Believe it or not it isn't a lack of funding, knowledge, bad luck or market conditions that kill most small businesses. What really, ultimately causes that demise of most start ups is the fatigue and loss of passion for the venture that sets in from long hours week after week and doing tasks that are really un-enjoyable.
Once you lose that drive and passion for your business the downward spiral begins, revenues slow, quality drops, the competition overtakes you and things grind to a halt, often with disastrous consequences.
The good news is that this is all avoidable, no matter what business you are in. The two things you need to do in order to avoid these pitfalls are to create a plan for eliminating grueling work weeks and the need to do those tasks which will grind on you and sap your drive.
Yes, starting a new business can be a lot of work. It can mean late nights of brainstorming and jumping into put out fires and may be even rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty now and again. However, you shouldn't be working long hours and weekends, week after week. Eventually it will catch up with you. You will get burnt out and you could be setting yourself up for a serious business disaster. Whether you are being wise and are outsourcing, already have a large in house staff or you have chosen to remain a one person shop you need to recognize the importance of moderating your work. If not for the sake of having a personal life, because it is essential for maintaining a high level of positive energy and passion that will fuel your success. So don't over book yourself.
No matter what industry you are in there are an array of tasks that must be handled and overseen by the entrepreneur. You have planning, marketing, payroll, recruiting, promoting, organizing, managing operation and sales. This requires a variety of different functions that vary quite widely and require different talents to accomplish them. Some involve public speaking and conversing with the public, some creative thinking, others artistic ability, some risk taking and others still an acute attention to details and organization. Most of us are not masters of all of these things or are just not interested in half of them. Perhaps you are great at math and organizing yourself so paying the bills is something you love to do and making sure that everything is documented is something you thrive on. Or maybe you crave action and love doing sales but just detest pouring over metrics and your Google Analytics. You don't have to love every tasks in your business, though of course these are items that cannot be left undone. What is important is to recognize now which of these items are going to hold you back or are going to sap your passion and love of your business.
Identify these pitfalls now and create systems so that someone else can handle the important aspects of your business that you don't want to do yourself and so you don't have to be chained to your business around the clock. Only this way will you be able to keep up your love for what you are doing and ensure the long term success of your business.
Chuck Boyce is known as the Independent Executive. After achieving success quickly in the corporate world he decided to step off of the corporate ladder and make his business work for him. He is now dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the Independent Executive Lifestyle by creating business with a purpose, passion and plan. Find out more by visiting his site at http://www.breakingfreeblog.com/
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