My kid wants to quit but has customers depending on them, what do I do?

This is the good version of quitting, because it means somebody is actually counting on your kid, which is more than most first businesses ever achieve.

Separate the two things that are getting tangled. Whether they keep going is a real decision and it is theirs. Whether they disappear without telling anyone is not a decision, it is just a thing that would happen, and it is the part worth holding firm on.

Ending well has four pieces and none of them take long. Finish the work that has already been committed to. Tell each customer directly rather than by going quiet. Give a little notice, so somebody who was relying on Saturday can make another plan. And where it is possible, help them find somebody else.

That last one is worth pushing for. If your kid knows another kid who does something similar, handing over the customers costs nothing and does an enormous amount. The customer is looked after, the other kid gets a start they did not have to ask for, and your kid ends up with a reputation in the neighborhood that outlasts the business by years.

It also runs directly into the thing the book spends thirteen chapters on. An open hand fills faster than a closed fist, and giving away a customer list on the way out the door is about as clear a version of that as exists.

Your job is to not make the calls. This is the point where it is most tempting, because you can do it in four minutes and your kid is dreading it. Doing it for them removes the only part of the ending that has any value in it.

Then close it properly rather than letting it trail off. Count what came in, count what went out, and ask them what they would do differently. A business that ends on purpose is a finished project. One that fades while everyone pretends it is still happening is a bad memory with nothing learned attached.

A kid who ends something cleanly starts another one. That is the whole reason any of this matters.