Small Business

80 % OF SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL IN THE FIRST 18 MONTHS

Why?  They don’t have the proper tools in place to reach critical business objectives.  This puts them on an inevitable path to failure.  Behavioral decision making causes many of these challenges.

One example of behavioral decision making is deciding to open a business because you like it.  For instance, you are an avid photographer and a lot of your friends have told you that you’re as good a professional, so you decide to open a photography shop downtown and sell your photos.  You’re excited and you buy frames, counters, display cabinets and rent a retail space right in the heart of downtown.  If you offer it they will come.

Planning and research will help mitigate the chance of failure if you spend the time before you spend a dime.  These are just some of the challenges you have to consider:

Entrepreneurial:

  • Is there a Need for your service or product?
  • Can you spend 18 hours a day on the project?
  • How committed are you?
  • How passionate are you?
  • How much are you willing to risk to make the business succeed?
  • Customer service
  • Technology
  • Internet
  • Website
  • Utilities
  • Rent
  • Location
  • Insurance
    •   fire, theft
    •   liability
  • Furniture, fixtures
  • Telephone

Legal And Financial:

  • Did you prepare a budget?
  • Did you do a pro forma P&L?
  • Do you have an accountant?
  • Do you know whether or not you need an accountant?
  • Do you have a plan for handling employment taxes, FICA and Social Security?
  • Pricing
  • Managing finances
  • Registration
    •  State
    •  Federal
    •  Licensing
      •  Business
      •   Other

Operations:

  • How do you plan to comply with employment laws?
  • What is your payroll system?
  • What benefits will you offer?
  • Training
  • Managing inventory
  • Promotion
    •   Announcements
    •    Advertising  Business card ads.
    •     local flyers
    •      10% off
    •       Grand opening
    •        Coffee and donuts
    •         social media
    •         email marketing
    •         coupons
    •          signs
    •          community organizations
  • Falling prey to predatory helpers
  • Falling prey to the FB myth.

These are just some….But each point above is a topic in our course.   We give you a roadmap. 

The most common reasons small businesses fail are a lack of capital or funding, poor management, a faulty infrastructure or business model, and unsuccessful marketing. We take them piece by piece. 

The tools to put you on the road to success are not rocket science.  We show you the how and the what. 

 

 Research, Plan, Prepare