Past mistakes do not define you
Business failures
More than 80% of adults want to start their own businesses, but only 5% of them actually make it to the starting block. This small group forms 95% of all companies and are classified as small to medium size companies. This means they have less than 50 employees. Unfortunately, more than 50% of these small businesses do not survive their 5th birthdays.
If these companies are humans, we will be talking about a crisis or even an epidemic of humongous proportions. The end of these businesses are not just statistics, these are dreams of people shattered, inheritance lost and hearts broken as a result of the needs to pursue our purpose in life as human beings.
There are many reasons why businesses fail, these reasons vary and it is difficult to pinpoint any particular reason or justification for the failures of these organisations.
The Past
Experts say some businesses fail due to lack of planning, inadequate capitalisation, lack of experience etc. These are all understandable reasons. In some instances, the reasons may be outside of the control of the entrepreneurs, like the unexpected changes in market conditions or consumer taste, but life is about taking risks and living without regrets.
The most difficult part though is seeing a business that could have prospered fail because of lack of support or skills that are necessary for the survival of these organisations.
Sadness
But the most important part of failure is that it must be seen as a lesson. Great people fail at some point on their way to success. This is a price to pay, so don’t let a valuable lesson go to waste. Learn a lesson from it and then like a child who had just fallen off a bike, get back on it and enjoy the ride.
Pursuing that dream is something that we all must try to avoid living with the regret of opportunities lost, be prepared to succeed, every failure increases your chance of success. You may be aware of the story of the man in the book ‘Think and grow rich’, he was a gold prospector in the 19th century America. He found a bit of gold and then returned home, got more money and tools for the job.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan. He spent several gruelling months digging with no more gold, so he sold the land to another person and moved back home to lick his wounds. The first thing the new buyer did was get an expert to survey the land. The expert pinpointed to the most appropriate place to find gold and dug out the gold. The first man had been digging in the wrong place 3 feet away. He probably would have gotten to it eventually, but he gave up but an expert would have made his life easier.
Don’t give up on your dream, get help if you need to and remember why you started the business in the first place.
