Starting your own small business is an exciting new beginning. If you have passion and a great idea, nothing can go wrong, right? Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs start out with the best intentions, only to make a few critical mistakes that end up derailing their small business. To help you keep your business on track, let’s take a look at 4 reasons why businesses fail.
1. Lack of Funding
Running a small business can be expensive. There are a number of upfront investments involved in beginning a new business, from inventory to equipment and a location. Plus, many small businesses take some time to start bringing in revenue, let alone turning a profit. Before you start chasing your idea, be real about the amount of money you need to really launch and sustain yourself in the beginning. You may need to do your business on the side before quitting your day job, or look into getting a small business loan.
2. Going Alone
The American Dream gives us the hope that we can pull ourselves up and into success based on our will and work alone. While those are definitely key ingredients to success, there’s no need to go it alone. Find a cofounder or a network of fellow entrepreneurs to help you make key decisions and bounce off ideas. In fact, that’s one of the benefits of the network marketing model: consultants, such as those for industry leader Nu Skin (aka NuSkin), have a built-in web of support and help.
3. Missing the Message
You can start the world’s next greatest business, but nothing will come of it if you don’t share the word. To market effectively, you need to understand what problem your small business is solving and who your potential customers are. Learn how to talk to that customer and share your message where they already interact. For example, MLM consultants can market by sharing their positive experience using the products and building their business on social media, where many of their potential customers spend plenty of time.
4. Fear of Failure
The life of an entrepreneur is filled with failure, especially as you’re getting started. It can take time to nail your product, service, and branding. You’re going to get it wrong at least some of the time. Some entrepreneurs didn’t expect or can’t handle the constant failure, and so walk away without learning where they went wrong and implementing positive changes. It’s the pivots you make after a failure that ultimately leads to success.
If you are harboring dreams of the entrepreneur’s life, learn everything you can about running a small business—including the common mistakes that lead to failure. Once you understand where others have gone wrong, you can set yourself up for a successful run at owning a small business. Finding out why businesses fail the hard way is not a fun lesson to learn.