Why Entrepreneurs Fail
From the time of ancient Greece, it has been a commonly held belief that entrepreneurs are born rather than made. However, new research suggests this assumption is wrong, and that most people don’t make it as founders. In fact, less than 1% of all businesses in the United States will survive more than five years according to an analysis of business failure rates.
But why? Economic theory says entrepreneurship is inherently risky, which leads to a lower success rate. Entrepreneurs often don’t follow the beaten path and they need to be innovative in order to succeed but they also often fail because their business model isn't sustainable or because their product can't match up with the competition.
These are the concerns that economists and entrepreneurs alike have. Clearly there are some people who have successfully founded businesses, but those successes are the exception, not the rule.
So what is the real cause of failure?
Turns out what we thought were the main causes of failure were all just symptoms of one underlying cause: people who fail. More specifically, they fail to start or they don’t succeed once they're in business. This suggests that entrepreneurship is more about personality than hard work or talent – it’s not as much about being entrepreneurial as it is being entrepreneurial-like. Entrepreneurship may be a skill, but it's one that can be learned (and unlearned).
If entrepreneurship can be taught, it should be easier to get people started. However, this is where things get less clear. The skills that are associated with entrepreneurial success are bound to look different for everyone depending on the entrepreneur's personality and experiences.
So what does this mean for the real causes of failure? Well, instead of blaming someone’s lack of talent or technical capacity for failing, we might instead focus our attention on the things they do when they’re not running a business. Something as simple as poor time management can be enough to put a successful entrepreneur on the path towards failure.
Poor time management is a trait that we all have to some extent, and one which can manifest itself in many ways. I've experienced it myself: I get distracted by life and realize my wife is yelling at me through the door because she forgot to pick up the kids. So instead of going back in and getting them, I just decide to run off to a meeting. On the way though, I think of an idea for a book or start making a new website for my business.
It's easy to assume that entrepreneurs have "more important things" on their plate than families and other day-to-day obligations. Indeed, sometimes they do. They're trying to build their businesses, they're thinking about the next big thing, they're working on a technical product or trying to make an impactful social impact.. But in the end, entrepreneurship is ultimately about the people and their family are equally important.
When we think of entrepreneurship as a skill that can be taught, it makes sense to think that certain personality traits could be useful for entrepreneurs. People with these traits may think differently about time management and other responsibilities as an entrepreneur – having a strong work/life balance is important for anyone, especially those who are working from home. The new research on time management also suggested that entrepreneurs must manage their time wisely in order to succeed.
We’re not saying that it’s easy to become an entrepreneur. Most people will never make it. We’re also not suggesting that everyone should run off to start a business, and in fact, we think most entrepreneurs failed because they should have known better. Instead, we’re saying that there are certain personality traits which may help us all be more successful as entrepreneurs.
Read the full article [ www.forbes.com ]" "Why Entrepreneurs Fail"
This blog post is adapted from our forthcoming book: "The Secret Lives of Men: Why Everything You Know About Men is Wrong".
You can pre-order a copy of the book here
"The Secret Lives of Men" is now available for purchase online on Amazon.
The Secret Lives of Men: Why Everything You Know About Men is Wrong [ www.amazon.com ]
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Posted in "Why Entrepreneurs Fail" on May 15, 2014 by Aaron Rodriguez.
Filed under "Why Entrepreneurs Fail" | Posted in "News" on May 15, 2014 by Aaron Rodriguez.
Tags: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship failure, entrepreneurship research, starting a business, why entrepreneurs fail
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“The Secret Lives of Men: Why Everything You Know About Men is Wrong” is now available for purchase online on Amazon.
The Secret Lives of Men: Why Everything You Know About Men is Wrong [ www.amazon.com ]
***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** Original Article Here → http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/entrepreneur-failure Original Image Here → http://www.xkcd.com/1179/ Original Tweet Here → https://twitter.com/DegreeOfFreedom/status/377510887922489152
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Posted in "Why Entrepreneurs Fail" on May 15, 2014 by Aaron Rodriguez.
Filed under "Why Entrepreneurs Fail" | Posted in "News" on May 15, 2014 by Aaron Rodriguez.
***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** ***Social Media*** Original Article Here → http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/entrepreneur-failure Original Image Here → http://www.xkcd.
Conclusion on Entrepreneurship: No one who takes on the challenge of starting a business fails—everyone who fails has made a choice. In our country, we at least give everyone the opportunity to start and run a business. The nature of how we fail is different for each person, but, by and large, failure occurs when we make the wrong choices about what and how to do things. The only part of failure that is predictable and avoidable is the choice to fail. All else is unpredictable beyond our control.
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Why Entrepreneurs Fail