Every business owner wants to see their business succeed. This is an objective that every business has. But of course, a successful business does not magically appear out of nowhere.
Not all entrepreneurs get to witness their businesses become successful. Around 20% of businesses fail in their first year of operations. This is a rather large percentage, especially for new businesses.
Some businesses may flourish into large corporations, while others do not. Others even seek the help of bankruptcy attorneys to help them get back on their feet again. But amidst all the failure and disappointment, a failed business is never the end of the world for the entrepreneur. There are many ways for business owners to bounce back from the ashes of their failed businesses. With that, let’s look into what failed entrepreneurs can do to reestablish their business ventures.
The Road to Recovery
Making the Decision
First, entrepreneurs should decide if they will continue their failed venture or start an entirely new one. This decision can be tricky since both options provide their own set of advantages and disadvantages. With that, entrepreneurs must choose wisely.
Retrying the Old Venture
Starting a fresh take on their past (and failed) business can be complicated. But it does show some advantages. For one, they already have an idea about their mistakes that could lead to their demise. This makes sure that they avoid repeating these mistakes. There is a better chance that the business might succeed given their knowledge of the effects of their decisions.
While this can be good, retrying the old business venture can be risky. It has already failed in the past. There is the risk of making the same mistakes or creating new ones that can lead to the demise of their business again.
Starting Completely Fresh
Starting an entirely different business venture also poses its own set of advantages and disadvantages. For one, starting a new business holds a considerable amount of uncertainty. Starting it is already a risk in itself. And entrepreneurs will have the joy of seeing it succeed or fail.
While this may not sound so favorable, following a completely new path does open new doors for the entrepreneur. They are starting completely fresh. And assuming they did their due diligence on their business plan, it could become successful in the future. And this success will not have the taint of failure in its past.
Deciding on what to do may be hard for business owners. With that, they should plan carefully and analyze everything adequately before acting on their decisions. Every decision they make can affect the future of their business.
Identifying the Lapses
Surely, the past business did not fail on its own. There are always factors that contributed to its failure in the past. With that, these business owners should always note these factors and ensure that they won’t sink this new business venture.
Apart from that, they should also remember their past mistakes that led to the failure of their past businesses. These failures have only provided them with the knowledge on how to avoid them completely. Experience is the best teacher, after all.
Being More Cautious
Now that they know what it has been like to lose a business, entrepreneurs should be more careful with their subsequent business attempts. This means better planning, execution, and strategizing.
It may help to conduct a SWOT analysis before trying out any business venture. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis helps business owners decide on their future business decisions based on the SWOT analysis data gathered.
They should conduct this analysis regularly to help them develop educated and informed solutions for their business barriers. This can also help them come up with more creative ideas that can help their business grow. Doing this can help businesses thrive and avoid any unnecessary mistakes along the way.
Due Diligence
Of course, there is no substitute for smart and hard work. By this time, entrepreneurs should have realized that businesses take a lot of work. There are virtually no shortcuts to success. If they want to succeed this time and avoid failure altogether, they need to put in the time and effort into building a successful business.
Failure can be heartbreaking. But this does not mean that we do not get another chance. We can try again and again for as long as we are willing to learn from our business mistakes. Failure is a teacher, and it only teaches us how to be better, smarter entrepreneurs.