It is a sad, but true fact that 80% of new business start-ups will fail within the first three years.
That is a gut wrenching situation to have to deal with and quite often leads to homes being repossessed, marriages breaking down and sometimes, even worse….
Please don’t become a statistic……Not on this side of the scale anyway!
Mistake #1 Failing to plan. An absolute 100% route to business suicide and crazy to even think that some people would start something as big, and important (probably one of the biggest things you will ever do in your life) as starting their business, without planning.
We all plan almost everything we do don’t we? We plan our journey to work, we plan to go to a restaurant to eat, we plan our holidays/vacations, we even plan to go to the carwash at the weekend!
WHY wouldn’t we plan how we are going to start and run our business?
Owning and running your own business is life changing, it has a MASSIVE effect on you, your family and everyone connected to you, get it right and it will bring you everything you could ever wish for, get it wrong…….
Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Bill Gates are only human beings, they are not Supermen, what makes them so successful in business?
They have done it, YOU CAN TOO!
The basic principles of starting and running a business are the same. You might not want to be a worldwide business like any of the three gentlemen named above, you might just want to be a one man band, or a small to medium sized enterprise (commonly known as a SME) in your locality. Either way, if you Fail to Plan, you are Planning to Fail!
You must plan:
Why do you want to go into business for yourself?
What do you want to get out of your business?
What you are going to sell, this could be a product or service?
Why you have decided to place your business in this particular field?
What are your USP’s? (Unique Selling Points) ?
What makes you different from your competition? Have you researched your marketplace thoroughly?
Why should someone buy from you, rather than any of your competition?
What is going to be your pricing structure?
How you are going to market your company and generate leads?
How you will convert those leads into sales?
How & When will you deliver your product or service to your customers?
How did you arrive at your ultimate selling price? Are you sure you will make profits?
Who is going to do what in the business? Key areas of responsibility.
Cash flow, have you created a cash flow forecast?
Who will be responsible for looking after the money? Remember, if your overheads are too high, they will strangle your business.
Have you created short, medium & long term Goals, Plans & Strategies for your business?
PLANNING all of the above is very time consuming however, if not done you really are putting your future, and the future of your company into the hands of lady Luck…This is suicidal lunacy.
If you take the time to research properly and PLAN properly, you will obviously, give yourself a much better chance of success.
You can get my step by step instruction on PLANNING in my book which you can buy right here, simply return to the home page and click on the Buy Now button.
Mistake #2 Let the calculator make important decisions!
I’m sure you have heard all about The fear of Failure, the main reason we stop ourselves from doing something is because we are scared of what we might lose if it doesn’t work out, or it fails.
This might be a factor in why, at the outset anyway, we decide to go into business with friends or family.
This, in most cases, gives us a sense of strength and security.
You should NEVER, in my opinion anyway, go into business with anyone just because you are scared to go it alone.
DO NOT MAKE EMOTIONAL DECISIONS.
Business, although some consider it an art, is actually very scientific. You buy low, and sell high. You calculate your costs, add some money to that and you make a profit. If you get your calculator, do the exercise and it gives you the right number, you go ahead. If it gives you the wrong number, you either see if there is a way to increase what you are getting out of the deal or, you walk away.
You must make an Agreement with yourself, a Contract, Terms & Conditions, call it what you will but, you must know that you have a very clear structure, this is what you will do, this is what you won’t do and you must be strong, you must stick to it.
Never, do a deal or carry out a task if you know it doesn’t fit with your agreement with yourself. If you break your own T’s & C’s, you will only have yourself to blame when it all goes wrong, as it surely will.
You must be very clear on Why you are in business in the first place, What you want to get from it and, How you are going to get it.
Be focused and stay focused on your overall objective and outcome.
9 times out of ten, when people go into business with friends and family, the goals and objectives are unclear. The roles of each officer of the company are not defined, people start out by saying things like "well Chuck does this, and I do that, but we are a small company so we all muck in" When I hear that, the alarm bells go off in my head straight away because you are definitely going to be in the situation where he thought you would do it while you were thinking he would do it and guess what, NOBODY did it!
This kind of situation quickly starts to build resentment. Resentment is a fairly strong emotion which is definitely negative. You will find yourself making emotional decisions based on resentment and before you know where you are, your business is going down the tubes.
A perfect example of this is the TV program, Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. If you haven’t seen this show, find it, WATCH AND LEARN!
Mistake #3 Hesitation & ProcrastinationA poem
Why oh why, do we all hold back
There’s always good reasons why we can’t do this, or we can’t do that
We have to wait until the time is right!!
Always too young or old, too big, or small, too heavy, or light
We come from the North or the South, the East or West
We won’t make a move yet ‘cause we know best
It is too hot or cold, or wet or dry.
There is always a reason WHY (we can’t)
Vince Garvin May 2008
That may be a tad cheesy or daft but, it is absolutely 100% true that, most of us find it easier to come up with reasons why we can’t, rather than reasons why we can.
How many times have you been scared to try or do something but had no choice, you were forced into it? And when you came out of it, unscathed, not damaged in any way, no worse off, when looking back,
Those situations, when we make the decision to act, generally make us better people, they make us stronger, more rounded, more experienced so, in turn, give us more confidence to try more new things.
We should all of us, like the book says, Feel the fear and do it anyway!
Like I said earlier, the biggest single thing that holds us back is the fear of failure but, the only time we can ever fail is when we decide against taking the action that inside, we know we should take.
There is an absolute difference between dare not, & cannot.
The main reason why most people cannot is actually because they dare not.
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go any higher than you think" Benjamin Disreali
It really is all in the mind.
Please be honest with yourself, make the decision and once made, don’t hold back, really go for it.
Remember, in life’s bank account, you can only get out, what you are prepared to put in and usually, we have to put in first.
Let me spell it out in plain English:
You have to be prepared to do the research, put in the time, the effort and the energy, you must be prepared to go through the pain, physical, mental and emotional, you must plan, you must have a clear vision and clearly defined goals & targets.
You must be prepared to stick to it, you must have stamina, because, if you do these things, then, and only then, will you enjoy the benefits of all your hard work.
You can do it, you just have to make the decision that you want some of what life has to offer.
Decide What you want,Why you want it, When you want it by and then GO FOR IT!
Please don’t ever be scared of losing face, or money.
Think about it this way, embarrassment is a momentary thing, it lasts a short while and is forgotten but you learn from the experience. You will learn nothing from inaction or from not doing it.
Money can always be earnt again, don’t be reckless or foolhardy, always calculate so you are confident you will make money but don’t be scared to invest.
Time though is the only thing we can’t get back, once the moment has passed it is gone forever.
Think about what you want to do, why you want to do it, what you want to get from it, make the decision and TAKE ACTION.
TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP TOWARDS STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS BY ORDERING MY BOOK simply
CLICK HERE and proceed to the 'Buy Now' button.
Let me help you on your way to starting your very own successful business.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog pages.
May all your dreams come true
Vince Garvin
