10 Feb Why Your Business Will Fail
What an awful title, right? It’s just that every article about business success is full of how to be successful—how to be sure your business stays solvent. No one really wants to talk about why you are going to fail…except me.
Your business is going to fail for a number of reasons, but the primary reason will be because of you. (Sorry, it’s true. If you start and own the business, the buck stops with you…so if it fails, yep, it’s on you.)
There is good news though. Like everything else in life, once you know what you may be doing wrong, you can take the steps needed to fix it before it’s too late. So, in an effort to help you get on the right track to launch or grow a successful business, here are the top 10 reasons why businesses fail (and what you can do to avoid these common pitfalls.):
1. Trying to operate without a well-thought-out/developed/written plan. Ever take a long road trip without a map? Get lost along the way? Spend money you don’t need to at hotels or restaurants because you got lost? Look at your plan as a “roadmap” for success. If you plan your business, you know you are starting at point A and want to end up at Point B. Your written plan (which you’ll access countless time throughout your “trip”) will tell you exactly how to get there.
2. Not having enough working capital for what you need to do to start and grow your business.
3. Having the “Field of Dreams” Mentality. Yes, it works in the movies, but the idea that “if you build it, they will come” unfortunately doesn’t hold true for most new businesses. You need to know your market—who they are, where they come from, how to reach them, what to tell them and what they need to tell you.
4. Thinking you can do it all by yourself. Yes, you can do your own accounting if you are an accountant, but you can’t do your own legal work, accounting, marketing, advertising, web design, customer relations and sales. No one can do it all—no one is an expert in everything. Acknowledging, accepting and accommodating this early in the formation of your business model is critical and can save you the unfortunate task of trying to “undo” mistakes made by trying to do it all yourself.
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