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Hume's "50-100" Rule Of Business Success

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: My experience in these two very-different businesses, both in sales and in management, taught me some valuable lessons which I later developed into a philosophy of entrepreneurship. I call it "Hume's 50-100 Rule of Business Success," and it goes something like this....

Hume's "50-100" Rule Of Business Success

Some Firms Have Only Half A Chance; Some Need No More Valentine's Day is coming up, and it reminds me of the time when I ran a chocolate store. The holidays were very busy in that business, and everyone back at the plant was tired and cranky from early November to the day after Mother's Day; but Valentine's Day was probably the biggest single holiday in the long season. Why? Because everyone loves chocolate! It's a sure-fire gift, great to give, great to receive.

It sells itself.

It was an easier business in which to be a salesperson or operator than others with which I've had experience. As a young salesman and sales manager, I developed a strong reputation (and a strong skill set) developing selling systems for dinner theaters. Selling large numbers of dinner theater tickets is a professional salesperson's true challenge. You have an enterprise which is a combination of two of the most marginal businesses you can think of - restaurant combined with live theater. Have you ever heard of a chocolate company going out of business? I haven't. But I've seen lots of restaurants, theaters, and dinner theaters come and go. Plus, you can buy a nice box of chocolates for a fraction of what a dinner theater ticket will cost you.

My experience in these two very-different businesses, both in sales and in management, taught me some valuable lessons which I later developed into a philosophy of entrepreneurship. I call it "Hume's 50-100 Rule of Business Success," and it goes something like this. Some businesses only have half a chance of survival (actually, that's optimistic: more than 80% of small businesses fail within their first five years). In such a very-marginal business, the entrepreneur has to make all the right moves. She has to get 100% of her decisions right in order to have a 50% chance of surviving in business. I'd say the dinner theater business is a perfect example of such a 100-to-get-50 enterprise.

In contrast, some ventures are much more forgiving. They sell themselves. The chocolate business is just such an undertaking: if you get about half your decisions right as an entrepreneur in this kind of business, you have about a 100% chance to succeed.

Of course, inspiration is a fickle muse, and it's true that a strong entrepreneur who believes in his business can usually make it work. But if you have a choice, get into a 50-100 business, not a 100-50 concern!

After all, business is hard enough. If you're indifferent to the offering, why make things harder on yourself than they have to be?

So think about your business. Maybe your business is just a job, working for a firm you don't own. That doesn't mean you can't be an entrepreneur at heart, and you should think about how robust your business is. Can it withstand a goof or two on your part? Or is it like The Procrastinator's Commute (she's only on time to work if all twenty traffic lights are green... which has never happened)?

If you're in a tough business, good luck. You'll need it. And these days, wracked with global economic challenges, all businesses are tougher than they should be. But take solace in this: you are learning great lessons, and you are building strong skills. If you can sell or operate in a tough business, you'll hit a home run when you find an offering that only needs half a chance.

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Article Tags: business success, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility, successful entrepreneurs



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