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Being Stressed Out May Not Be All That Bad
Being Stressed Out May Not Be All That Bad by Marilyn Manning, Ph.D. Stress is like measles - contagious. But unlike most cases of measles, stress can be deadly. So, what do we do about this all-too-common ailment of modern business? Learn to use...
Book Summary: Mind Your Own Business
This article is based on the following book: Mind Your Own Business A Maverick’s Guide to Business, Leadership and Life By Sidney Harman Doubleday & Company, Inc., 2003 ISBN 0-385-50959-6 208 pages A maverick is an independent person who will...
Cultivating Your Pathway to Success: Don’t Leave Your Company’s Future to Chance
Any successful CEO, president or business owner will tell you, operating a business is a formidable task. Every day brings an endless blizzard of problems, decisions and meetings. It can be easy to lose sight of one of the most important tasks...
How to Develop Multiple Streams of $100,000+ Home Business Income
Got a home business? Want a six-figure income? The sure route to home business wealth is to think "multiple," as in multiple streams of income. You can easily develop new income streams if you do two things: * find new ways to get customers; *...
When and Where the Affluent Shop for December Holiday Gifts
The majority of the affluent will do most of their shopping for holiday gifts during the first two weeks of December, and traditional department stores will be the most important source of gifts, based on dollars spent, according to a recent...
 
Small Business Q & A: The Business Autopsy: A Fact Of Life

Last week we discussed the importance of performing an autopsy
on a dead business. No, I haven't been watching too many of
those wonderfully graphic, TV forensic investigation shows. The
reason I recommend you do a business autopsy is to uncover the
exact reasons why the business died. This is valuable information
that can not only heal feelings of personal failure, but also
better prepare you for the pitfalls of business should you ever
take the plunge again.

Starting a business is never easy and the odds of your success
or failure are about even money. The fact is, approximately
half of all small businesses fail within the first four years.
And a large percentage of those failures occur within the first
year. These are the statistics that keep many entrepreneurs
awake at night. Like Sisyphus, always pushing that boulder to
the top of the hill only to have it tumble back to the bottom
each time, you never know when you're going to lose your grip
on your business and have it tumble back over you.

OK, so far in this column I have managed to squeeze in references
to modern American television and ancient Greek mythology. Enough
highbrow beating around the bush. Perform the autopsy and learn
from it. Only by knowing the real reasons your business died
can you identify and hopefully stave off those maladies before
they take you down next time, if there is a next time. And if
you're a true entrepreneur there will be a next time, trust me
on this.

There are many reasons why businesses fail, but according to a
recent survey by U.S. Bank, the majority of business failures
can be attributed to three reasons: bad management, bad financial
planning, and bad marketing.

Bad management comes in many forms. The survey showed that
seventy-eight percent of the business failures examined were due
in part to the lack of a well-developed business plan and a
business owner who had no business being in the business he was
in. In other words, the business owner did not have an adequate
knowledge or a thorough understanding of the business he had
chosen to start. This is why software entrepreneurs like me
don't start shoe stores. I have feet, I wear shoes. That's
not enough to qualify me to go into the shoe business.

Next, seventy-three percent of the business failures in the
survey were also manned by owners with rose colored calculators.
These business owners over-estimated revenue projections (the
number of expected sales) and under-estimated the burn rate
(the amount of money required to sustain the business per month).

It gets better. Seventy percent of the failed businesses in the
study were led by entrepreneurs who were in denial regarding
their own competence, or more to the point, their own incompetence.
These business owners either didn't recognize or chose to ignore
their own entrepreneurial shortcomings. These entrepreneurs also
did not seek assistance from others who might have made up for
their inadequacies. It's sometimes hard to ask for help when you
are supposed to be the one with all the answers.

Believe me, I know.

The final contributing factor to the death of sixty-three percent
of the businesses who died from bad


management was that the owners
had no relevant or applicable business experience.

Bad financial planning was the second reason sited by the survey
as to why most businesses fail. In business, it's always about
money. According to the U.S. Bank study, eighty-two percent of
the business failures studied reported poor cash flow management
as a contributing factor to the death of the business.

Seventy-nine percent of the businesses were inadequately funded,
and seventy-seven percent miscalculated the cost of doing business.
In other words, they failed to take into account all of the costs
involved when setting the price for their products.

Let's move on to my favorite subject: bad marketing. You've
heard me preach this sermon before. You can have the greatest
product in the world, but if your marketing efforts are inadequate
or ineffective you will end up with a warehouse full of the
greatest product that no one in the world has ever heard of.

