In today’s business climate, if you are not as savvy or in the know, you might as well call it quits. For your small business to succeed, you must know the key areas of your business inside and out. If you don’t know those areas, then you must have a staff that is qualified to do the work and more.
SBA statistics show that over 90-% of start-up businesses fail in the first year. Why is this so? This happens for a number of reasons. Let’s look at the short list: Business owner’s experience, financial situation, external factors, and internal factors.
This list can be broken down on the basis of each individual small business owner. Examining the list brings to mind that there might not be enough capital to operate the business prior to becoming profitable, that is, after gross income minus all expenses, taxes, and all other financial obligations. It also brings to mind the fact that the business owner might not have prepared for external and internal factors that can affect a business, which can include staffing, timing, obligations, mandatory requirements and many other factors.
Assessing your particular business model and your business plan, marketing plan, human resources (internal and external), and your personal and business financial position is critical. You need to ascertain whether you are in the right type of industry for your skill set, or if you need to improve your job force. This is where as personal skills assessment would certainly be useful. This assessment would include your skills, strengths, weaknesses, and much more. It could help you figure out whether you are in the right business or if you should be doing something else.
A lack of access to capital is another major factor to start-up businesses failing in such a short period of time. You must determine if start-up capital resources are a negative or a positive factor. Knowing how you will create access to capital through a variety of methods is vital. Doing so will help you to stay in business longer, and become more profitable in the long run.
Karlene Sinclair-Robinson is the author of the new book”The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Alternative Funding. In addition, she is a Managing Member of KPR Funding. You can Learn More About Funding at her site or email her at info@kprfundingsolutions.com