It was a bad day of business for me and I was struggling to keep it together. Much as I would like to take all the credit, my husband's wisdom has brought me out of the deep many times and this was one of those days. He said, 'Don't think people will buy into your idea just because, you need to be providing a value that is irresistible, too irresistible to pass up.' Then he sent me resources showing how and why many businesses fail. I read and did some more research and identified some ways we self sabotage ourselves as business owners.
We've all seen the worrisome statistics about the life cycle of small businesses. 95 percent of new businesses will shut down in the first 2 years and even more will not survive the 5th year. We are bombarded everyday with tips, tricks, start up information from every corner. In fact we have much more information at our disposal than we have ever had at any time in history. So why are we still struggling as businesses to keep things going? I outlined a few reasons:
1. Taking it personal. While businesses should reflect the values the person at the helm represents, you are not your business. If your business cannot run without you then you have a job, you don't own a business. People argue that outsourcing is a dangerous route for small businesses to follow but if you insist on doing every single thing yourself because you want to give it your own personal touch every single time, something has got to give. Its either you will compromise on the quality out of sheer exhaustion or you run mad! Making it personal also stands in the way of growing your business. You tend to take feedback from clients as personal affronts and not constructive criticism to help your business grow. It's never a good idea to think people are attacking you each time they think you can provide a better service or product. Its only a matter of time before you go under. You alone cannot objectively look at all the areas that may need attention. Your colleagues, partners, acquaintances and clients are looking from the outside in and would be honest with you if you are willing to listen.
2. Not building a system that works. This is an offshoot of the first point. You will be tempted to refuse to yield control of certain parts of your business to others who might be better qualified because you don't want to lose your grip on the business. You'll have to choose though. Do you want to deliver a mediocre product and get all the credit or do you want to blow people away with a fantastic product and let others who are better skilled share the limelight with you?
3.Spending too much upfront. Every business owner worth his/her salt would tell you that the success of a business is not reliant on how much money you put into it. Money is actually not the problem. You can put millions into marketing a promoting a product that has no place in the market. If the clients don't come, the cash doesn't come either and if the cash doesn't come in, you're sunk.
4. Keeping it in the family. Family is usually the first market to every try your products or support your idea (sometimes). That's great and every entrepreneur knows that support is always welcome. Its a good place to start but its not a good place to remain if you want to own a profitabe business. No matter how great your product is, your family can only buy so much. It's not wise and really not fair to expect all your profits to come from serving only family and friends. They will evemtiually get stifled and would probably start looking for ways to stay away from you since you always come arouin with a reason for them to part with some cash and get yet another hand sanitizer when the carton of 24 they bought last month is still warming the shelf in the store room! Give them a break and find out what others who have no personal relationship with you 'really' think about what you are offering.
5. Thinking you know it all. Connecting, networking or hobnobbing. Call it what you like but the lifeline of any business is always finding out what clients want, what competitors are doing, and what the product or service can do to balance both in a profitable way. Running a business can be a lonely road but it doesn't have to be. Go out. Get your head out of the oven and attend trade fairs, seminars, meetings and shows to see how your products or services can be better, more efficient and stand a chance in the competitive market. Believe it or not, unless you are inventing something, it’s probably been done before. Shorten your learning curve and leverage on the experiences of others. This will give you more time to focus on getting the word out and improving your product/service.
6. No vision. Anyone can start a business but you are more likely to put in your very best to make it work when you have a vision of what you want to achieve. There are so many distractions in the business arena just like there are in every sphere of life. If you have no aim, you have nothing to focus on and if you don't know where you are going, like the popular saying goes, every road looks like the right one. Many businesses shut down just because they lost their way, not really because they didn't have an outstanding product. There is only so much a product can do, you still need to make it work and get it across to those who need it. When you are distracted from the problem you were set out to solve in the first place, you lose relevance and quickly lose your footing in the market.
Do you agree? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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