Entrepreneurship

In the recent past, we’ve seen a sudden increase in the number of entrepreneurs. The fact that many people are preferring to put their ideas to work is an encouraging one. But there’s a harsh truth that goes along with that – 9 out of every 10 end up in failure.

Starting a business is not easy. There’s no magic trick to make it succeed. Most businesses fail due to the negative cash flow. But there are obviously a lot of things such as incompatible business model, poor management, and inferior product/service quality that add up before you reach the final precipice.

Therefore, it’s important to keep a close check on minor details right from the word go. Learn what are the common culprits that can deal a serious blow to your ambitious startup hopes:

1. Solve Some Problem:

No idea could ever be big enough if it isn’t fulfilling any purpose. You need to be solving some kind of a problem. If you’re not solving anyone’s problem, no one will hear about you or take interest in your service. It’s just as simple as that.

But even if you are solving some problem, ensure that its solution is a good one. Every business has a certain kind of USP to lure customers in. The USP could be anything from cheaper prices, quality solutions, swift product completion or as something as simple as active customer support.

2. Makeup of Chieftains

Your co founders are obviously going to be the most crucial people for your business. There’s always a debate about how many are too many? Ideally, you want to have 2-4. Any more would just create trouble. There would be disputes, arguments and a number of times you’d find yourself in the middle of a situation where decisions making would be hampered by lack of agreement.

For the same reason, irrespective of the number, the co-founders should be able to get along with each other alright. If they know each other for a very long time or happen to be college-buddies, then even better. That way there’s lesser risk of disagreements and most obstacles can be easily tackled with a collective effort of all.

3. Hobby vs Profession

Start making money as opposed to funding money. Business can’t survive if it isn’t making money. A lot of people think they can turn their hobby into a self-styled profession, but not many of these ventures go on to be really successful.

Business is about earning more than what you’re spending. It’s pretty clear if you’re not making any revenues, your biz won’t be around for a very long time. You like to call it a biz, but in reality it’s more or less just a pastime.

4. Spend Wisely

Don’t rely too heavily on funding. What happens with a number of startups is they initially succeed in generating huge amount of funds. But once they have the funds, they end up spending most of it on irrelevant and unimportant things.

Think of things like fancy office apartment, and a portion may be to fulfill some personal wishes – That can prove to be a fatal mistake very early on in the startup’s run. Color’s failure is the best example in modern times.

You don’t want to be doing that. Look to spend your funds as judiciously as possible. Make the best of the resources you’ve got in your hands.

5. Know Where You’re Headed:

Since the very early days, you’ve got to be really certain about where you’re headed. Many startups end up pursuing an altogether different path from the one they embarked on initially.

It could be because of a change of interest or a realization of better gains in a different field. As long as the route somehow takes you back to your core business’ purpose, everything is fine. The reasons are that business should first be allowed to mature.

We haven’t heard of an entrepreneur that just wakes up one day and sets up a business. There’s a great deal of thought-process, planning, money and effort that goes into any startup.

The pre-planning is actually a huge time-investment for any entrepreneur. So take all the time you need before kicking things in motion. Diversion should only be considered in very exceptional cases.

6. Build Process and Systems

Process and systems are the frameworks within which everything happens. You want to make sure that your framework is a sturdy and workable one.

A process that defines the flow of work and everyone’s responsibilities is a bare minimum. Your aim should be to continually improve it and go from strength to strength and make things more fluid and streamlined.

7. Success Doesn’t Come Guaranteed

As mentioned earlier, there’s no guarantee of success whatever your endeavor. You can only do so much to make you business a success. But the harsh reality is about 90% of startups eventually fail.

Still, that stat hasn’t discouraged any budding entrepreneurs from pursuing their goals. Most successful entrepreneurs swear by how much focus is essential for any startup. So focus, spend long hours studying the market trends, identifying problems and devising simple solutions is the way to go!

In the end, as is with the failure, success is a mix of many components. It happens when all those components come together. They could be the timing, the mood of the customers, or your solution itself. Be sure to get everything right to stand the best chance of success.

