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"Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You will have to sail against storms, unpredictable weather and uncertainty. If your ship sinks, it's either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again. " - Ajaero Tony Martins
This article title might sound provocative or offensive but if you can keep an open mind, you will come to appreciate my point of view.
Everyday, I come across highly motivated aspiring entrepreneurs, they have been stirred in the spirit and they are rushing out to start their own business. These new entrepreneurs possess the passion, they have fire emitting from their eyes and with this iron clad zeal, they start their own business.
One thing I have come to observe is that these new entrepreneurs usually follow a similar path. A pattern that makes true the statistics that 99% of all businesses started usually fail in their first ten years.
Meeting these entrepreneurs and studying their entrepreneurial pattern made me come up with 10 strong reasons why you will never be able to start and build a successful business.
In the process of reading this article, you are bound to either criticize me or analyze my points and see reasons with me. In either way, I will advice you keep an open mind and reflect on my point of view.
Before I proceed, I want to state clearly that starting and building a successful business is not an impossibility. Rather, it is you the entrepreneur that makes it either a possibility or an impossibility. This brings me to a quote from my most respected mentor:
"There is nothing like bad business and investment opportunities, we only have bad entrepreneurs and investors." - Robert Kiyosaki
Below are 10 reasons why I say you will never be able to start and build a successful business:
1. You are afraid of failing.
When sharing my knowledge on entrepreneurship with my protégés and I mention the fear of failure, I am often met with stiff oppositions and statements such as:
"Why should I fear failure?" "I am not afraid of failing"
The fear of failure might look like a minor problem but I bet you, it is a silent reason why you and many others will never start and build a successful business. Being afraid or doubtful is not a sin. In fact, it's natural to be afraid but the problem comes when your fear overpowers your faith. I have seen individuals with the right opportunity, the right plan, tools and everything they need to get started but they just don't want to start. Why? The reason they do not start is because they are afraid of making mistakes and failing. They keep procrastinating because the fear of failure in them is stronger than their faith.
Now how do you know you are afraid of failing? If you have attended some seminars, read a lot of books on business and entrepreneurship and you have even taken a bold step to draw a plan of the business you intend starting. Deep down in you, you know you are fully prepared to launch your business, but for some reasons best known to you, you just don't to take the leap. The leap of faith into the world of business, a world of uncertainty.
If this situation best describes you, then know that you are being held back by the fear of failure. My advice to you is this; don't ever start a business if you are afraid of failing, even if it's the world's most profitable business because you will definitely fail. Statistics reveal that nine out of every ten businesses started fail in their first five years. This simply means the odd that you might fail is high and I bet you, you can never beat this odd with fear in your eyes. So until you change your mindset and develop some winning attitudes, forget about building a business.
2. You want to "Get Rich Quick."
What is your major motivation for starting a business? Why do you want to start a business? These two questions might sound casual but their answers make big differences in the life of every entrepreneur. These questions are so important that I had to write an article on my website simply to stress their importance. I have observed that 90% of entrepreneurs start their own business just to make money and get rich quick.
Your desire to get rich will not take you far enough in business. If building a successful business is your concern, then will you need a stronger fuel to power you to your desired destination. I can't tell you what that fuel is because you have to find yours. Everybody's fuel, passion, motivation or source of inspiration can never be the same. But I bet you, that fuel can never be money. It has to be something higher than money.
So if you are going to start and build a successful business, you must abandon the get rich quick concept and focus on value creation. If you solve can a problem, create value and fill a need, solution seekers or customers will find you and when they find you, the money will follow.
3. You Lack Experience.
Most new entrepreneurs basically lack experience. When it comes to running a business, experience matters a lot. After getting the right education, the next thing is to get some real life experience. Why am I emphasizing the importance of experience? I am emphasizing the importance of experience because building a business is a game of experience. A business idea will always look exciting and positive on paper but in the real world, it's filled with ups and downs. Even if your business collapses and you lose everything, your greatest asset in starting a new business is going to be your experience. It's priceless.
In the game of raising capital for your business, you will be asked this question; "what experience do you have in running a business?
If you intend to raise capital by taking your company public, you will be asked by investors; "how many companies have you taken public." All these illustrations and questions boils down to the word "Experience."
Experience in business is measured in the number of years spent running a business, the challenges you have met and surmounted, grounds you have gained and achievements you have made. Experience entails making mistakes and learning quickly from them. It is all about knowing what works and what doesn't. For instance, I can't never compare myself with entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs because they have been in the game for years and have results to prove it.
So if you are really want to start and build a successful business, then you must be willing to learn and gain some real life experience. When I say learn, I don't mean going to a seminar or buying a book. It's beyond that. What I mean is you have to learn quickly from your real life mistakes. You have to start small, make every mistake possible, gain some experience, increase your business skills and confidence. If you learn from your mistakes, you won't repeat them. The mistakes will become priceless lessons and you will end up gaining some experience.
4. You are using the wrong marketing tool.
Another reason why you might not be able to build a successful business is that you are using the wrong marketing tool. I have seen entrepreneurs use their limited business capital to buy useless advertising slots from advertising agencies. Big time advert slots from advertising agencies are for big corporations with millions of dollars to spend, not for entrepreneurs with limited budget. Moreover, advertising agencies don't guarantee results, all they do is use your business capital to win themselves awards for creativity.
