The common reasons for business failure If you are reading this you may already have assumed you are facing business failure or you are hoping to avoid making the steps that could lead that way. I read an article recently that cautioned against risking love, health and happiness chasing a dream that was broken. Better it said to accept that one business has failed and to close down and start again, having learned the lessons. It is a fact that many small business that set up are closed down again within three years. The harsh reality is that all businesses fail but a disproportionate of small businesses struggle because they simply do not have the resources which larger companies have to get them through the hard times. Of course business failure does not always occur because of something that you have done in your business. In [...] Continue Reading…

A few weeks back I had a meeting with an extremely successful company that was facing a very common problem.  They have an in house IT person (just one), and a marketing director as well.  Both of them were on payroll earning a very nice salary by the majority of people’s standards.  The CEO of this company, however, has not been very happy with either of these 2 people’s results, and this is having the end result of hurting both the company’s top and bottom lines.  In order to set up more accountability for each department within the company, the people in charge of management have requested a detailed listing of the scope of responsibilities and planning that every department has.  Despite having requested this several weeks prior to my meeting, they continue to wait for these things to be delivered.I write frequently about how important it is to [...] Continue Reading…

There are many ways to set up a business model, and more are developed every day with the growth of the world wide web. The classic brick-and-mortar storefronts, pure service ventures, and manufacturing and warehouse models still exist, but have been expanded from their classic versions to remain competitive in today’s environment. In addition, purely web-based businesses and incorporating internet opportunities into the classic models have been added to the mix. These various distribution channels serve to both multiply the startup opportunities and increase competition for consumer spending. With so many options available for how you set up your business, it is critical to consider which alternative best fits both your personality and your business idea. If you are looking forward to working with the public and doing something different every day, a purely online business is probably not for you. If you are eager to work independently with [...] Continue Reading…

A business plan’s table of contents is presented just after the cover sheet, giving a full overview of the sections within the plan. Why, you might ask, is a table of contents needed if the plan is intended to be read straight through, from start to finish, by its audience of potential funders? The reality is that readers will often want to jump around during and after their reading of the plan if they become engaged enough to consider it an option for funding. Looking at Strategic FitReaders will be concerned with the strategic fit of your business concept. Strategic fit is how the activities of your organization work in concert to contribute to your competitive advantage. For example, if the competitive advantage discussed in your competitive analysis describes building a premium brand based on high quality, discussion of coupons and rampant discounting in your marketing plan may not [...] Continue Reading…