Starting A New Venture Can Be A Risky Business

It's true, that starting a business is relatively easy. Keeping it alive is the difficult challenge.

At one time or another, most of us have had a dream or vision of being our own boss, and having the freedom to be in charge of our lives. However, the undisputed reality is that most people going into business will not succeed. Here are the hard facts.

1 out of 3 will close their doors within 6 months *
3 out of 4 will fail within the first 5 years *
9 out of 10 will eventually CLOSE *
50% will fail in less than 2 years (INC. Magazine)
75% of all new business firms will fail in the first 3 years (Dun & Bradstreet)

* Small Business Administration/US Government

The statistics may vary depending on the criteria used to define failure. But the point is, most business ventures do not survive.

Why Do Businesses Fail?

It would be unfair to suggest that any one reason is the culprit. But here are some of the most common reasons why many business ventures fail:

• Lack of management systems
• Lack of vision and purpose by owner
• Lack of financial planning and control
• Over dependence on specific individuals in the business
• Poor market segmentation, strategy and planning
• Inability to establish or communicate company goals
• Lack of knowledge about the market and the competition
• Lack of funds, or inadequate capitalization
• Absence of a standardized product/service quality program
• Mistrust of other business people
• The owner(s) concentrating on the technical rather than the strategic work to be done
• Inability to attract and maintain highly skilled people

There are all kinds of resources associated with business startups. All levels of Government have agencies that try and provide support and assistance in the startup phase. However, where does a business owner turn to, when the business is running into difficulty and trying to survive? Most of these agencies are equipped to help start-ups, not businesses in trouble.

Helplessness set's in and often what inevitably follows is...

How can you avoid this?