The Kawartha Small Business Podcast · The Kawartha Small Business Podcast

198: Deciding to Close THRIVE

·36 min·2 clips

Matt says therapy helped him realize what was “literally killing” him.

1. The Kawartha Small Business Podcast episode centers on Matt Gehrde deciding to close Thrive Coworking Community in downtown Lindsay, Ontario. 2. Brian Rump, from Profit Coach, hosts the conversation, and Matt Gehrde, from Matty G Digital and Thrive, explains the business decision and its effects. 3. The episode asks why closing Thrive made sense even though the space had built relationships, revenue, and a local brand. 4. Matt says he had been thinking about closing since November, when he first looked at the marketing shift and thought, “it’d just be easier to close this down.” 5. He says a therapy session with Hillary from State of Mind Hypnosis brought the real weight of Thrive into focus when he asked what was “literally killing” him. 6. After that session, Matt imagined life without Thrive and said that picture “sounds awesome.” 7. Matt and Brian talk about the speed of the closure, with Matt noting an April 22 email from Meg and a May 30 recording date. 8. Matt says the business was making “a few thousand dollars a month” but still losing “five to eight” thousand, which made the future math look weak. 9. He says the projection could have meant “two or three more years away from breaking even monthly,” and he did not want to keep fighting that long. 10. Brian connects that decision to the sunk cost fallacy and says people often keep fighting losing battles instead of choosing new ones. 11. Matt says he felt pressure because Thrive had become a financial stressor since the day they got the keys in October. 12. He describes the emotional difficulty of telling people, especially Jess and Rochelle, and says some conversations left him “paralyzed.” 13. Matt says the first week of telling people was hard, but after that the reactions shifted toward congratulations and support. 14. He mentions Luke McCog saying it was an “astute business decision,” which reinforced the idea that many people understood the move. 15. Brian and Matt discuss the physical move out of Thrive, including Matt saying, “our marriage almost ended,” while moving furniture. 16. Matt says a new boardroom renovation, including a textured wall and painted half-wall, did not change much because people like Sheila barely noticed it. 17. That reaction becomes a key insight for both hosts: business owners often care much more about details than clients do. 18. The episode sounds like a candid two-person business conversation, with Brian probing and Matt reflecting in a calm but tired tone. 19. Listeners who run small businesses and juggle cash flow, marketing, or coworking decisions will get the most from it. 20. Listeners looking for a polished success story without financial stress may skip it.

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