Photo credit: Victor Hanacek
In many industries, nearly half of the small businesses that open ultimately shut their doors. For example, 41% of retail companies and 48% of manufacturing companies fold. And while the numbers may seem daunting, that doesn’t mean small business owners and entrepreneurs should throw up their hands and give way to fear. At one point or another we all fail, it is the steps we take following our personal and professional failures that ultimately count in the long-run, and whether we have the confidence to adjust when things don’t seem to go our way. Not only is this a good rule to live by in our personal lives, but it is also advice that could save your small business.
No one has all the answers, so coming to terms with the fact that we don’t will make any failure a lot easier to handle.
Sometimes, the best plans still need a bit of adjustment – even after they have taken off. Many of the best inventors headed back to the drawing board to adjust their original ideas; before they saw them ultimately succeed.
In nature we see animals often adapt to new habitats, and in business there is no reason why we shouldn’t do the same. Just as a chameleon can change colors to adjust to its environment, so should entrepreneurs make an effort to revisit an original idea to see it truly succeed.
As an entrepreneur in my own right, I can remember when I first opened the doors to my own wealth management firm, LexION Capital: I too encountered problems that forced me to adjust along the way. Learning from my mistakes and preparing for any situation is what helped me to grow my business into a success.
