Most importantly, it is better to cross-check whether you are committing some of the reasons for entrepreneur failures across the world. This includes:
1. No Importance of Target Market
Many entrepreneurs seem to fall in love with their products/creations. The feeling of having created something overwhelms their sensibilities. They forget that for commercial success every product or service, no matter how great, needs a target market. Similarly, some entrepreneurs launch businesses without defining what constitutes their core/target market.
2. Getting Dejected by Early Failures
The biggest of brands and the most worshiped of business gurus faced failure during their initial days. So, what makes you different? Why do you need a guarantee that losses will never come knocking on your door? The learning curve is essentially the same for everybody. Entrepreneurs who aren’t ready for the drill shouldn’t consider themselves as long-term players. “No Pain, No Gain” isn’t just a gyming quote fad, it is a truth about life, including running a business.
3. Running Excessive Overhead Costs
Every start-up needs to go through a phase of financial crunches, breaking even and entering profitability. Unless an entrepreneur is backed by daddy’s unending money resources, it doesn’t make sense to operate in a lavish manner. Recruiting staff beyond the immediate requirement and allowing overheads to exceed the initial estimate starts eating into financial stability.
4. Inability to Lead When Difficulties Arrive
An entrepreneur is expected to take harsh decisions. However, many new startup owners lack this skill. They cannot remove unwanted employees, cutback on supplies or correct the problems at the grassroots. Communication without conviction and taking half-hearted measures leads to critical decisions being procrastinated, causing business losses.
5. Failure to Market Aggressively
Having created a great product doesn’t guarantee success to anybody. You need to market it and make investors and consumers realize its uniqueness. Many entrepreneurs tend to sit back, smugly confident that the “greatness” of their idea will magnetize investors and sales.
6. Getting Obsessed with Profits too Early
Profitability in a start-up doesn’t come easy. When it does arrive, entrepreneurs tend to jump towards saving and spending. What they don’t realize is that they need to invest in sustaining the prospect of their business. A new business needs constant financial boosts until it becomes well-oiled, profitable machinery.
7. Lacking the Will to Sell
Some entrepreneurs fail for a rather basic and stupid reason, i.e. they never yearned to become an entrepreneur. These are folks who became entrepreneurs under the illusion of success coming easily to those who were their own boss. People who aren’t ready to pamper the customer’s ego shouldn’t turn into industrialists or service providers. If someone is pathologically hesitant to reach out to people and work around the clock, becoming an entrepreneur shouldn’t even be a consideration. A better option would be to find a regular, desk job.
8. Dreaming Beyond Their Horizon
Yes, entrepreneurs are supposed to dream big but this wisdom holds true when they are ready to dream big about capturing a bigger market and providing better customer service. Dreaming about too many supplementary sources of income or trying to divide the current resources for things that aren’t related to the core business idea slowly infects a business. It is better to stick to the identity that defines a business and improve upon it rather than divide your focus.
9. Inability to Communicate Effectively
Communication is the pivot of all forms of management and running a business too requires effective communication. Entrepreneurs often fail since they don’t know how to communicate with purpose. This isn’t limited to employees or supply vendors. It also refers to communicating to their audience, financing authorities, probable investors and people who have supported them in launching the business.
10. Not Being Humble to Customers
Many new entrepreneurs suffer from the misconception that the grandeur of their business plan or the exclusiveness of their product means that customers are going to appease them. There is virtually no business niche today that has been able to maintain its monopoly. The biggest and best of business ideas get replicated within weeks of engaging the initial hysteria. Why would customers stick to an uncaring entrepreneur when a more welcoming competitor is humbly waiting?
11. Aiming for Glory without Gumption
Many new entrepreneurs are guilty of starting with a reservoir of creative, positive energy but losing their strength when reality hits them hard. Initial failures are synonymous with start-ups across the world. People who aren’t ready to invest their time and energy for the long haul shouldn’t enter this niche. Expecting recognition for their sacrifices and thinking of quitting when the going gets tough are not the traits associated with a successful entrepreneur.
