Tweet

Why Do So Many Businesses Fail?

Guest post by: Pete Brand

Article Overview: Since beginning this experiment I've had a lot of time to think about things during my seven mile walks each day. It seems all we hear about in the news lately is how all the mega-corporations are failing. Whether it's a company that is completely destroyed and forced out of business due to corrupt managment, or the government needing to jump in an bail out the automotive companies. The fact that I even know what's going on in the world is amazing, since I boycotted the news back in January and haven't began watching it since that time. Unfortunately I spend a good amount of time with Twitter and see all the doom and gloom headlines each day. THANKS ALOT TWITTER!!!

Why Do So Many Businesses Fail?

Since beginning this experiment I've had a lot of time to think about things during my seven mile walks each day. It seems all we hear about in the news lately is how all the mega-corporations are failing. Whether it's a company that is completely destroyed and forced out of business due to corrupt managment, or the government needing to jump in an bail out the automotive companies.

The fact that I even know what's going on in the world is amazing, since I boycotted the news back in January and haven't began watching it since that time. Unfortunately I spend a good amount of time with Twitter and see all the doom and gloom headlines each day. THANKS ALOT TWITTER!!!

My heart goes out to those of you who make the evening news a part of your evening schedule. I am surprised there aren't more people who climb in the bath tub and open a vein with all that depressing news.

Well, I promise I'm not here to give you some solution on how the big mega-corporations can fix themselves for a couple of reasons...

The first reason is I believe they've been doing things the wrong way for too long to improve overnight.

Secondly I don't have a clue of how to run a mega-corporation, nor would I have the ability to articulately lay out a solution. If I could, I'd be swimming in a room full of cash. :)

I do know something about small businesses though.

I can remember the day I started my first business. I was so excited and absolutely knew I was going to set the world on fire.

I looked at all the companies I'd be competing with and could give you a list of things they were doing wrong. I spent some time putting together a plan which addressed all these deficiencies, chose a name, got business cards, and eliminated all the other excuses I could think of as to why I wasn't ready to get started.

Then it was time to begin and I sat there scared to death questioning whether my plan was going to work. This fear left me completely paralyzed. What if it didn't work? What if nobody wanted to buy from me?

Does this sound familiar? I bet it does.

If you've ever been a first time business owner it is impossible to know what to expect and more importantly how to deal with the challenges you are going to face.

What happens when the excitement of making your first sales wears off, and you have your first rough week where you get no sales? Well if you are anything like me you begin to panic!

That's very normal and unfortunately, more often than naught, it paralyzes you. Paralysis typically leads to inactivity, and inactivity leads to the death of your business!

DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU!

I recently had a conversation with a first time business owner about this exact situation. I mentioned to him that we have absolutely no control over whether our prospective customers want our services now, whether they want to spend their money at this time, or whether they make the decision to pick up the phone to even discuss your services.

The only thing we have control of is the actions we complete on a day to day basis.

Although it is difficult to train yourself to celebrate the victory of accomplishing your planned daily activities ... it isn't impossible!

I believe companies fail for a variety of reasons. Some companies are under capitalized, some companies lack the technical knowledge, but I believe most companies fail because the leadership doesn't have the mental toughness to weather the storms that will DEFINITELY come. The first time they don't have the funds available for payroll, or their star employee decides to join the competition ... they immediately fold up their tent and go home.

I believe that if business owners had a strong belief in themselves and their ideas, stuck to their plan, kept a positive attitude during difficult times, and focused continuously on the only thing they can control ... THEIR ACTIONS ... everything would be just fine and far fewer businesses would be folding.

I'd love to hear from you if you've ever found yourself in these same situations and how you dealt with it. Also, if you know of anyone who has recently started a business I'd encourage you to give them a call and support them. Entrepreneurs are going to make or break our economy in the future and they need as many people encouraging them as possible. Don't let all those negative people be their main source of advice. If that ends up being the case ... you haven't even seen a bad economy yet.

Related Articles
  The Genius At Work
  SME's - do you want business from government?
  Entrepreneurs Want To Open A Resturant And Make Sure It Succeeds
  Why Small Business Fail
  How to Avoid Business Failure
  Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2008
  It's Better to Fail Quickly
  Top Online Business – Great Opportunities for the Next Year
  Making Money With an Online Business
  Change Your Attitude, Change Your Business
  Operator Error Is Why Most Businesses Fail
  Who Should Review Your Business Plan?
  Three Reasons Start-ups Fail
  Is Your Internet Marketing Business Failing?
  Why Some Entrepreneurs Fail
  Too small to fail
  How I am Turning My Side Consulting Business Into a Full Time Business
  Hard work vs. Long work
  The Three Classic Marketing Challenges Faced By Small Businesses
  Be Successful with the Right Internet Marketing Skills

Article Tags: business failure, failure, headlines, small business, small business failure, small businesses, twitter



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
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
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: New forum - online businesses! - That's great news Evan! Congratulations Jeff on becoming moderator of Online Businesses, I'm sure you'll do a brilliant job! Take care, Carol
Re: New business.. check us out! Love any feedback! - Hello all, I am new to this forum and would like some feedback too. I currently own and operate ConsumerBranch LLC. Please, feel free to type that name along with a ".com" at the end to visit the URL. Anyways, my service that I provide allows businesses to visit a central location to purchase products for their business and/or a service that they provide. I am able to provide this service due to suppliers willingness to join ConsumerBranch and all their products. Each supplier will have their very own profile in which all products will be displayed. Businesses, also known as buyers, will be provided their own profile as well. Businesses purchasing products will be able to track each supplier they deem as 'favorite' by subscribing to the respective supplier. Also, purchasers who repeatedly buy the same product will have the ability to mark a respective product as 'favorite' to track it for future reference. That is snippet of what ConsumerBranch is about. I have much more to explain in the coming days. I am excited to have created such a complex service for businesses. Please provide feedback and comments about your advice. Thank you for your time, Justin Sinsel CEO ConsumerBranch


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

When Living the Dream isn't enough!

Do You Pretend To Listen To People?

Life is a Balancing Act!

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.