Why Many People are likely to Fail in Business
I would think that the main thing that’s stopping people from starting their own business is their mindset that it takes a huge sum of money to start their own business, many people will take the plunge to start a business when they have enough capital even if they realized that they do not have the skill set required.
The dream of a large portion of the working class people goes like this.
The General 10 Stage Cycle of the Average Working Class People:
- Apply and accept any job that their qualifications can bring about
- Stay in that job not because they like what they do but just for paying their bills to survive
- Dream that when they have saved enough capital, they will start their own business
- Get married and expand their savings for the wedding and honeymoon
- Spend more again with buying a house
- For those who crave for the dream of social status, spend even more to get a car
- Next, a baby comes along and their attention is then focused on raising their child
- By this time, they feel that they can no longer afford the risk of starting a business
- Later in their lives, they may eventually start a business out of hope for a better lifestyle
- 9 out of every 10 businesses fail, and yes, many of them end up there because…
…because most people do not realize that the skills to start a business is very much different from the skills that are learnt in most jobs. Many people are “technicians” trying to be a “business person”, both requires quite a different set of skill sets. It doesn’t really come of much of a surprise because if you noticed, out of the ten stage cycle, none of them really helped the person to gain entreprenuer skills….except for the last one. People do learn from mistakes.
I would think that the 1 out of every 10 businesses that survived and prospered, were not newbies or just beginning out. Out of every success, there are countless failures whose names are left unmentioned. No one really talks about the hundreds and thousands of light bulbs which Thomas Edison experiemented with but did not work, people only talk about the light bulb which did work.
So how will all the above mentioned worked out, and what solution is there to this few thousand year old problem? *smiles* RSS us to keep updated because great changes are coming to this blog, and more will be posted on this subject of interest which many have asked for advice upon.
Jesse M Allaria
In response to the question to : Why are people likely to fail in business?
Sadly for some it takes some time to find out their niche, and sometimes once they have “found it” is not easy to get “It” out there to the public.
Other times it could be, that a person has not being able to focus on an specific audience! in other words the bull’s eye they’ve are targeting is too large to control.
All and all it depends on the Strategy they choose to use to broadcast and sell themselves.Is like everything else…you try different things and then know which ones work.
Maynas Eric
Very well said Jesse. it does take some time to have “found it” then “get it” out there to the public. :)
Adrienne Adams
I believe that it’s the struggles, i.e., the thousands of light bulbs that don’t work, that get people down. For folks used to being employed, it’s just lots of effort for what seems like no return, especially in the beginning. There has to be a passion and drive to continue even if we’re the only ones who believe in it. Otherwise, we quit after the first difficult time.
Clinton Skakun
Adrienne Adams has a good point there. People who have worked as employees for so long expect a return within a short time after they get into business. They get down because the idea isn’t working for them, when in fact they haven’t made the idea work.
I have to add that knowledge is extremely important when it comes to running a business. What I mean is, just because you have a degree in accounting or a MBA or what not, doesn’t mean you have what it takes. In fact no one has what it takes when they first start. You learn the most through experience.
The problem I see with the average person trying to start a business is this: They put it off for a long time — They eventually get into it — They get down because they can’t get to used to the different way of life a business involves — they fail — and they don’t get up.
I think too many people are afraid of failure, loosing all that money and having all their work go down the drain. When in fact it’s actually a part of the process.
(from my limited experience)In my opinion there are a few very important things to understand when “getting into business”:
- Just because you loose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel, doesn’t mean there isn’t a light. Ability to maintain focus is extremely important.
- Failure is a lesson, not a sign that it “wasn’t meant to be.” Every business takes a hard failure before getting anywhere.
- Competence is more important than a degree when starting your own business.
Of course there are a lot of other things like have a goal.
Great post!
Keep up the good work
Clinton
Clinton Skakun’s last blog post..Every great invention is incomplete without misconceptions…
Christian
It’s absolutely true people often think nothing of starting a business. It’s a completely different skill set than having a job. EMyth is the book that got me to look at that in detail for the first time. Absolutely required reading for anyone before starting a business.
Bryan
Clinton touched on a good point that, I feel, needs to be expanded a bit. Switching from employee to business owner is not always a quick process.
As an employee, you expect a paycheck every two weeks and you tend to get very secure and comfortable in that. When you start a new business, it takes time to succeed and start generating income.
I know a lot of people who tried and then ended up back at a 9-5 working for someone else. Can you survive without that paycheck for a year? For two? For three?
It comes down to whether or not you’re willing to make the gamble of putting EVERYTHING on the line and knowing that there’s no turning back. When you give yourself no choice BUT to succeed, then you’re finally in the playing field.
It’s scary as hell but it’s like the forbidden fruit – once you’ve tasted it, there’s no going back.