Tag: failure

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Why some start-up ideas will leave egg on your face

Copyright Tim Trad. Photo courtesy of Unsplash

You eat a delicious meal that tastes so good that you want to prepare it yourself. But how do you go about replicating the success of that dish you’ve tasted? How are you going to do it?

A few months back I tasted delicious Dahl made by a local curry restaurant. I told the owner, a young man who had come out of the food catering business for an airline in the UK, that I enjoyed his Dahl. “No problem,” he said. “I’ll give you the recipe.” Now, Dahl is not something that you can buy in supermarkets except in tins. But canned Dahl tastes awful and it’s best to stay far away from it. Continue reading “Why some start-up ideas will leave egg on your face”

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How do you avoid a fatal mistake in your small business?

English: View of plane crash site shortly afte...
View of plane crash site shortly after incident (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A woman who lived in a southern African country told me a story of how a pilot who had several years flying experience went to a tourist resort to CASEVAC a tourist who had a medical problem. The pilot took off as the sun was setting and made a misjudgement on the height of a mountain after take off because of the poor light and distortion of visibility. He crashed the aeroplane into the mountain side killing himself, the foreign tourist and the medical personnel. Continue reading “How do you avoid a fatal mistake in your small business?”

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The #1 reason why you shouldn’t start a business from an idea (stop now or you’ll lose money)

IMG-20150613-00571An entrepreneur starts a new business from a promising idea. Take the woman who started a double-insulated water bottle. She got the idea while out hiking with her mother. She’s sold 4,000,000 units to date. This business gets a lot of media coverage but is it wise to start something based on an idea?

From the outside it may seem that you can also start a business with a promising idea. But there is a fatal flaw. That flaw is that the idea may appeal to you but will it appeal to a market? It won’t unless others find the resulting product or service attractive and useful in their lives. Too many people come up with products or services based on an idea but experience failure. It’s bank draining and heartbreaking. Continue reading “The #1 reason why you shouldn’t start a business from an idea (stop now or you’ll lose money)”

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Do you always have to put a monetary value on success?

Kite Boarder Launching Kite
Kite Boarder Launching Kite (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I met with a small business owner the other day who told me that he used to be a lawyer and if he measured his success against that of his friend who was also a lawyer he would turn out to be a failure in monetary terms. Running and operating a small business, this small business owner has fallen far short of what his lawyer friend now earns and who has a luxury home and luxury cars for himself and his wife. Continue reading “Do you always have to put a monetary value on success?”

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Are you stuck because of what you know?

Waiter
Waiter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After a movie the other evening we went to a local restaurant where we were served by a waiter who had just started at the restaurant. His manner was uncaring, his attention to detail lacking and his insistence that we order more wine was rude. When the second glass of wine did come, it was a sweet red wine but he tried to con us into believing that there was something wrong with our taste buds.

A waiter who has been at this local restaurant for several years overheard our conversation, took away the two sweet red wine glasses and replaced them with a dry red. We thanked her.

This story isn’t about moaning about poor customer service. Rather it’s about a man who has worked as a butcher for a small butchery but at his age feels aggrieved that he wasn’t able to get shares in the small business. So he has branched out into learning the restaurant business, starting out as a waiter. Continue reading “Are you stuck because of what you know?”

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Why come up with a new business idea and face the high risk of failure?

A medical student checking blood pressure usin...
A medical student checking blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two John Hopkins medical students came up with an idea for a business and with the help of an accelerator program have launched a company that provides security for electronic health records. The two medical students have developed a tool that protects the hospital’s electronic health record system. Instead of the traditional approach that focuses on protecting the perimeter, the tool focuses on building an immune system. The company now plans to employee between four and 10 people and is looking for data scientists, engineers and technical experts to help fine-tune its software program so it can be used for hospitals and health systems of different sizes.

This is an example of two medical students who went beyond their medical studies and came up with an idea that can potentially provide great rewards for them. Why would they go above and beyond their medical studies to become medical doctors and take on the risks involved in starting a new business from scratch? Why would they put their reputations on the line with the possibility of failure which comes with the territory in forming start-up enterprises? Continue reading “Why come up with a new business idea and face the high risk of failure?”

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No matter how bad things get in your business, you can always talk to someone for help

Film poster for Deep Water - Copyright 2006, I...
Film poster for Deep Water – Copyright 2006, IFC Films (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you’re over your head, ask someone for help.

Why is it that small business owners facing some crisis in their business or even insolvency do something dangerous to their health?

I remember a small publisher ran into financial difficulties and put a gun to his head… and pulled the trigger.

Mick Jaggers’girlfriend L’Wren Scott was found hanging in her New York apartment. It emerged that her fashion company was millions of pounds in debt.

Only a psychologist will probably be able to give an opinion on what really drove someone like her to take her life. Or can they? Sometimes these deep issues and their root causes even ellude top psychologists. Continue reading “No matter how bad things get in your business, you can always talk to someone for help”