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You’ve probably heard the saying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” The idea is that something valuable shouldn’t be discarded in your eagerness to get rid of something useless associated with it. While in the business world this often makes sense, there are situations where you really should throw the baby out – here are 5 of them: (Note: the term “baby” is used below to represent business concepts, ideas, products, etc., not cute and cuddly little people!)

1) Your “baby” is ugly Lets face it, you may think your baby is the most beautiful thing you have ever created, but if others think it is ugly the baby is going to have a rough childhood. You will struggle to find people who want to buy it, struggle to raise the money to support its development and struggle to attract employees to nurture it. Do yourself a favor, show your “baby” to a few people who have no vested interest and solicit their honest feedback – if enough tell you it is ugly, either get some plastic surgery done quick or throw the baby out!

2) Your “baby” takes too much away from your other “children” If you have more than one “child”, are they being neglected because you have to spend too much time and money taking care of your new “baby”? You should ask yourself whether you are better to focus your energies and resources on turning your other children into superstars rather than nurturing the baby into adolescence. If the answer is “Yes”, then throw the baby out!

3) Your “baby” does not play well with others Does your “baby” play well with your other “children” i.e. does it fit well within your family or is it the little “red-headed stepchild”? If your baby is a great baby but just does not fit in, put it up for adoption or sale. If it neither fits in nor is good, then throw the baby out!

4) Your “baby” is never going to grow-up Has your “baby” been out in the world for a while and, while managing to survive, is failing to grow? If you have a “slow developer” that shows signs of never growing up, you should consider figuring out what cocktail of growth hormones it needs. If this cocktail either does not exist, is too expensive, or would take too long to take effect, then throw the baby out! (Assuming of course you will not be happy looking after a baby in perpetuity.)

5) Your “baby” is a Trustafarian Some “babies” never return more than they take to raise. These are your typical “trustafarians” that never come off the family dole. Unless you love your baby so much that you are happy having it continually drain your financial resources, you should identify the Trustifarian early, cut-off funding, then throw the baby out!

Just because you have to throw a few babies away, do not let this discourage or stop you from making more babies! THE WORLD NEEDS MORE BABIES!

Logan Metcalfe is CFO and Business Consultant for entrepreneurs through Arena Consulting. She can be reached at logan@arenaconsulting.net.