But don't throw in the towel yet. The good news is you can cure it by recognizing the symptoms and tackling them head on. Take it from these two entrepreneurs who did just that.

The entrepreneur: Jonathan Levitt, president of InfoChase Corporation
www.infochase.com . Employees: 15. 2004 finalist for Quebec's prestigious Boomerang multimedia competition.

Levitt currently serves as an expert judge for the Web Marketing Association's Annual Web Awards competition (2003 – 2005) and an 'ask the experts' panelist for smallbizcan, focusing on database marketing and customer tracking and profiling.

The business: Based in Montreal, QC, InfoChase is an information service provider to the SOHO sectors. "In 2001, we began producing CD-ROM applications that allowed small businesses to execute sales and marketing campaigns through the use of our lead generation software, at an affordable price. Our competitors had overlooked this sector and focused largely on medium to large businesses by offering similar products that were cost prohibitive to SOHO businesses."

The symptoms:
"We started to identify some drawbacks to our information dissemination. The challenge of publishing a CD-ROM application becomes stale quite quickly. In our industry, if information isn't as fresh as possible, and as fresh as our competitor's information, clients will not yield the type of results they came to us for."

"I felt stuck. I had spent the first year building the product, the second year improving it and now I was at the product maintenance stage. The fact is that entrepreneurs tend to be innovators and are constantly looking for something new. Maintenance isn't what I had bargained for because I thrive on innovation and creativity. However, I recognized that the client need for our product was alive and well, and then the breakthrough came."

The cure: "We embraced technology after conducting an extensive customer survey that confirmed that clients needed our product. We decided to rebuild the delivery mechanism and distribution of our product, and move from a product-based business to a service-based business. We emigrated our database online and launched a Web-based portal to deliver real time sales leads at a never-before-seen price point."

Levitt's advice: “The secret is that when you get your business to a point where you feel you've done all you can, you look at re-engineering your business to make it more profitable. And once you've completed the re-engineering, you're left with innovation.”

The entrepreneur: Christie Ruff, owner-manager of H.E.L.P Educational Services - www.helpeducationalservices.ca Employees: 1 part-time administrative assistant, 1 part-time instructor, 1 commissioned sales representative and 19 contracted instructors, depending on the season.

The business: Based in Saint John, NB, H.E.L.P. was founded in 2002 by Ruff, a former nurse and first aid instructor, with the assistance of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, to provide educational training to corporations and the public. Through a second partnership with Keyano College of Fort McMurray, Alta., the company provides training on how to cope with the effects of shift work. H.E.L.P. stands for Helping, Education, Life-saving, and Preventing. H.E.L.P. was awarded Best Emerging Enterprise by the Saint John Board of Trade for 2004.

The symptoms: "To put this in context, I wanted to be a business owner to be in control of my destiny and not accountable to anyone except my children and family. I started my business when the Canadian Red Cross began contracting out training programs. In the second year of business, I established a summer camp to create cash flow given that companies don't train during summer months. I wrote a curriculum for the camp and partnered with a local municipality. However, I didn't expect to work very long hours without compensation. I was paying my bills, paying staff, but not pocketing any earnings for myself. When September arrived, there was no cash flow. I started to think 'I can quit this, sell my business, work full time and be happier'. And the dreaded September arrived again the third year."

The cure: "Now that I've I recognized this 'September trend' I know I have to constantly think of how to renegotiate business so we never have a down time. The good news is that it has opened up new financial options for my business. We are well established, have good financial standing and will be able to apply for a line of credit."

Ruff's advice: "The fundamental principle for entrepreneurs to keep in mind is that you can't count on personal gain during the first three years—you've got to reinvest all your earnings in your business. Even though people tell you this, it is hard to accept when you're working hard. But it does pay off. And today there is no doubt in my mind that this is the best thing I've done."