According to the Small Business Administration 50% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years. FIFTY PERCENT!!! Which side are you really on? Which side do you want to KNOW you're on?
Over the last 17 years, I've really studied the mistakes that businesses big and small make - that really could be avoided by planning and starting a business the right way. There are about 15 critical factors that determine the success or failure of any business, no matter what size.
You could be a home based business entrepreneur and do everything right, or a mega-corp and do everything wrong. Size isn't the issue. Research, planning, analyzing and execution are the major players in all the subjects that matter to business success.
Case Study: Susan is crafty. She's like "Martha" without the production crew to yell at. She decided that her retirement career would be selling plans for her fabulous home crafts online. Not a bad goal, but I suggested she test-market and do some research to see what else was out there. "Oh, I don't have time or money for that," she said, "I'm just going to go full steam ahead, so I can get the money rolling in."
Six months later she'd spent her budget on hiring a student to put a website on a free hosting server. And she waited. And waited. After a year of patiently waiting, and then franticly waiting for sales to come, she'd sold 1. One. Uno.
Can you pinpoint where Susan went wrong? Are you making any of the same mistakes in your career or business?
Susan's opinion? It was the fault of the internet, for having similar things for free.
You, like Susan could have, can do research before your venture even starts to see what is out there, what your competition is doing, what you need to do to play with established businesses. You, like Susan should have, can be wise with where you spend and where you skimp on business expenses. Yours is the power to make the decision to get the right support and use the information you find to make your business success stronger, less likely to fail.
If half of all businesses fail, what are you willing to do to ensure your business is on the side that succeeds? Anything? Everything? Really?
Introducing the new "Small Business Start-Up Summer School" by Executive Business Coach Meg Meyer and the Small Business Services division of MegMeyer.Com. Turn the 15 major reasons businesses fail to YOUR advantage! START YOUR BUSINESS RIGHT! Paying customer/client by the end of Summer or your money back!
* Susan is a fictitious name for a real situation of an acquaintance of mine years ago, before I was a Business Coach. Any motivated client of mine will have much better success!
