Over the past
twenty plus years as a business adviser and as a mentor for SCORE, I have had
the privilege at looking at many game plans as well as working with aspiring
entrepreneurs. I have seen a little bit of everything when it comes to success
and helping encourage other entrepreneurs as well as providing essential
resources.
Let’s talk
about the reality of starting your own business. We hear about the failure
rate, which is about 85 percent within the first five years. That does not include mergers, acquisitions, etc, which adds to a more positive perspective.
The reasons for failure are many, so let’s bullet a few of the key factors that
keep people from attaining their goals and objectives. For the next couple of
months I will be adding some case studies of those that have succeeded as well
as those that have failed.
·
Is
the product or service on the front of
the wave? Which simply means are you starting a concept that has built in
staying power?
·
Proper Funding – This is the biggie, 80 percent of
small businesses are simply under-capitalized. Rule of thumb is to double the
amount of money that you think you need as well as the length of time in which
you expect it to take.
·
Effective Decision Making – Do you have a well thought out game
plan that is do-able? Good decision making is built around the ability to do
your due-diligence. You need to look at the positives as well as the negatives.
The majority of small business entrepreneurs have the inspiration but they
sometimes lack the resources and ability to make their venture a reality.
In the future
I will be sharing with you some case studies on why some businesses succeed and
why others fail.
