Market research has found out that more than 90% of new businesses fail in the first 120 days of operation. As an aspiring entrepreneur you need to understand that all successful businesses have common traits. They are SUCCESSFUL because they trade and imbibe the same principles of success followed years back by past entrepreneurs like Dale Carnegie and Henry ford. The first year of your business is a crucial stage where you need all the guidance from your mentor. I will write more about the importance of a mentor for your success in subsequent articles.
As a budding entrepreneur you need to understand simple and basic ideas like acceptable over-head expenses in relation to projected income. A college degree in business in not essential for an entrepreneur to be successful, but it will be handy in many instances. Just some basic business knowledge is absolutely vital.
If you have a hard time balancing your personal check book, you probably should keep your day job and forget about starting a business. It is true that you can hire accounting firms that will tell you WHEN you must make tax deposits, for example, but these firms will not be able to tell you IF you need to make them.
Accounting firms can tell you whether or not you made a profit but not how to make it. If you have no business background you need to, at the very minimum, get some good business advice before you even consider opening business. The fact is that all successful businesses operate on sound business principles. Successful businesses aren’t accidents. It is not even reasonable to expect to make a profit from a new business enterprise for many, many months.
You must have sufficient resources available to not only launch your business but provide for your own personal needs for an extended period of time. It’s called ‘capital’ and there is no way around the need for enough of it. Many budding entrepreneur make a BIG mistake and dont provide adequate for operation, which in most cases stifles the business and suffocates it before it takes off.
Have the Right Mindset
You have most likely heard the phrase, ‘He has an attitude!” This is usually a derogatory remark made about a person with a disagreeable attitude. But the word ‘attitude’ is an important one when discussing business start-ups. A good attitude…a good mind set can’t insure success but a bad attitude and a bad mind set can certainly guarantee failure. Here are some wrong attitudes that will absolutely guarantee failure:
I can work when I want to. Wrong, this is absolutely piffle! You can’t just work when you feel like it. You have to expect to put in many long and very tedious hours of very hard work to make a new Business enterprise succeed.
I can get rich quick! You cant be more wrong and you are not only wrong but you are putting yourself in danger as well. There are billions of crooks out there on the internet who are waiting for their next easy mark and if you are looking for a quick way to get rich, you ARE the next mark. It is possible to make a very comfortable living by starting a new business enterprise but if anybody ever tells you it is quick or easy, they are lying to you.
I don’t need a business plan. There you are…wrong yet again. Every business needs a road map. It is imperative that you have a plan for success that is based upon sound business principles. I will cover this topic extensively in my future posts. keep watching this space.
There is an old saying, which says: “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. You need to have a well strategized plan of execution for any assignment you embark on. You need to have clear plan on how you will move from point A to point B listed in a succinct manner and should include realistic cost estimates for accomplishing each step.
When you have a business of your own, you don’t have a boss. Again a BIG LIE! You are your boss. If you aren’t a good boss who sees to it that work is accomplished on time and in full, you will fail. Unless you are a boss who sets up a working schedule and establishes goals that must be met, you will find your business heading down a steep ravine to oblivion.
How To Avoid Joining the Failing Masses - The thing about starting a business…any business…..is that there is no guarantee of success under any circumstances. Even big international businesses can fail at new business ventures. Failure is always an option but the possibility of success can be optimized. You can optimize the possibility of success by:
- Expecting to work very hard to accomplish your goals. You must never expect anything to be easy. You will be right most of the time because things are rarely as easy as they look. Each step toward success requires work, time and patience. Sometimes things don’t work out right on the first try. You have to be willing to try again and again until you succeed.
- Not falling for ‘get-rich-quick schemes. The road to business success is full of those who prey upon those who are looking for quick and easy ways to become rich. Those ways do not exist. Get over thinking that there is an easy way. THERE IS NO SHORT CUT TO SUCCESS!!!! You need to work hard in order to earn success. There is no other route available to success than following the straight path.
Always remember those statistics! Ninety percent of all new businesses fail in the first 120 days. You don’t have to be part of that majority. You can become a part of that 10% minority of successful business enterprises. With proper planning and vision, you will make it to the promised land.
To your success!!!!!!
