Posts Tagged ‘3 step plan testimonials’
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby comments on USA Today article; 4 start-up mistakes you must avoid when starting up a business
Friday, March 5th, 2010
I would like to share an article written by Steve Strauss, a USA Today columnist, about how to avoid early business failure.
4 Start Up Mistakes You Must Avoid
A: It is never fun to make a mistake in business, even if they are inevitable. And worse, mistakes are both more prevalent and more dangerous during the start-up phase of your business because your idea has yet to be fully cooked; the start-up period is, unfortunately, usually the ‘error’ part of a ‘trial and error’ phase for you business.
That said, even though mistakes are to be expected, they need not be crippling, or even negative. Not a few entrepreneurs have stumbled into success when they discover ways to make money in their business that they didn’t know were possible. For instance, Dr. Spencer Silver was trying to create a super sticky glue for his employer, 3M, when he mistakenly came up with an adhesive that was instead sort-of sticky. What to do with somewhat sticky glue? 3M created the Post-it note, that’s what.
So no, not all mistakes are bad mistakes.
But there are some mistakes that can and should be avoided as you start your business:
1. Taking on too much debt: Most entrepreneurs have to take on some debt to fund the dream. That is expected and fine. But you simply must 1) keep that indebtedness to a minimum, and 2) have a plan for paying it back from the get-go.
It will take a while for that new business to begin to generate revenue, and while that happens your debt load will increase due to interest. And the bigger it grows, the more it threatens the lifeblood of your business, your cash flow. Keep your debt low and get out from under as soon as possible.
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby comments on New York Times article about the recession making small businesses stronger
Friday, February 26th, 2010
I want to share an article from the New York Times, Small Business section written by Jack Stack, Founder, CEO SRC Holdings Inc., about how the recession made him stronger.
How The Recession Made us Stronger
As it did with most companies out there, the recession hit SRC like a brick. But, as I’ve discussed a few times, it was a number of decisions that helped us pull through. Now that the results are in for 2009, it’s clear that those decisions didn’t just help us survive — they made us stronger.
In October 2008, when we began our planning and forecasting for the coming fiscal year, people here were really scared about the coming year. We had customers in panic mode. Some were on the brink of bankruptcy and others didn’t know if they could get financing. Others were going to the mattresses and eliminating inventories. Added together, 2009 promised to be exceptionally bleak for a manufacturing company like ours. The fear was paralyzing.
