When someone starts a business, it’s never their intent that it fails.  If you consider that  you were going to fail and that would be the outcome, you never ever would have started to begin with.  Realize that 8 out of 10 business fail in the first 5 years.  So what does that mean for you and what can you do about it?

 

 

Multiple Assaults

Starting a business should be handle much like when a country goes to war.  The generals never just go into the battle and guess what they’re going to do, they have gone to school, studied, learned their enemy and strategized.  So when they go on a mission, they know what they’re going to do and when they’re going to do it.  They know when airstrikes are going to happen, when ground troops are going in, and when to set up a M.A.S.H unit.  Because the realty of war is death and injuries.  They don’t go in half hearted to fight, it’s a full on assault.

They same has to be true for you and your new business.  You need to study!  Yes, you need to do your homework.  You need to study the enemy (your competition) and find out what he/she does well, but also what they do poorly.  You need to have a M.A.S.H. unit.  That is, you need to have your plan in place for when things don’t work the way you planned.  For example, if sales don’t come when you think they will; have resources lined up so that you don’t have to close your doors, have your car repo’d and you don’t have to lose your home.  You have got that plan in place.

Your Arsenal!

Like an army, your arsenal has to be in place.  Do you have your SEO agency in New York in place?  So that your name and your company is getting out there?  Do you have your social media marketing agency set up, so that you can get onto the social media sites and get your name out there for you.  So that when they see that little red ant, they think of you?  Are you online at all?  Do you have  your website designed and user friendly?  Is your website designed in such a way that it’s responsive to cell phones.

Is your arsenal ready?

 

 

Your Product!

The product that you’re choosing to merchandise is important.  You can have all of your ducks in a row, but have a terrible product and it never fly.  If you are one of 20 restaurants on a corner,  then it’s not necessarily how good your food is, but your location.  Are you one of 5 dentists in a strip mall?  If so, you’re going to have a hard time getting new customers over the other 4 businesses that are in your neighborhood.  Worse, is there a genuine need for what you have and what you do?  Are you feeling a void that currently exists.  This is why Microsoft worked so well.  Not only did they fill a void, but they created a need that we didn’t even know existed.  Now you can’t imagine not having a computer, let alone talking with someone around the world!

Is your product needed?

YOU Can’t Live!

That’s right, YOU can’t live without being in business for yourself.  This is a must above everything else.  Why?  Because you’re going to be working seven days a week.  You’re not going to see your family.  You’re going to miss important events.  You’re going to work late into the night and then turn around and get up early in the morning.  It’s all part of the unspoken cost of starting a business and making it work for at the very least, the first 5 years of it’s existence.  Then you might be able to start cutting back on hours…maybe.

Are You Ready?

That’s the question that remains; are YOU ready?  It’s a time of blood, sweet and tears.  It’s a time when you have a lot to loose, but you also have a lot to gain.  So do those around you, those that you live with…your family.  It’s a hard road, but if you succed…well there’s nothing better!  Ask Bill Gates!