The study showed that bad marketing was a contributing factor in
the death of sixty-four percent of the businesses surveyed.
Many of these misguided entrepreneurs either minimized the
importance of marketing and promotion or ignored it totally.

A vital part of marketing is knowing who your competition is and
always knowing what they are up to. The entrepreneur who ignores
his competition is a fool (gee, was that too harsh?) and is always
destined to fail, as proven by the fifty-five percent of the dead
businesses in the survey who either didn't even know who their
competition was or simply chose to ignore the competition
altogether.

Here's a nice hole in the sand for you, sir.

Please insert your head…

Another mistake made by forty-seven percent of the deceased
businesses was that they relied on just one or two customers for
the bulk of revenues. This is a common mistake made by many
business owners who devote all their energy to one huge client.
What they don't seem to understand is that if that one customer
goes away, so does most of their revenue.

When performing your business autopsy you might identify other
contributing factors that were beyond your control, such as a
down economy, the lack of qualified employees, new government
regulations that negatively affect the way you must do business,
the failure of a strategic partner, etc..

There will always be things you can't control. The key to
business success is to keep control of those things you can and
do everything you can to prepare for those things you can't.

Next time we'll discuss a few things you should and should not
do to help ensure your business success.

Here's to your success.

Tim Knox
tim@dropshipwholesale.net
For information on starting your own online or eBay business,
visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

About the Author

Tim Knox as the president and CEO of two successful technology
companies: B2Secure Inc., a Web-based hiring management software
company; and Digital Graphiti Inc., a software development company.
Tim is also the founder of dropshipwholesale.net, an ebusiness
dedicated to the success of online entrepreneurs.
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com

 

Strategic Planning (in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (including key terms to know)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... Strategic planning often includes use of several key terms. ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
Strategic Planning, Strategic Plan, Business Strategy, Strategic ...
Strategic planning advice with free strategic planner & sample strategic plan covering mission statement, SWOT analysis with business plan software for cash ...
www.planware.org
 
Strategic Planning
FAQs regarding strategic planning - geared primarily toward non-profit organizations but with enough detail and general information to provide useful ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Frequently Asked Questions
Strategic Planning · Fundraising · Financial Management · Risk Management · Credit Card Acceptance. The FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) listed on this ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Strategic planning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strategic planning involves defining objectives and developing ... Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
08/26/96 STRATEGIC PLANNING
You guessed it: strategic planning. Suddenly, the idea of rising above the ... But if strategic planning is back with a vengeance, it's also back with a ...
www.businessweek.com
 
Dr. Strategy - Dr. Pete Johnson, Keynote Speaker, Marketing ...
StrategicPlanning.com “Turning Change Into A Competitive Advantage”. Dr. Pete's Preview Video Click Here. Take-Away Value Sample Program Handouts ...
strategicplanning.com
 
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation.
www.sps.org.uk
 
Guide 7
Strategic Planning in Smaller Nonprofit Organizations ... In short, as a result of a strategic planning process, an organization will have a clearer idea of ...
www.wmich.edu
 
STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document.
 
BPubs.com: Strategic Planning & Business Planning Articles
Business Publications related to Corporate Strategic Planning.
www.bpubs.com
 
Strategic Planning Tools
Strategic Planning is a method for positioning an organization to take ... A strategic planning process incorporates an in-depth planning model that takes ...
www.nsba.org
 
Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.
The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning offers training, seminars, consulting, speakers, workshops, a book and a newsletter on strategic management for ...
www.cssp.com
 
LEADERSHIP: Strategic Planning and Strategic Management
Introduction: Is strategic planning really worth it? ... The purpose of strategic planning is to encourage thinking about your organization's "big ...
vskn.ca
 
The CEO Refresher Archives - Strategic Planning
When done right, the integrated strategic planning process can take a ... Strategic Planning and Project Management: The Key to Successful Implementation ...
www.refresher.com
 
HEFCE : Publications : 2000 : 00/24 - Strategic planning in higher ...
This guide reviews good practice in strategic planning in higher education (HE). It originated in a consultation exercise which we held in 1998 to review ...
www.hefce.ac.uk
 
The Association for Strategic Planning
The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), is a non-profit professional society whose mission is to enable people and organizations to succeed through ...
www.strategyplus.org
 
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A ...
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook: Books: Michael Allison,Jude Kaye by Michael Allison,Jude Kaye.
www.amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for ...
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!: Books: Robert W. Bradford,Robert W. Bradford,J. Peter ...
www.amazon.com
 
 

 
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