There is no shame in trying and failing. Life is like baseball. It is mostly failure with a few notable successes. Think about it: A baseball player batting 300 is considered wildly successful. That player fails to get a hit 70% of the time. Most sales jobs have a worse average. You are lucky to […]
Failure
These 5 Issues Can Bring Business to a Grinding Halt
There are numerous reasons that the business model can cough and splutter on the market. Indeed, 90% of businesses are estimated to fail within their first year. It’s important to assess why this is the case, what goes wrong and what you can do about it. By putting the right measures in place, you will […]
7 Alternatives to Quitting Your Startup Venture
When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Rather than quitting, there are always alternatives, like pivoting the business model or merging with new partners for support. Either could improve the statistic that […]
Caution: 3 Main Reasons for Business Failures
Running out of money Lack of planning Growing too fast There are countless scare stories out there and it’s true, many businesses don’t make it in the long run, but according to the SBA, only 30% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 50% during the first five years and […]
What Would You Do If Told to “Fail Fast”?
Here’s a question that should strike close to home. Professional investors like to quote this mantra to anyone who will listen. “Fail fast,” they say. But what if you believe so strongly in your budding enterprise that this seems to be the most ill-advised directive you’ve ever heard? So here are some rules that might […]
A Lesson About Home Depot, Nails, and Sales from Bernie Marcus
Before you can own your failure, you first have to know what you’re failing at. True knowledge is a start, not an end. It’s a question, not an answer. When Walmart’s Sam Walton or Home Depot’s Bernie Marcus sought meaningful and productive knowledge, they didn’t attend a seminar, assemble a committee, convene a board meeting, […]
The Importance of Setbacks
Too often, we get caught up in the rush of everyday life. The press of everyday activity, the constant intrusion and interruptions drive what we do. These become standard, we go on autopilot—even as a coping mechanism. Most important we stop paying attention, we stop being present. This doesn’t mean we aren’t accomplishing things. The […]
10 Strategies for Rebounding from Startup Failures
If you can’t deal with failure, then the entrepreneur lifestyle is not for you. Don’t believe that urban myth that all you need is a good idea, a little fun work, and the money will start rolling in. When you are pushing the limits, nobody gets it right the first time, or even maybe the […]
4 Lessons from the Startup World That Will Benefit Your Small Business
When you’ve been in business for some time, it’s hard to remember what it was like when you were first starting out. In some sense, it’s much safer and easier to rest on your laurels than to have to risk inventing something new. But the truth is, inside every established business is a start-up waiting […]
Upbeat News for Small Businesses
These are heady days to be an aspiring entrepreneur in the U.S. Even the risk-averse with an idea might want to consider jumping into the small startup business arena today. Despite the historical odds against small business longevity, things have definitely been looking up in recent years! From 2005 through 2015, roughly half of startup […]
