The 4-Step Framework for When Your Business Model Stops Working (Pause, Shrink, Plan, Grow)

Is your business in a rough patch — or is something structurally broken? Robinson Aquino, author of The Small Business Money Game, returns to Entrepreneur | Authorities to break down how owners can spot the early warning signs of a business in trouble, why taking on more debt can make things worse, and his PSPG framework — Pause, Shrink, Plan, Grow — for navigating a turnaround.

In this episode:
• How to tell a temporary rough patch from a structural business problem
• The KPIs every owner should track monthly (and why most don’t)
• The real story of “Gina,” whose growing business was losing money the whole time
• Debt vs. equity: when borrowing helps, and when it delays the inevitable
• The Pause, Shrink, Plan, Grow framework for turning a business around
• Rob’s contrarian take on AI, commoditization, and the next 5–10 years of work

📘 Learn more about Robinson Aquino and The Small Business Money Game

🎙️ Entrepreneur Authorities — conversations with leaders, builders, and thinkers helping entrepreneurs make smarter decisions.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro — Rob Aquino returns to talk business turnarounds
01:00 Rough patch vs. structural problem — how to tell the difference
02:00 Why it’s usually a third party (banker, advisor, accountant) who breaks the news
04:00 How often should you actually meet with your accountant?
05:00 Early warning signs: KPIs, thin margins, unclear financials
07:00 The “belt size” analogy — how businesses quietly expand the danger zone
10:00 Case study: Gina’s events business — successful on paper, losing money underneath
13:00 Debt vs. equity — “borrowing from your future self”
15:00 How Gina used short-term financing to bridge an equity raise
18:00 Why most small business owners don’t actually have access to equity
19:00 “It’s essentially every small business” — the Ponzi-scheme cash flow problem
22:00 Why recessions repeat every 5–6 years like clockwork
23:00 The PSPG Framework: Pause
25:00 “Would we fund this again today?” — the power of re-evaluating old bets
26:00 AI, commoditization, and the “1998 website gold rush” analogy
32:00 What to do tomorrow morning if you know something’s wrong
33:00 Closing — credit delinquencies, functional unemployment, and where the economy really stands