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Nine Ways to Guarantee Business Failure

Written by: Michelle Pippin

Article Overview: Discover the nine "sins" business owners commit that lead to their own business failure... including how the Law of ACTION assists the "Law of Attraction"... how (and where) sales are made... and more down and dirty business truths. This quick article is built on Michelle's own experience and that of her clients, but greatly assisted by wisdom found on the back of a Starbucks cup AND the first man to profitably combine RATS and FOOD.. the founder of the Chuck E. Cheese empire! Enjoy!

Nine Ways to Guarantee Business Failure

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act [of commitment] frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the FEAR that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as a barrier to your life." - Anne Morris

I found this quote on the back of my husband's Starbucks cup, and loved it so much I immediately searched out the author, who is now a friend of mine on FaceBook. Anyway, the FIRST way to GUARANTEE Failure is to REFUSE to commit to success. Dr. Gene Landrum, the genius behind theChuck E. Cheese empire, reminds us that "Much data shows that no entrepreneur ever really makes it until they quit their day job." Well said. The other eight ways for an entrepreneur to GUARANTEE their own failure are below:

1. ASSume the whole world is your market.
2. ASSume your clients (or potential clients) "owe" you something - They don't. They don't owe youtheir time, their return call, their referrals, etc. EARN all of this... every time!
3. ASSume your clients / customers want to hear all about YOU. Trust me, they don't. All sales are made in THEIR world, not yours. So expose enough to make yourself credible and relative... and then focus on THEM.
4. Don't take action! The law of attraction is dramatically assisted by the law of ACTION. So, to quote my Dad, "Do something. Even it's wrong."
5. Ignore your existing and EXITING clients. Learn from them. Listen to them. Focus more on your existing and exiting clients, and you will have more NEW clients as well. I promise.
6. Be a lone ranger. For entrepreneurs, one is absolutely the worst number of them all.
7. Act like time is free. Time is our most valuable resource. So, how can we monetize that statement as entrepreneurs? Figure out what activities produce the most income for us, and do MORE of that!
8. Compete on price. Those who live by price will also die by price.Compete on value instead.

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Article Tags: chuck e cheese, dad, day job, dr gene, empire, entrepreneur, failure, fear, gene landrum, genius, hesitation, internal critic, irony, law of attraction, li li, lone ranger, nbsp, referrals, starbucks, tyranny



Related Forum Posts
These maybe the coldest franchises out there: - Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops. WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure % 1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56% 2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94% 3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18% 4 COPY CLUB 36.36% 5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71% 6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71% 7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59% 8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78% 9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48% 10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33% 11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33% 12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33% 13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33% 14 BLIMPIE 31.39% 15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77% Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Why A Project Fails? - Hello Everyone As the size and complexity of ones business grows, so does their need to effectively manage projects. I have been thinking about the major reasons why a project can go wrong and my limited experience comes up with the following. 1 Leadership: A project manager with leadership skills and not just management skills. 2 Failure to (Foresee and) Plan 3 Failure to Manage: Ineffective change management control methods. Unclear decision making guidelines. 4 Talent: Finding, allocating and developing people 5 Scope: Setting an overly ambitious or amibigious project scope 6 Alignment: When projects are not prioritized in alignment with the business strategy, or project members personal objectives are not in tandem with that of the project / company 7 Lack of Candor: Communication Breakdowns I would be interested in knowing everyone's thoughts on this, especially on ways to overcome the above mentioned obstacles. Cheers!
Show the Benefits - Offer a free test drive of the Product or Service with a Money Back Guarantee - Take the Risk out. This will help them make the decision but you have to work with them to realize it by explicitly state the benefits they are receiving.
Top performing Franchise Loans - Evan, There are over 120 Franchises listed by the SBA with 0% Loan Failure from 10-1-00 to 9-30-05 these companies have at leat 10 loans disbursed. A number of the companies are Hotel/Motel Franchises so I listed them separately. Since all the ones listed have 0% loan failure I listed them descending by # of loans disbursed. Top 20 (by # loans Disbursed) 0% SBA Loan Failure (does not include hotels/motels) 1 21425--CULVER'S FROZEN CUSTARD 85 2 66910--PRIMROSE SCHOOL (DAYCARE) 76 3 14467--CARTRIDGE WORLD STORES 54 4 68021--QUIZNO'S SUBS 41 5 06560--AUNTIE ANN'S (SOFT PRETZELS) 40 6 29912--FIREHOUSE SUBS 35 7 31154--FOOT SOLUTIONS 35 8 52707--MEDICAP PHARMACY 35 9 09802--BEN & JERRY'S ICE CREAM 33 10 67759--COMFORT SUITES 33 11 70150--RITTER'S FROZEN CUSTARD 32 12 05650--ARBY'S 31 13 65160--PLATO'S CLOSET 31 14 67417--PUMP IT UP 30 15 69149--REMAX 30 16 71456--SALAD WORKS, INC. 30 17 76282--SONIC DRIVE-IN 27 18 84725--UNION 76 OIL 27 19 17049--CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AUTOMOTIVE 26 20 78950--SUNOCO SERVICE STATION 26 Top 10 0% SBA Loan Failure Hotel/Motels 1 10275--BEST WESTERN INN 104 2 67750--COMFORT INN 98 3 38605--HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS 87 4 36680--HAMPTON INNS 57 5 53165--MICROTEL 33 6 75385--SLEEP INN MOTEL 26 7 04160--AMERIHOST INN 18 8 69134--RED ROOF INN 13 9 17230--CLARION INN & SUITES 11 10 20715--COUNTRY INN 11


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