Why New Small Businesses Fail and ways to avoid it - Ignoring the competition

People with ADHD often have the traits that make them ideal small business owners. The Small Business Administration estimated that over 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years. For some of these small businesses failure is inevitable, sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop a business from failing. However in many of the cases the owners made key mistakes that could have been corrected. The Women's Enterprise Centre has a list of the Top 10 reasons why small businesses fail. I really liked the list and will go over how ADHD entrepreneurs can overcome the reasons on the list.

The second item on this list is ignoring the competition. Acknowledging that you have competition can provide an additional spark of motivation that will propel ADHD entrepreneurs to succeed. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors is critical for success. It allows you to see exactly what your potential customers are interested in, and you can get more insight on the strengths and weaknesses of your own business.

Keeping an eye on the competition can be a challenge for many ADHD entrepreneurs. ADHD business owners often are hyper-focused on providing superior goods and services. When this happens you lose sight of how to manage your business and more importantly you can lose sight of your customers needs and wants.

It is important to set aside some regular time to monitor your competition. You can do a lot of research on line at home. Make sure you go beyond just looking at their websites, make sure to use search engines to find out more information about your competitors and their key personnel. However, the best research is done in person, so take the time to see your competition live in action, the information that you get will be critical for your organizations success.

Comments

[Geoffrey Rutledge, MD, PhD]

Hi John,
I wanted to follow up on a message I sent last week. I'm an academic physician (formerly at Harvard and Stanford) who found your blog while looking for the best health writers. I think your writing is great! I would like to feature you in the ADD & ADHD Community on Wellsphere, a top 10 health website that has well over 2 million visitors monthly.

If you would like to learn more, just drop me an email.

[Jerry]

I agree with all of the points made about why small businesses fail. I have a very dear friend began his own start up. It was a fantastic idea and things were going well, but they ran into some cash flow problems and now the company is out of business. There's no insurance your business will stay afloat, but if you're smart and watch your competition, stay on top of details, etc. it may lead to success.

Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com