Real guerrilla marketing should reflect in the books. Successful marketing is measured by an increase in sales.
- Successful Marketing = Increase In Sales - Increase In Sales = Increase In Income - Increase In Income = Increase In Profit
If you want to succeed in business, you must know the difference between mass marketing and niche marketing. You must also strive to make sure that your marketing strategy produces result.
If you are in search of result producing marketing strategies, then I will recommend you read the book "Think Two Products Ahead" by Ben Mack. This book will expose you to a lot of marketing tools and strategies that big advertising agencies don't want you to know and how you can use these tools to increase your business profit. This book is a must have for result driven entrepreneurs.
5. You give up too easily.
A principle of life I have come to observe is this; in every profitable venture you engage yourself in, the pains will always come before the gains. That's why I said earlier that a business idea on paper is different from a real life business. A business idea will always look exciting and promising on paper but when you launch it, you begin to see challenges and problems you never expected.
This is the reason why I asked earlier in this article about your reason for starting a business. If your "why" is not strong enough, you will back down and quit along the way. In the process of starting and building a successful business, perseverance and persistence is very crucial. Every journey has a process and an end. If you want to build a great business that will outlive you, then you must be willing to stick to the process. That reminds me of another quote from my most respected mentor:
"In the game of building a success business and attaining financial freedom, the process is more important than the goal and this process surely has an end. If you stick to the process, you will hit the pot of gold." - Robert Kiyosaki
6. You lack focus.
"The sun rays do not burn until brought to a focus." - Anonymous
I can't remember who made this statement or where I came across it from but I really think it's the truth. Focus is fundamental to success in business. If you lack focus, then forget about starting and building a business. I have seen new entrepreneurs dream of owning multiple businesses. Now let me ask; how can you own multiple businesses when you have not been able to run one competently.
I have also seen some entrepreneurs start a business and quit after some years. Before you know it, they have started another business. These set of entrepreneurs are always looking for the new hot business opportunity of the month. The sad fact is that these entrepreneurs will spend their entire life building castles in the air. Instead of jumping from one business to another, why don't you simply focus and bring out the best in that single company of yours.
Remember, Bill Gates did not become rich by building multiple businesses; he became rich by building Microsoft. Michael Dell did not build multiple businesses; he focused on Dell Computer Corporation.
7. You have not developed an overall plan and strategy.
Sometimes, I am approached by highly motivated aspiring entrepreneurs who are getting ready to start their own business. "I am about quitting my job to start my own business, what advice do you have for me." This is often the question asked by these aspiring entrepreneurs and my reply to them is always this; "Do you have a plan?
Now I am throwing the same question at you "do you have a plan? Before ever starting a business, it is advisable you create a business plan, marketing plan and an overall strategy. I will never forget the words of my mentor to me with respect to building a business:
"A successful business is created before there is a business" - Robert Kiyosaki
"A poorly designed business will fail even if the business is profitable." - Robert Kiyosaki
Success in business starts with a plan and your overall plan or strategy must reflect three things; how to start the business, how to survive and how to grow or expand the business.
8. You have no set goals.
This is another reason why you will never be able to start and build a successful business. I hope you know that starting a business without a goal is like embarking on a journey without a destination. Why is a goal important? A goal is important because it is going to be your ultimate source of motivation and a check point for you.
Most people are lazy when it comes to goal setting and without goals, you will just be beating about the bush. If you study the life of great entrepreneurs, you will observe they are goal getters.
9. You want to do build a business alone.
If you are ever going to build a great business, then you must drop the do it yourself mentality. Whenever successful entrepreneurs are being interviewed, I always watch or listen with keen interest. While most individuals talk about doing things themselves, these great entrepreneurs always attribute their achievements and success to their business team.
If you are self centered or "I" conscious, then you will never go far in the business world. I have heard of self made millionaires but I don't think there is anything like a self made multi billionaire. Andrew Carnegie best explains it by saying "You cannot become super rich without first enriching others.
One secret to the success of most great entrepreneur is their ability to hire smart people and delegate certain tasks to these smart people. When you think of hiring smart people, think of Bill Gates and his Micro Kids.
10. You are not willing to pay the price.
"Every goal has a process and every process has a price." - Robert Kiyosaki
Finally, I don't need to write much on this because it is self explanatory. What is the price of being the best in school? My answer is long hours of study. What is the price of being the best in sports? My answer is hard preparation and constant practice. What is the price of starting and building a successful business from scratch? My answer is "I don't know."
In the process of building a business, there is definitely a huge price to pay. What this price is; I don't know. One unique thing about the business world is that the price for building a successful business never seems to be the same.
The price for success paid by Bill Gates is definitely different from the price paid by Ray Kroc or Steve Jobs.
All I can say is this; you will definitely not go far if you are not prepared to pay the price for success in business. Though everyone will not pay the same price, always bear in mind that you must pay a price and "with every price comes a great reward."
At this point, I want to thank you for reading. Before I drop my pen, I want you to always remember that starting and building a successful business is not an impossibility. Rather, it is the entrepreneur that makes it either a possibility or an impossibility.
And just before I drop my pen, if you really want to learn How to Start a Business from scratch; please feel free to visit our blog. In addition, you can also get quality information on How to Become a Billionaire in less than 10 years