7 Reasons Why My First Offline Business Failed
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A totally unrelated post to internet marketing but just wanted to share what I learned many years back. Young, naive, courageous and stupid….sigh….those were the days. So now I will start my rant on how I failed so hard during my first business.
I Had Too Much Partners
I was young then. I listened to all their inputs. Only 1 actually contributed time and effort to the business aside from me. Aside from the profit sharing nightmare for a small store, having too many partners will slow you down especially if they do not think the same way as you.
Solution: Depending on the scale of the project, limit the number of partners. Also, screen potential partners. Make sure there is only 1 decision maker and do follow the rules you decided on for your company.
TOO MANY MEETINGS
I love meetings! So much that I’m thinking of puking now. I HATE THEM. They are the biggest time wasters in the world. People want you to go to a certain place, on a certain time and have a meeting. That is really stupid in my opinion. You don’t have to! Plus technology now works so good that you can be in a beach and have a meeting only IF you really have to.
Solution: This is simple, I stopped having meetings. If there is an important thing that needs addressing, I will get an email about it and be finished with it in one reply. Make everything clear and dumb it down for people to understand.
Spent Too Much Time On Legalities
There are firms to do this for a reason but I still spent too much time with this. Starting a corporation, learning tax breaks and much much more wasted a lot of time which I could have used on focusing on the planning of the business.
Solution: Don’t worry about it. Know enough and get on with life. This is different for each locale and country. Simply ask people that have done it before.
Hail Mary Market Research And No Set Plan
Since this was a physical retail store, I did some studies. I studied the people passing by and assumed their buying power. I took foot traffic count, assumed a percentage of buyers and calculated profits. I took a small amount of data and opened shop immediately.
You see, this alone will cost a lot of money and if it fails, you’re going to hurt. I assumed most of the numbers and I based everything on assumptions. Factor in the salaries, variable raw material costs and high cost of rent, it was bound to die a slow death.
I had virtually no marketing. I had no plan for the money that came in and what to do with it. A single employee had a lot of responsibilities and if he went down, it would be hard for the business to get back on track….what a mess I got myself into. 
Solution: Carefully analyze and base on data that are really related to the business. Do not rely on luck. Do not rely only on your “great service.” If you need more data, just take time or ask people that are already there. Look at the trends carefully and plan your move. Do not get trapped with the just think and just keep on thinking phase. Do something about it. Share responsibilities among your employees and train them well. Set good, clear tasks and make them know your expectations. Do Not neglect marketing.
I Multi Tasked…Everytime
I tried to do everything on my own. My partners were not active and I thought to myself, “I don’t have time to waste to wait for them to do something! I can do it now!” Lo and behold, after a few tasks, the day was over. For a whole week, I barely got anything done. This repeated over and over and I felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day.
Solution: Focus on priorities. Do not do everything on your own especially on areas that you are not really familiar with. This will only slow you down because you have to learn from scratch. It’s much better to have someone that knows about it and learn from him rather than doing it and learning from scratch. Try making two prioritized tasks for each day. Think about it before you sleep at night so when you wake up the next day, you will know what to do. This will make you finish the important tasks faster. Finish the priorities first before moving on to the lesser ones.
I Ignored Making A System
The business is there for you and not the other way around. I learned this first hand and paid for it because I ignored making a system. I actually paid for it more than once until I finally learned my lesson. I was working 18 Hours a day 7 days a week, I was squeezing in school stuff in between those 18 hours too. Without a system, problems will keep on happening, decisions will always be by you, recurring unimportant tasks will keep on popping up. Every single one will waste time and you already know that wasted time is wasted money.
Solution: Read The E-Myth: Revisited to get a better explanation. Systems are as important as the business itself. Study your business and be the entrepreneur, not the technician. Build a system and continue to tweak it until you get your desired outcome.
I Did Not Pay Myself
I was losing my own money, my business was barely earning money, I got more and more tasks, my grades were dipping and I got less and less sleep. You know what hurt the most, I DIDN’T GET PAID. I was too caught up with the money coming in either going to the bank or be used to buy more supplies or raw materials. I didn’t notice that I was getting more and more demotivated which really hurt the whole progress of the business.
Solution: If you cannot reward yourself, it is not worth it. You always have to pay yourself. Give yourself a break.
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I guess that’s it for now and Yep, there’s a “7 Reasons Why My First Online Business Failed” in the works so look forward to that too!
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