Part 8: Did Your Start-Up Fail? Here's Why

Hey there! Welcome back to another post. I am Hari, your guide to lead your business to success. (A creative intro! Finally!) We have reached the eighth post in this series of nine posts. If this is the first post you are reading, I would advise you to start at this post. In today's post, we will look at the possible reasons why your business might have failed and see how you can recover from them. Without wasting any more time, let's get straight into it.

After Everything I Did Right, Why did I Fail?

There are many reasons why your business could have failed. Maybe the market did not favour you, or there was a crisis in your region of operation. I will shed more light on some reasons why your business might have failed and how you could recuperate from them.

Lack of Instinct

This is often a problem for new entrepreneurs. They are not experienced enough to have the foresight and instinct that experienced businessmen possess. You are not to be blamed because your first business is prone to failure due to this fact. Instead of looking at your failure as a failure, think of it as a stepping stone towards success. Use it as a scaffolding to learn practical entrepreneurship.

From the experiences you gain from your first business, analyse what you did right and what you could have done better. Instead of losing heart, apply all this newfound knowledge to your next business. You would surely succeed! 

Lack of Funds

This is a problem for many start-up entrepreneurs who think accounting is an unnecessary expense of time. They think that they can remember all the financial information in their heads. This makes it more complicated for entrepreneurs to keep track of many things at once. The result of all this could be insufficient funds, too much expenditure, overspending, etc.

The easiest way to prevent this would be to hold an accounting ledger or a simple cash flow monitoring book. These tools will help you to have more control over expenses, incomes, etc. As and when you require finance, you can prepare for a loan. This way, you can never face a lack of funds. 

However, even after all this, if you face a lack of funds and close down, you should reflect on the reasons that could have brought you here. Understand what you could improve and implement it in your next business. The point remains that you should Never Give Up!

Loss of Interest

This is rare because entrepreneurship is usually done out of a passion for something. Loss of interest could harm your business because you aren't motivated to improve or grow. This will stagnate your business and gradually bring about its decline. You are not to blame. You might have lost interest because your passion changed, or you became bored and wanted change. What you can learn from your first business is priceless. The experience and skills you pick up along the way are unmatchable. So, don't hesitate to start your business thinking one fine day you would lose interest. The knowledge you gain from it is more valuable than the effort put in.  

External Factors

These are not under your control. External factors could include economic slumps, inflation, pandemics, etc. Operating a start-up is riskier in an economically unstable condition. During the pandemic, many businesses (both small and big) were impacted. Many of them closed down due to the lack of sales, revenue and customers. It is hard for new entrepreneurs to navigate their start-ups through such precarious conditions. However, the industries that thrive in almost every condition are:

• Food industry
• Health (Medical) Industry
• Education industry

If you want to ensure your business succeeds, your path should align with any of these industries because they are sure to operate in even the worst conditions.

In this post, we discussed a few reasons why your business might have failed and how you can recuperate from them. With this post, I officially come to the end of giving you valuable information and tips to drive your business towards success. In my final post, I will be sharing the key takeaways and experience I gained from my business project: The iKeme Store. Stay tuned for it, and thank you for following this blog so far.

Final post (not yet published): https://thebusinessbot.blogspot.com/2021/09/takeaways-and-experiences.html