Is Your Business Sinking, or Are You Just Not Steering the Ship?

Running a business is a lot like sailing a ship.

Running a business is a lot like sailing a ship.

Some days, the wind is in your favor, the waters are calm, and everything moves effortlessly. Other days, the waves are brutal, your compass is spinning, and you feel like you’re taking on water faster than you can bail it out.

Here’s the thing: Most businesses don’t sink because of the storm—they sink because the captain stops steering. When your business isn’t hitting the numbers it should, when growth stalls, when everything feels harder than it should be—it’s easy to blame the waves. The economy. The competition. The algorithms. 

But here’s a hard truth: Every successful entrepreneur faces rough waters. The difference? They don’t see challenges as a reason to abandon ship. They see them as an opportunity to sail smarter, adjust course, and keep moving forward.

Drifting Without a Destination

A ship without a captain doesn’t last long. And a business without a clear destination is no different.

Here’s what happens when you don’t set (and actively steer toward) a real goal:

• You chase random opportunities without a strategy.
• You waste energy fighting problems instead of navigating through them.
• You mistake movement for progress—working hard but getting nowhere.

90% of businesses fail not because they hit a storm, but because the person at the helm stopped making decisions. They let the waves take control.

Step 1: Set a Destination Worth Sailing Toward

If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t steer toward it. Your goal shouldn’t just be “make more money” or “stay afloat.” That’s not a direction—it’s survival mode and might lead you into others storms you could have avoided if you chose a goal that supports the business.

Instead, define:

• Your North Star – What’s the bigger vision? Where do you actually want to take this business?
• Your Non-Negotiables – What are the values you won’t compromise on, no matter the storm?
• Your Immediate Next Steps – What decisions do you need to make today to get back on course?

Step 2: Stop Waiting for Calm Waters

If you’re waiting for perfect conditions to take action, you’re already sinking. The best sailors don’t wait for clear skies—they adjust their sails.

• Low sales month? Don’t panic—assess the numbers & make tweaks, maybe pivot your strategy.
• A major client drops you? Use it as fuel to find a better one and optimize your task efficiency so you can do more work in the business while juggling the same amount of work.
• Market shifts? Adapt faster than your competitors, find strategies that are timeless, be ruggedly flexible..

The storm isn’t the problem. The problem is whether you’re willing to keep steering through it.

Step 3: Own the Responsibility of Being the Captain

This is the part nobody likes to hear: If your business is failing, it’s on you.

Not the market. Not the economy. Not luck.

You.

And that’s actually good news. Because if the problem is external, you’re powerless. But if the problem is you—your decisions, your strategy, your willingness to lead—then you have control. Bring your locus of control inward and you’ll soon realize as much as it is painful, you are the reason something succeeds or fails, and that’s empowering.

The hardest thing for any business owner to admit is that the real issue isn’t always outside forces. Sometimes, the issue is that we’ve stopped showing up, or stopped showing up in the right ways. We’ve stopped making bold moves. We’ve stopped leading.

Step 4: Decide if You Want to Keep Steering—Or Dock the Ship

Not everyone is cut out for this. And that’s okay.

Steering a business requires commitment, adaptability, and the ability to make tough calls every single day. Some people realize they don’t actually want that responsibility. There’s no shame in that. It matters more to live a life with purpose aligned to your values, not against them.

But if you do want to captain this ship, you have to own it—fully. That means setting the destination, adjusting the sails when needed, and refusing to let the waves make decisions for you. And then going to sleep, waking up and doing it all over again.

You Can Do This, You Can Take Back the Wheel

The ‘sea’ will do what it does. The market will shift, competitors will emerge, and challenges will keep coming. You can either let them sink you—or you can keep steering. And you are probably considerably more capable than you give yourself credit for.

So, ask yourself: Are you actually sailing toward something? Or are you just drifting, hoping for the best? Because no ship gets anywhere by accident. Don’t let your mindset hold you back.

Time to take the wheel.