We have all heard that most businesses fail in the first
five years. But an in-depth study conducted in 1993 by the
New Jersey Institute of Technology suggests those figures
may be a myth. They found that no more than 18% of new
companies fail during the first 8 years of business. 54%
survive more than 8 years with their original owners or a
change in ownership, and the 28% of the remaining
businesses voluntarily terminate operations without losses
to creditors.
While many of the one million people who will start
businesses in the US this year will give up, go bankrupt
and go back to the employee life, the statistics confirm
that most of those people will find new satisfaction, a
good living, and a path of pursuing their heart's desire.
In my previous article, I discussed the traits of
successful entrepreneurs. Once you've done an honest
assessment of these traits, an important exercise is to go
through a market feasibility study for your business.
Having what you think is a good idea for a business may or
may not be so good. There may be no market for your
product or service, or the competition may be too tough to
break through. You don't know until you do the research.
Spend time looking at your competition. If you're planning
on selling teapots on EBay, look at the other teapot sales
people. If you're planning on putting together a website
to sell affiliate products, look at others who do this.
Ask yourself the tough questions: Who is making money at
this? What are they doing to make money? What is the
actual cost of setting up and marketing this business?
What, realistically is my budget for marketing? Are there
gaps in my knowledge that I need to fill before a start
spending money on this business?
One of the most common mistakes of neophytes is not
spending enough time getting the facts. This can be costly.
What I have found, in most industries is that people who
are already in the business are more than happy to give you
information. Most people are not afraid that you'll use
that information to put them out of business. On the
contrary, most successful entrepreneurs share the
philosophy that "a rising tide floats all boats." In other
words, the more truly professionally behaving people there
are in this industry, the better off, we all are. Get a
mentor or a coach. Someone from the outside who can offer
advice. Even if you have to pay for it, that's money
well-spent.
Also, you may not know what you want to do, and you'll need
to do research to find out.
----------------------------------------------------
Mark Albertson is a nationally known business coach,
author, speaker and business attorney. Mark is also a radio
personality in the Seattle area, hosting KVI talk radio's
"Minding Your Business" show. Mark coaches people
interested in starting business as well as established
entrepreneurs. Visit Mark's website at
http://www.u2b-rich.com .
