“I incorporated my business; I am sure it will fly and do well.” Your business starts to generate some income because its product resonates with your target customer. You’ve heard people utter such words time and time; again.
You are well into the first 1 year of your business; you innately believe that you are about to strike big, but then the unthinkable happens. The market sees a downturn, and your customers are cash-strapped.
Your business starts to wither to losses, and you’ve lost your precious sleep. Creditors are upon you, demanding monies. Your family, employees, investors, advisors, and the media look up to you for answers. You are blank and don’t have a way to disappear from their worries.
Did you know? 90% of new businesses die in the first 5 years of operations. About 70% of companies end up in ashes in the first 10 years. Less than 5% of companies make it past their 10th anniversary.
As a new business owner, you have to bake failure into your ‘cookie recipe’ and be comfortable with the business’s failure. Failure of your company or idea is not your failure. Far from it, actually.
From a young age – Our parents, teachers, tutors, and families ingrain in us to never fail. As time passes, we learn to be risk-averse to such a degree that we avoid trying anything new or adventurous in our lives.
The fact is that life in and of itself is a risk. No human has any idea when they are going to depart this world. When every human has the same fate, worrying about the failure of this life is minuscule.
People in this society always tout that, to start a business, you need years of experience, excess money, and connections. Granted, if you have them. This false narrative must not stop you from going out there to achieve. Anything you see around you is a world that people like yourself created according to their vision.
You must know that any idea or company that reached heights was built by people who were not industry experts nor came from a family of means.
Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash
