| By :
Andy Grant
The number of failed businesses is truly staggering, and I would argue that it has little to do with the economy and everything to do with the intentions of the aspiring entrepreneur. If you're considering starting your own business, this case study should shed some light on the matter, as well as assisting you to see whether or not you're truly cut out for entrepreneurship. Recently, a local business in my town closed up shop. They had only been open for about six months, which is an extremely short life span for a brick-and-mortar kind of business. During a somewhat lengthy conversation with the former owners of this used bookstore, I gained a tremendous amount of insight into the mind of the "casual entrepreneur." This particular couple was remarkably nonchalant about their brief parlay into the business world. When I asked them why they thought the business failed, these are the reasons they gave me (each is followed by logic that actually disproves their perception). 1. The economy. In fact, the economy was in the same shape six months prior, when they first opened up shop. 2. People don't read books anymore. If it's longer than a Twitter post, forget it. Not true. Our local library has added 5 new self-checkout stations, and I still have to stand in line every time I visit. 3. People don't spend money on books. There's a long line every time I visit a Borders bookstore (even during the day on a weekday), so clearly many people are continuing to spend money on books. Additionally, Amazon seems to be holding its own. 4. Troublesome marketing. (I won't bore you with the details here, but let's just say based on what I learned from talking to them, it sounds like they really did give this part the ol' college try.) 5. Location. Other shops in the shopping area had recently closed, which meant less foot traffic in and around their store. When I asked them why they opened the store to begin with, what drew them to this idea, this is what they said: 1. They like books. 2. They thought it would be fun to own a book shop. 3. The town didn't already have a used bookstore What they didn't know (and apparently didn't bother to research), is that the 20+ year old used/new bookstore in town had closed up about 3 years ago AND the Borders Outlet at the outlet mall in town had also recently closed its doors. Then this is the part of the conversation that still haunts me -- the whole reason why I had to share this story with you. The wife said, "We knew we wouldn't get rich -- but we figured we'd make a couple of bucks." Can you see anything wrong with this scenario? Setting aside the obvious question (who goes into business to make just a couple of bucks?) look at how low the bar was set. Notice the weak motivation for going into business in the first place. There was no sense of passion, drive, intuition, plus minimal planning, and very little risk/investment. Where are the factors pointing toward their certain success? What was there mindset upon launching this business? The network marketing industry has a lot of "failure" stories that sound a lot like this one. Lack of clear goals/vision, lack of motivation, poor planning, no inspiration, etc. The bottom line is that starting a business -- any kind of business -- takes work. But the more invested you are (with passion, purpose, vision, something at stake or at risk, plus inspiration), the less it feels like work and the easier it is to succeed. If you're considering starting your own business, ask yourself these fundamental questions: 1 - Why do you want your own business? 2 - What are your goals? 3 - How will you know when you are successful? 4 - What is your level of passion and what kind of time, money and effort are you willing to commit to achieve that level of success? If any of your answers fall flat, odds are you are not cut out for entrepreneurship. If that's the case, you can save yourself a lot of pain and heartache (and money) by sticking with a job. But if you have passion and purpose, commitment and goals, then you can achieve your dreams as an entrepreneur. The choice is up to you.
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