Is Your Start Up Going To Fail? Here Are The Signs
I am not going to pretend it's all sunshine and rainbows when beginning a business. It hardly ever is. It's more of sunshine, thunderstorm, thunderstorm, hurricane, whirlwind and rainbows. The failure of some start-ups could cause the owner more than just the financial pain. It's an unpredictable world out there, but the signs of a failed start up remain the same.
Below are some signs you should look out for, and nip in the bud before it destroys your business.
Sign 1: Your initial idea is still the present idea:
Below are some signs you should look out for, and nip in the bud before it destroys your business.
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A lot has been said about flexibility and adaptability. Sometimes people have a sentimental attachment to their original idea, they tell themselves that the idea must be a strong one for it to have held out for that long. They fail to realize that the world changes everyday and people come up with new ideas that may just be better than what they are offering.
To avoid failures, businesses should learn to evolve over time. Take the new and fuse it with the old to create the perfect mix. Take time to reevaluate initial ideas, target markets and competition. Then take the present day into consideration and adapt the original idea to fit the present day.
Sign 2: Consumers Fail To Talk About Your Service :
Consumer reaction is perhaps the most important indicator of the success of a business. Your consumer is your first tool of marketing. Rookie entrepreneurs focus more on the quantity of consumers ( because it equals more money) than the quality they offer. If what Mr A is offering is not different from what Mr Z is offering, then I guess there isn't much to be said about Mr A that has not already been said about Mr Z. What sets you apart as a business? What is that thing the consumers talk endlessly about that you offer? Do they leave reviews on your products? Are they coming back for more? Are they engaging you on social media? If nothing good is being said about you, it's a bad sign.
Sign 3: You Always Have To Employ New Staff:
If you're constantly employing new staff ( not because the business is growing at an alarming rate) , maybe you should take a step back and think about it. It's not a rare occurrence for it to happen in relatively new start-ups but it becomes an anomaly when your business has been around for quite a while a you are still playing the "hire-fire" or "I quit-you're employed" game. Stability is needed for the success of businesses and if your staff keep leaving, it could be because the jobs are too demanding or confusing or that they can see the impending doom of the business. Certainly not a good sign that one.
Sign 4: You Don't Know If You're Progressing Or Regressing :
Another rookie mistake made by start-ups is when they place emphasis more on quantity sold than profit made. We get it, you're trying to offer a cheaper alternative to the products already available so you can get more customers. But at what cost? You may be making less profit than is needed to run the business. In your head, the number of customers is increasing but the revenue generated is not really encouraging. At that point, you really don't know if you're going forward or moving backwards. If you can't exactly say how your business is doing at a point in time, it smacks of bad leadership and that is part of the recipe for a failed business .
To avoid failures, businesses should learn to evolve over time. Take the new and fuse it with the old to create the perfect mix. Take time to reevaluate initial ideas, target markets and competition. Then take the present day into consideration and adapt the original idea to fit the present day.
Sign 2: Consumers Fail To Talk About Your Service :
Consumer reaction is perhaps the most important indicator of the success of a business. Your consumer is your first tool of marketing. Rookie entrepreneurs focus more on the quantity of consumers ( because it equals more money) than the quality they offer. If what Mr A is offering is not different from what Mr Z is offering, then I guess there isn't much to be said about Mr A that has not already been said about Mr Z. What sets you apart as a business? What is that thing the consumers talk endlessly about that you offer? Do they leave reviews on your products? Are they coming back for more? Are they engaging you on social media? If nothing good is being said about you, it's a bad sign.
Sign 3: You Always Have To Employ New Staff:
If you're constantly employing new staff ( not because the business is growing at an alarming rate) , maybe you should take a step back and think about it. It's not a rare occurrence for it to happen in relatively new start-ups but it becomes an anomaly when your business has been around for quite a while a you are still playing the "hire-fire" or "I quit-you're employed" game. Stability is needed for the success of businesses and if your staff keep leaving, it could be because the jobs are too demanding or confusing or that they can see the impending doom of the business. Certainly not a good sign that one.
Sign 4: You Don't Know If You're Progressing Or Regressing :
Another rookie mistake made by start-ups is when they place emphasis more on quantity sold than profit made. We get it, you're trying to offer a cheaper alternative to the products already available so you can get more customers. But at what cost? You may be making less profit than is needed to run the business. In your head, the number of customers is increasing but the revenue generated is not really encouraging. At that point, you really don't know if you're going forward or moving backwards. If you can't exactly say how your business is doing at a point in time, it smacks of bad leadership and that is part of the recipe for a failed business .
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