Tweet

Entrepreneur's Success Center- Why Businesses Fail

Guest post by: Stephen Blakesley

Article Overview: Businesses fail in great numbers. The more recent the start-up date the more the odds of success are against you. The odds of success are slim and you will need to be prepared. In this series of Entrepreneurial insights and helps you will increase your chances of success.

Entrepreneur's Success Center- Why Businesses Fail

Entrepreneurs are a "Seedy" group. I don't mean seedy in a negative sense, but rather a very positive one. Entrepreneurs are the seed stock of the American economy. Without entrepreneurs America would be France or Austria. From entrepreneurial efforts, American industry has grown and captured the imagination of the World for over 200 years.

In keeping with the revered position, in which I place Entrepreneurs, I think it only fitting that I chronicle some of the many competencies and skills that bring success to Entrepreneurs for the benefit of us all but especially for those who aspire to Entrepreneurship.

WHY BUSINESSES FAIL!

We have been engaged in some recent research in an effort to determine why businesses fail and why they succeed. I want to share some of that information with you. We surveyed business owners around the world to get their opinion on "Why Business Fail" and "Why Businesses Succeed".

Before I give you the results of the survey, I ask you to consider what you believe the reasons for business failure might be, from among these 5 choices:

1. Poor or no planning

2. Under capitalization

3. Little or no market strategy

4. No succession plan

5. Poor leadership

I know the choices are hard but, go ahead and pick what you believe to be the most frequent reason for business failure. I will give you our findings.

Our findings are: the #1 reason for failure is "Poor Leadership" and a close second is "Under Capitalization."

Which activity did you choose? Are you feeling that you do a good job in all or only some? My experience is, seldom does any business do a superior job in all. But, it is our belief that there are some "foundation essential," and Leadership and Capitalization are two of the most important.

A few years back, a wise friend offered me this advice: "If you want invest money somewhere, invest in yourself!" At the time I received the advice I did not realize just how profound it was. Think about it for a moment. Where can you invest your money and have maximum control? Well, certainly not in the stock market, or in real estate, but in yourself where you control the engine that moves the investment forward.

That great piece of advice has made me a lot of bucks. So I want to share with you a similar philosophy that is equally true. "If you want to improve your business, begin by improving yourself." The instruction is certainly not "rocket science" and it is ever so fundamental, but sometimes we just lose site of what is right and productive.

Next Week - Learn Four Attributes of Great Entrepreneurs

Related Articles
  The Genius At Work
  Starting a business...what options are available?
  Business Survival Tips from "WILD THINGS"
  Starting a business…what are my options?
  Three Reasons Start-ups Fail
  Call Centers Benefit Businesses
  Learn More About An Advanced Call Center Service
  Why Some Entrepreneurs Fail
  A Contact Center Specialist Represents Your Business
  How to Succeed in Business, Without Setting Your Hair On Fire
  Five Steps to Startup Success
  Operator Error Is Why Most Businesses Fail
  Call Center Outsourcing Works for Small Business and Large Business Alike
  Outsourcing to Telephone Answering Service Can Strengthen Your Public Image
  Just Play the Hand You're Dealt!
  Why Many People Will Fail as Entrepreneurs
  How to run a business successfully
  Advice for New Entrepreneurs And Business Owners
  Successful Entrepreneurs
  Why Failure Is Essential To Online Entreprenurial Success

Article Tags: Capitalization, Entrepreneurs, Leaders, Leadership, Success



Related Forum Posts
Re: 10 Reasons Who Startups Fail & Book Recommendations - Great post,but please edit the headline. I presume it is "10 Reasons Why Startups Fail & Book Recommendation
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Re: What inspires you? - Another inspiring thing is which I really likes "Most People Fail because, their dreams are small". Most people like to engage with something or teh other. If they can truly listen to their inner voice and work towards achieving it, then you can see "miracle in action". So, big changes happen, when you think BIG. If you cannot to think BIG, you cannot do BIG things too. Robert
CEOs and Email - Slaves? - I wonder if the emails they are responding to are filtered thru their assistants first 'cos they seem to spend a lot of their off hours responding to them. True they are successful but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay that price. I'd be interested to know what's the in the typical day planner of Entrepreneurs on the Forum. Entrepreneurs are a different breed than Paid Employees- so it would be interesting to view the contrast.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Substance Abusing Employee

Promoting your company and self with verve

How Promotional Caps became a Fashion Trend

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.