be more precise next time. Lean into it, and celebrate the process that delivered an answer. Dissect why, learn from it, and allow that to be a springboard for your future decisions.
Do the postmortem. Get granular, document what happened and what was learned, and share this information broadly. When something flops or you lose a big customer, bring representatives from all departments to review what happened. This isn’t a moment to keep going. It’s a moment to pause and disseminate learning. Allow failure to fuel your success.
This applies just as much to your personal life as it does to business. If the morning routine I mentioned earlier doesn’t align with what you need, try something different after a couple of weeks. Make tweaks so that you’re focused on showing up as a grounded leader instead of just trying to check more boxes throughout your day. The pivots you make in your personal life will power you to be bold in business and achieve success on a shorter timeline.
What’s next?
These three tactics won’t solve all of your problems, but if you’re feeling stuck as an entrepreneur, what do you have to lose by spending the next two weeks implementing them? My guess, not much. You set the tone for your business, so show up and be the leader that wins. Magic happens when you get out of your own way, ''Stop spinning. Start leading.''
You’ve already proven you can work hard. Now it’s time to work smart and win on your own terms. Ready to cut through the noise and lead with confidence? Book your Clarity Consult Call now.
Read more from Garet Free
Garet Free, Executive Transformation Coach, Bestselling Author
Garet Free is a best-selling author and executive coach who helps ambitious leaders stop white-knuckling their lives and finally unlock the confidence they’ve been searching for. Known for blending raw and loving honesty with transformational practices, he guides clients to turn self-doubt into rocket fuel for success so they can step into their next chapter with clarity and momentum. Through his writing, speaking, and coaching, Garet challenges high performers to stop settling, start leading authentically, and build a life they’re proud of.
