by Debbie Jenkins
Business startup and failure rates are scary... In The USA... - Every Year Over 1 Million - By The End Of The First Year 40% - Within 5 Years More Than 80% (Source: The eMyth Revisited, Michal E Gerber, In The UK... - 2003 Saw 423,100 New Businesses - Over Half of All New Firms - At Least 211,550 Of These (Source: Barclays SME Market Research Team Unfortunately more and more people are being encouraged to The advisors in these organisations typically have Their text-book marketing principles simply do not In many cases these advisors are telling people how to Survival and inevitable success means being lean, mean and So here are 5 tips you can use to take #1. Question "Experts" Thoroughly Be wary of government funded trainers These people, in many cases, don't Some questions that I like... What's your experience of starting Have you actually spent your own money What mistakes have you made? What Will this advice / support / idea Who really benefits when I take the #2. Model Excellent Businesses Now by this I don't mean simply Just because the boss of a successful You're looking to find the things So find out as much about their Subscribe to their mailing list. Visit You can learn just as much from non-competing #3. Have A BIG Goal Big goals, by definition, should be easier After nearly 8 years in business I still like Too many businesses focus on surviving. They Focusing on what you don't want really doesn't
People Start A Business
Of Them Will Be Out Of Business
(800,000) Of These Businesses
Will Have Failed
US Department of Commerce)
In England & Wales Startup
Fail In The First 3 Years
Businesses Will Have Failed
Before The End Of 2006
England & Wales Statistics Based On Business
Current Account Customers)
go it alone by government agencies and banks while being
given out-dated advice that doesn't actually work.
experience in larger production / manufacturing /
financial businesses and share marketing advice
that really doesn't work for the majority of
small service-based businesses today.
translate to businesses with limited money to invest
in advertising, direct mail and telesales.
run a business even though they're actually working for
a bank or government agency themselves. They have no
real experience spending their own money to grow a business.
focused on getting a genuine result (in the form of profit)
from the time and money you invest.
the power back and begin "fail proofing"
your growing business today.
and / or advisors put forward by banks.
have a clue what its like to run and
grow their own business. Make it your
job to "suss them out" before taking
anything they tell you too seriously.
and running a small business?
trying to make a business work?
lessons can I learn from your experience?
cost me money or make me money?
course of action you're recommending?
copy random things they do.
firm like yours drives a brand-new Bentley
it doesn't mean you should rush out and buy
one too. That won't guarantee success.
that she did in order to afford the
Bentley in the first place.
processes and systems as you can and
then look for evidence to support applying
similar things that work for them to your
business.
their premises. Talk to their staff.
Talk to their customers. Read their
ads (or notice that they don't advertise).
Network with them.
businesses too. So why not set up a
support / learning group or see if a successful
entrepreneur would be able to mentor you.
to hit than small goals. So don't think small
- think big.
to set regular, big, 90 day goals. I call
these goals SHAGs - Short Hairy Audacious Goals.
think in terms of what they don't want. They miss
the opportunity to really succeed and then get
what they were desperately trying to avoid
- failure!
work. If you don't want to fail you should
focus on succeeding in a big way.
#4. Improve Constantly Have goals and set targets. Know what outcomes Then work towards your goals using the 1. Implement (Do Something) As my friend and firewalk trainer Sanjay Shah #5. Don't Follow The Crowd Look, we both know most businesses Don't just advertise because every other Don't just do telesales because that happens Don't measure turnover when profit Don't take on staff just because other Don't do the same thing, in the same way, Do something different! About the Author
4 Out Of 5 Small Businesses Go Bust
you want and quantify them where possible.
following cycle...
2. Measure (Test & Review)
3. Improve (Learn & Adjust)
says, if you simply improve by 1 percent a day,
you'll have improved 300 percent
(allowing for holidays) in a year!
fail so don't do what most other
businesses do or you'll get the same results.
business seems to advertise. Make sure
advertising will make you money.
to be the service your local Chamber of Commerce
is selling.
and cashflow is usually more important.
businesses believe more people equals
growth. More people often just means less
profit!
to the same people as every other business
like yours.
Inside 5 Years! Finally - A Guaranteed
Way To Make Sure You're Not One Of Them...
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk/toolbooks