5 Reasons Why Businesses Fail And How To Avoid Them!

Success and failure are more closely connected than you may think. As we all strive for success, we fear failure. To fail is to be seen as inadequate by those who look to you as a professional entrepreneur. No one wants that reputation.

Wrap your head around this analogy; to succeed in business, you must fail at something, learn from it, and act to improve. It’s a valuable lesson and one that must not be ignored.

Every successful business owner will have failed at some point along the way to success. They probably still make mistakes to this day. It’s easy to pinpoint your failures and only see the best in others. Relatable, right? If so, it’s time to switch your mindset to focus on the positives (vision, mission, goals, etc.) as a means to develop the best possible attitude to success.

There’s not a day goes by that I don’t recall a strategy in my business plan that needs tweaking. Nothing is set in stone, especially when it comes to marketing your business. You are going to make mistakes. Make peace with that. It’s what you do with that information that will make or break your business. At the same time, however, it’s impossible to achieve success if we’re not aware of the common pitfalls that make businesses fail every day and take action to avoid them.

So without further ado, let’s explore those five main reasons:

1) Having an end goal, but no strategy!

All my clients want to be successful. They have a clear image in mind of where they want to be (swimming in leads and sales, no doubt!). Yet few have built up a strategy and action plan needed to progress. You can’t just set goals without any strategic thought or plan on how to achieve them. Success isn’t a game of chance. As the saying goes “Fail to plan, prepare to fail.” That’s why people hire me!

Let’s go back to basics for a moment. You first need to know what success looks like. Funnily enough, this comes from taking a close look at your competitors. A deep understanding here is key. Don’t just look at what they are doing and copy. Any person with half a brain cell can do that and do ‘okay’ in business. Instead, find out what you have that they don’t. Client reviews? Proven results? Competitive pricing? If that's you, shout about it. Let people know that you are a business of choice. Not having a strategy in place is a major source of stress, mistakes, conflict and blame in business.

2) Hiring the wrong people

Hiring is a necessity for any growing business, period. When you feel your workload increase due to new business or the loss of a member of staff, stress levels reach an all-time high. The result? The pressure placed on your employees to meet deadlines starts to mount, relationships falter and productivity declines. This is where Managers slip up by hiring the first available candidate to deal with customer demand.

Of course, you need to recruit, but there’s no reason to settle for second best. “It’s taking too long to find the right fit” is common rationale. You don’t want to hire someone with no competitive drive, ambitions, skills, etc. And, of course, some Managers will settle for a candidate because of low salary expectations, which is always a recruitment blunder. If they are an impressive candidate with low expectations (salary-wise!), go ahead.

But to hire someone based on salary alone is a mistake. Go for the candidate that is going to increase your profitability. One rule I always follow is “hire the person who knows what you don’t.” They will bring with them fresh ideas, skills and concepts that you are yet to consider.

3) Not trusting your team

You can’t manage everything in business - you will implode! Get used to delegating tasks to your workforce (sales, admin, marketing, finance, etc.) based on their skills and experience. The perfectionist inside you may be dying to take control. Resist the urge.

As a team leader, if you feel you can’t trust your staff, you either have serious trust issues, or you have hired the wrong candidates for the job. Either way, to rebuild trust, you should offer your staff direction to ensure they know precisely what is expected of them. Learn to let go of minor tasks that kill your time and kick politics to the curb.

Struggling to manage demand in-house?

Perhaps it’s time to turn to an agency for support in the areas you are lacking. Marketing can be complicated at the best of times. In recent months, it appears that Google has decided to throw away to rule book and rankings are bouncing all over the place. It’s chaotic! *sigh*

Having the support and guidance of a professional marketing agency can make all the difference. They can manage everything for you and will keep you in the loop with the progression of your campaign. However, I will say, careful consideration is required to find the right one for your business.

Like anything, in SEO there are so many fakes. “We promise to get you ranking at the top of Google in days!” These guys are the ones to avoid. I have been in the business for many years (more than I care to admit!), and I can promise you will not find success in the hands of these agencies. Instead, work with an honest company who sets your expectations from the very start. If you are looking for a little help in the art of SEO, I’d love to help!

4) Not dealing with disagreements

Any disagreement in business should be handled with care. Two people may be working toward a common goal. However, without an agreed strategy, disagreements start to arise and frustrations put a stopper in the road to success. To handle this type of disagreement, businesses should hold a strategy meeting to discuss working methods, brainstorm and bounce ideas off one another. There may be a way you can come together with a combined strategy to cover all basis.

5) Letting guilt cloud your better judgement

When a business has been subject to one of the above failings, leadership is a fundamental part of the problem. At this point in business, you are often faced with a terrible decision like “How do I let this person go? Can we make some redundancies?” Yes, this is a terrible position to be in, but people are looking to you to make the call.

Let’s say you have a member of staff who has been with you some time. Recently though, they are causing drama in the workplace and letting relationships get in the way of productivity. They feel safe in the knowledge that you can’t possibly get rid of your most loyal employee - right?

You need to make a decision. It’s tough, yes. This is often what makes you more respected as a professional business owner. My suggestion? Bite the bullet; think about the future of your business and the impact on your staff.

Your business should not get to this point. If it does though, don’t panic. You are not the first, and you will not be the last, to run into problems. These stumbling blocks are what will make your business stronger. Once you make a mistake onceMistakes are natural… they are an inevitable part of owning a business – I know I’ve made plenty, BUT I want to give you some advice that will SAVE you tons of time and money. 😱

That’s right, I’m going to share with you my best advice on avoiding business failure and mistakes that kill so many online businesses every day. Get your business off to a head start in 2019!, learn from it and move on. It’s really that simple.

Anything to add? Can you offer any advice to readers? Please share in the comments.