Is why it does.
A statistic that most entrepreneurs and business owners have heard is that 80% of businesses go bust in their first 5 years and yet knowing that didn’t stop any of them from starting one, this is most likely down to the fact that they are a positive bunch of know it all’s and none of them think this will happen to them.
That should be interesting, that 80% go bust and 80% don’t think they will, that can’t be a coincidence can it.
I have been developing people and business for over 25 years now and for the last 10 have worked with Entrepreneur’s MD’s and CEO’s helping them gain clarity on what is likely to go wrong in their specific business that could and them and identifying the things that are holding them back, and something I can tell you categorically is that none of the people I have helped in that time thought they were doing anything wrong.
Stop and think about that for a moment, 80% go bust, 80% think it won’t happen to them and none of them think the problem is them.
Change the question, why do the 20% make it past 5 years?
What sets them apart?
From my experience I would say it is down to self-awareness, the 20% figure out in time that they are in charge and therefore responsible for making sure things don’t go wrong and for creating an environment where the business can grow sustainably.
Let me put that another way, 20% eventually work out that they don’t know it all, they grasp that if they already knew what they needed to know to be where they wanted to be they would be there.
If you are a business owner and you are reading this and you think I am wrong, you have a right to your opinion, so do all the people who think not vaccinating children against measles is a good idea, to put that in perspective my Sister is a Doctor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and on a believability matrix her opinion carries far more weight than a non-medical professional no matter how strong their belief is that they are doing the right thing.
So, what is your business education, how much time have you spent studying, actually studying not just working in the industry, the competition, the economy, leadership, management, process, systemisation or sales and marketing?
The fact is that no matter how long you have been in business, no matter how successful you have been so far the statistics say that the chances of you getting something catastrophically wrong in good times is 80%, in bad times it’s a lot higher than that.
Still think it won’t happen to you. I hope you are right, but I would suggest you would be best served by continuously learning more about business, leadership, and management so that you can at least swing the odds in your favour.
If you want to start that journey, get in touch and let’s have a conversation to see if I am the right person to help you with that.
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