If you learnt that for every 10 new small businesses, 8 fail within the first 24 months, what would you do?
This is a shocking fact and enough to stop many in their business pursuits. However, I saw this as a challenge and quickly resolved that my new business would not become just a statistic in two years.
When I was told this I was buoyed on by the fact that I had already done a number of things to avoid failure, but quickly realized that there was a lot more still to do.
I set myself the goal of detailing what my successful business would look like in 2 years so that I know what to aim towards. I also embarked on the following:
- Get support from an expert in establishing small businesses
- Learn about great companies and what they do
- Learn about common causes of failure and plan to avoid them
- Capture all my ideas in one place and use this list to plan my activities
To me one of the biggest benefits of being a coach was that I get to justify being coached myself by experienced coaches in their areas of expertise. I have decided that I need two coaches: one to support my coaching and another to support the first six months of establishing my business. I love to learn and I love to get things heading in the right direction from the start. The combination of these two coaches will accelerate both these loves and help me get off on the right footing.
I have a step by step approach to producing a business plan (from the Business Link course I attended) and in writing up my notes I have detailed some simple exercises to ensure I do all of the required thinking in preparation.
I am also reading books, listening to podcasts, speaking to established coaches and sharing my ideas with as many people who want to listen.
October 18, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
Yes it takes a lot of courage to set up a business. It’s a great challenge to start something from scratch. It’s a very creative thing to do I think, and often requires so many skills.
And then you need the ability to recognise where you don’t have the skills. How do you fill those skills gaps? Do you learn to do everything. It’s tempting to try to do everything when you are just starting up ifyou don’t have the funds. I’m trying to be an accountant and it’s really not a good fit!
Some of the people that I’ve met this year have been amazing. It’s been great to see the variety of businesses that people have started - any they all work, albeit in different ways.
Best of luck to all of you starting up at the moment! Like Hannah says, the stats are scary, so make sure you work out what skills you are missing and plug the gaps.
And working with a mentor I think is fabulous, really helps to have that support.
Mary.