If you think we’ve missed out any significant point, please let us know in the comment section below:

Business World is full of challenges. It’s no easy thing to be an entrepreneur. There’s a lot going on in your mind and it’s difficult to find time to collect your thoughts and think calmly as to where your business is headed.

Through the course of this article, we’ll discuss 6 reasons that lead to the downfall of many talented entrepreneurs.

1. Not Listening To Others Enough

We look at things and form a certain perspective of them. From that point on, our decisions are influenced by the same understanding. But what if that viewpoint were to a miscalculated one?

In a business environment, such mistakes could be the difference between success and failure. Many entrepreneurs have admitted how they failed or incurred huge losses simply because they shunned themselves from the outside world.

The fact is that entrepreneurs consider merely conferring an idea as a confirmation of their incompetence in a certain domain. But this thinking can be problematic.

As an entrepreneur, you have to be honest with yourself and really think long and hard about the consequences of your decisions. Put your ego aside and start listening to other, even if their opposing views.

2. Expecting Big Results With Average Resources

It’s often said that quality results require costly investments. A number of entrepreneurs tend to be hell-bent on working with the same resources despite seeing no change in the outcome. Part of that has to do with budget and part maybe with vain hope.

Entrepreneurs have to be realistic though. Time doesn’t stop for anybody. So if you think a skillful resource can help you attain desired results, then, by all means, go ahead and hire one.

Yes, it’ll be heavy on your budget early on, but the same cost could multiply manifolds over time with a lack of talent in your staff.

3. Attempting Everything On Your Own

There’s a sense of helplessness about most entrepreneurs when it comes to attempting things that they don’t qualify for. To a degree, it’s justifiable that they want to influence every sphere of activity in their company. But the problem arises when they overdo it.

A better approach would be to test out a job that you’re trying to influence. If you’re able to grasp the know-how’s without too much difficulty, then you may well go ahead performing on your own.

If it’s too complicated, put it off or have someone else do it for you. It’s often this readiness to do everything on your own and not asking for outside help, that leads to entrepreneurs feeling knackered all the time.

4. Lacking Clarity With Your Audience

A business is nothing without its customers. Whatever it aspires to achieve can only be made possible if it has a cheerful customer base. Still, no matter how satisfied your audience is with your services, it could all go wrong very quickly if you decide to rest on your laurels.

There comes a time when a business scales and starts to imagine it has it all figured out. That’s when it’s at its most vulnerable. A number of entrepreneurs have been guilty of not knowing the customer opinion prior to implementing new policies. The solution lies in timely communication.

If you think that a policy change you’ve been contemplating for a long time is going to impact your audience’s decision making, then have it communicated to them properly.

Understanding customer behavior goes a long way in ensuring the successful run of a business. It’s one thing you don’t want to gamble on.

5. Not Caring Enough For The Process

The process defines how people go about doing their job in the business. It also lays down every individual’s role and responsibility. When it comes to following the process, there’s often a temptation to overlook it.

People prefer to have some flexibility. Over time, reluctance to follow the process in full can lead to its complete avoidance. That’s the situation you want to avoid in your business.

A business without process won’t have a clear direction and you’ll find it difficult to hold anyone accountable for any mishaps or discrepancies in the workflow. Try to have maximum possible adherence to the process in your business.

6. Lacking the leadership

Your startup isn’t just about doing right things right. The business world can be very unpredictable. The entrepreneur has the responsibility of guiding the startup safely out of such situations. But not everyone can.

The unsuccessful entrepreneurs fail to pivot because they fail to see the shifting patterns of business and persist in their ill-fated course. The dynamics of business-world take everyone by surprise at some point in time. Letting your guard down and thinking you have everything figured out is sure to get you in trouble.

As mentioned earlier, being an entrepreneur is a cumbersome task. Very few are able to crack the code and take their business to the much-desirable dizzy heights.

Did you have it easy when you started up as an entrepreneur? Have you come across the situations highlighted above. Let us know how they affected your run as an entrepreneur in the comments section below: