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Based on an analysis of thousands Russian enterprises, in Russia the most dangerous person for a business is its owner. Many of our businesses are doomed already at the creation stage. If the matter does begin to rise to its feet, then the owner can finish him off with a hundred in various ways. Trying to somehow raise and develop a business, its owners constantly make common mistakes. Moreover, these mistakes are the same among owners of completely different businesses in different parts of the country.

In this book, the author tried to list the main problems that slow down the development or destroy the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. If you do not repeat at least these mistakes when building your own business, your business can already be considered exemplary.

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Konstantin Alexandrovich Baksht

How to ruin your own business. Bad advice Russian entrepreneurs

DEDICATED TO MY FAMILY

To the father who showed me how a man should live and die.

To my mother, who supported me when I fell again. And she believed in me, no matter what.

To my beloved uncle, who taught me that getting up once is not that important. It is important to be able to get up after a fall.

And, of course, Lena, Sasha and Misha.

I rise for you.

Introduction

They say that it is difficult to create and develop a business in Russia. Almost impossible. And that's true.

There is practically no government support for business in our country. Quite the contrary. High officials are trying to dominate big business- which is what they do in the breaks between dividing up posts and trimming the budget. Lower-ranking officials are sucking the blood from medium and small businesses. The tax system is designed not for everyone to pay taxes, but for everyone to be guilty. Entrepreneurs are guilty in life. And they are responsible for everything.

Yet great risks are balanced by equally great opportunities. The profitability of business in Russia can be colossal. Russian entrepreneurs take pride of place on the list richest people peace. This means that it is possible to build a successful business in Russia. And that's a fact!

However, an analysis of thousands of our enterprises led me to a sad conclusion. In Russia, the most dangerous person for a business is its owner.

Many of our businesses are doomed already at the creation stage. If things do start to get going, the owner can finish him off in a hundred different ways. It seems that most entrepreneurs are constantly trying to ruin their own business.

Of course, they do not do this out of masochism. And not because of sophisticated malice or insidiousness. It’s just that, trying to somehow raise and develop a business, they constantly make common mistakes. Moreover, these mistakes are the same among owners of completely different businesses in different parts of the country.

In this book, I tried to list the main “rake” that slow down the development or destroy the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. If, when building your own business, you do not at least repeat these mistakes - your business can already be considered exemplary. To be on the safe side, at the end of each section there are recommendations on what to do in order to build a business reliably and efficiently. Of course, not all recipes are given. But several of the most important and key ones are still described.

They say smart people learn from the mistakes of fools. And fools do not even learn from their own mistakes. The truth is that you can't build a business without making your own mistakes. But you don’t have to do it yourself All mistakes, right? If this book saves you from at least a few mistakes, each of which could cost you your business, then you bought and read it for a reason. So, go ahead!

CHAPTER 1. How to ruin a business before it even starts

We create a business to become a business owner

Do you know the survival rate statistics for new businesses? In the first three years from the moment of their creation, approximately two-thirds die. Over the next three years, another two-thirds of the survivors die. Result: from again created businesses six years after its creation, only one in nine survives.

Many businesses are doomed from the very beginning simply because they were created in vain. Every business is initially created to implement some idea. But not every idea is good enough to become a viable business. And the most disastrous idea for the future of business is the idea of ​​the founders “We create businesses because we want to become business owners.”

Someone creates a business to make a better restaurant Italian cuisine in the city - this business has a chance of success. Someone creates a business to produce high-quality tiles and sell them throughout the country - this business also has a chance of success.

And someone creates a business because being a business owner is cool. You are your own master, a free person. Employees work for you. You are a great and terrible boss for them. Again, how your status rises in any party! You introduce yourself as the owner of your own business - not like the pathetic mercenaries around you!

As a result, budding entrepreneurs sleep and dream of how to create their own business. They take the first idea that comes to their mind. They convince themselves that success will inevitably await them. And they start a business.

Current page: 1 (book has a total of 22 pages) [available reading passage: 5 pages]

Konstantin Alexandrovich Baksht

How to ruin your own business. Bad advice for entrepreneurs

DEDICATED TO MY FAMILY

To the father who showed me how a man should live and die.

To my mother, who supported me when I fell again. And she believed in me, no matter what.

To my beloved uncle, who taught me that getting up once is not that important. It is important to be able to get up after a fall.

And, of course, Lena, Sasha and Misha.

I rise for you.

Introduction

They say that it is difficult to create and develop a business in Russia. Almost impossible. And that's true.

There is practically no government support for business in our country. Quite the contrary. High-ranking officials strive to bring big business under their control - which is what they do in the breaks between dividing up posts and trimming the budget. Lower-ranking officials are sucking the blood from medium and small businesses. The tax system is designed not for everyone to pay taxes, but for everyone to be guilty. Entrepreneurs are guilty in life. And they are responsible for everything.

Yet great risks are balanced by equally great opportunities. The profitability of business in Russia can be colossal. Russian entrepreneurs occupy pride of place in the list of the richest people in the world. This means that it is possible to build a successful business in Russia. And that's a fact!

However, an analysis of thousands of our enterprises led me to a sad conclusion. In Russia, the most dangerous person for a business is its owner.

Many of our businesses are doomed already at the creation stage. If things do start to get going, the owner can finish him off in a hundred different ways. It seems that most entrepreneurs are constantly trying to ruin their own business.

Of course, they do not do this out of masochism. And not because of sophisticated malice or insidiousness. It’s just that, trying to somehow raise and develop a business, they constantly make common mistakes. Moreover, these mistakes are the same among owners of completely different businesses in different parts of the country.

In this book, I tried to list the main “rake” that slow down the development or destroy the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. If, when building your own business, you do not at least repeat these mistakes - your business can already be considered exemplary. To be on the safe side, at the end of each section there are recommendations on what to do in order to build a business reliably and efficiently. Of course, not all recipes are given. But several of the most important and key ones are still described.

They say smart people learn from the mistakes of fools. And fools do not even learn from their own mistakes. The truth is that you can't build a business without making your own mistakes. But you don’t have to do it yourself All mistakes, right? If this book saves you from at least a few mistakes, each of which could cost you your business, then you bought and read it for a reason. So, go ahead!

Chapter 1. How to ruin a business before it’s even created

We create a business to become a business owner

Do you know the survival rate statistics for new businesses? In the first three years from the moment of their creation, approximately two-thirds die. Over the next three years, another two-thirds of the survivors die. Result: of newly created businesses, six years from the moment of creation, only one in nine survives.

Many businesses are doomed from the very beginning simply because they were created in vain. Every business is initially created to implement some idea. But not every idea is good enough to become a viable business. And the most disastrous idea for the future of business is the idea of ​​the founders “We create businesses because we want to become business owners.”

Someone creates a business to make the best Italian restaurant in the city - this business has a chance of success. Someone creates a business to produce high-quality tiles and sell them throughout the country - this business also has a chance of success.

And someone creates a business because being a business owner is cool. You are your own master, a free person. Employees work for you. You are a great and terrible boss for them. Again, how your status rises in any party! You introduce yourself as the owner of your own business - not like the pathetic mercenaries around you!

As a result, budding entrepreneurs sleep and dream of how to create their own business. They take the first idea that comes to their mind. They convince themselves that success will inevitably await them. And they start a business.

“Let's organize our own monthly city magazine!” The city has already published 150 city magazines this year. 30 of them went bankrupt. Of course, the new unremarkable magazine will be an outstanding success!

"Let's organize our own salon cellular communication! As a result of ever-increasing competition, most free-standing salons closed 3-5 years ago. Nowadays, only communication store networks are competitive. First of all, on a Russian scale. But, of course, the new salon on Chuvyrlovka Street will be an exception to the laws of the market. And it will make its owners rich!

In fact, not every idea (even a smart one) can turn into a successful business. It is often necessary to work through and calculate 10–20 ideas in order to begin implementing just one of them. Moreover: there are no guarantees that from this very best idea will be able to make a successful business. Ultimately, you make an attempt, you make every effort to achieve the goal. In some cases, you get a more or less successful business. In others, you lose the strength and resources invested in this attempt. Partially or completely. And in any case, you gain invaluable experience.

You have no guarantee of success. Even when you have worked through many ideas and selected the most successful one. What can we say about the situation when they take the first idea that comes to mind and try to build a business out of it? Some such attempts are simply amazing in their cretinism. At the same time, the one who creates such a business is not always a cretin. More often we're talking about about self-deception. A person wants to organize his own business so much that he convinces himself of the promise and success of his business idea. This is where the fundamental principle of persuasion comes into play...

It is much easier to convince yourself of the success of your business than to convince the market of it.

In addition, many business founders do not even understand which business idea can become successful and which cannot. Young enthusiasts lack basic life experience. Adults and more experienced people are being deceived into false business ideas by their young and energetic acquaintances and relatives. The most dangerous thing here is when an “investor” with money does not understand the specifics of the proposed business idea. For example, a Czech woman trades in the market and knows nothing about computers. Thinks computers are cool. They are the future. As a result, son, addicted computer games, persuades his mother to give money to create a computer gaming club. The son himself spends a couple of thousand a month in gaming clubs. And he thinks this is a cool business. He knows nothing about how to organize it. Nor about how difficult it is to find suitable system administrators. Not that the market has been oversaturated for four years now. And most of the organized gaming clubs go down the drain. The result is natural: mom’s money is scattered in the wind.

The real reason why most newly organized businesses die is even deeper: To effectively build a business, you need to be a professional business owner yourself. The profession of a business owner is complex and difficult. They learn it mainly by trial and error. If the owner of a business is not experienced and professional enough, he can ruin any business that would be quite successful for another owner.

I think learning is key professional qualities necessary for a successful owner, it is better in stranger business - in which you work for hire. A professional owner needs to be a pro in three professions: sales-negotiations, management and financial management. It makes sense to plan your career in such a way as to solve serious practical problems in all three areas.

But experience in sales, management and finance does not make you a professional owner. The owner must know and be able to do what no hired employee knows or can do. Therefore, it is wise to enter your first business as a junior partner, co-founding with an experienced main owner whose business management style you like. You may not end up staying as a co-founder in the business. But you will gain experience, which is much more valuable.

Also, the big question is, should you really become a business owner? Having your own business is a terrible stress and a very big responsibility. Imagine that the month was not entirely successful and you need to shell out 3,500,000 rubles to cover current business losses. From your own pocket. And so - for several months in a row. And two leading employees realized that the matter smelled of kerosene, and left you, taking their Client base. Many business owners cannot withstand the stress that weighs on them and ruins their nerves every month. They break first. Then their business dies.

If you create a business to become a free person, you will not succeed. There is no more unfree person in business than its owner. Any of your employees can leave you. You have nowhere to go from your own business. You have 100% financial responsibility. In addition, your employees are looking into your mouth and expecting a miracle from you every day. This is how you become the main workaholic in your own business. Many business owners I know work 10 to 14 hours a day. No days off or days off. Some of them do not go on vacation for 5–7 years. What kind of paid job would you be so stressed out about? It turns out that in fact you have become not the owner of the business, but its slave.

Therefore, starting your own business in order to become a free person is not the best idea. This can be achieved by completely different means - by seriously investing.

The idea that you can become a free person by creating your own business is simply a myth.

It's time to deal with another popular myth - that you need to have your own business to earn a lot of money.

Create a business to make a lot of money

The next popular misconception is “Now I will become a business owner and make a lot of money.” Indeed, many business owners are very wealthy people. The only nuance is that only owners become wealthy people successful businesses. And as we already know, most businesses die before they become successful.

If the whole idea of ​​a business is just to make a lot of money, such a business may be doomed from the start. Every business is organized to make a profit. But Clients bring you profit because they receive something useful and valuable for themselves. They won't pay your Company just because you want to make a lot of money. Actually, the mission of your Company should be the answer to the question:

“What is so useful and valuable that my business gives its Clients so that they pay it money?”

Let's assume that the business is still based on a smart business idea that makes it possible to make money. But it won’t be possible to get income right away. First you will make an initial investment. Then you will pay the operating costs every month. Income will not begin to appear from the very beginning. The first happy month will be the one when current income exceeds current costs, that is, the business passes the break-even point for current payments. To this moment financial results creating a business is a deep minus. Equal to the sum initial investment and current losses for all previous months.

The beautiful idea of ​​starting a business without investment is, upon closer examination, not so beautiful. Only a few businesses can get off the ground without significant investment. Often underfunding is a delayed death sentence. Such a business can be organized. And it can even generate income for some time. But then the competition intensifies, the business begins to suffer losses and collapse. The question arises: what problems cause businesses to die? There is only one problem: we should have invested more at the very beginning!

Thus, the business at the time of launch creates a big hole in its owner’s pocket. Over the next few months (or even a year or two), the total losses increase. Even when a business achieves current profitability, the business owner is the last in line to hand out money. First you need to pay all current obligations. Then invest in development: pay for advertising and additionally purchased property. And only what remains from mandatory payments and investments in development is received by the owner.

This is why professional owners are so attentive to the return on investment period. At the moment when the owner fully returns all the funds invested in the business, he more didn't earn anything. But he already didn't lose anything. That is, he has the right at least not to feel like a fool.

Conclusion: organizing new business, You must foresee a situation in which you incur operating costs for a whole year and do not receive any income. If you can afford it, you are welcome to join our entrepreneurial ranks! In any case, you are already prepared for planned losses.

Easy money, or Copy someone else's profitable business

To create a successful business, you need a good business idea. It's not easy to come up with. Many entrepreneurs rack their brains but still can’t come up with any worthwhile business ideas. Therefore, they act simpler: why invent your own when you can borrow someone else’s?

Such entrepreneurs see someone else's profitable business and think that they could do the same. And make some money. They especially love to create businesses that create everything around them. The result is natural: in most cases, such entrepreneurs end up broke.

EXAMPLE

In every region, a fashion periodically begins for some business, turning into an epidemic. In the region N One of the first business epidemics was the pharmacy industry. The first pharmacies were indeed profitable enterprises. After which they began to be opened by everyone who could. Most of these pharmacies did not even recoup the initial investment. As a result, only pharmacy chains remained competitive. All individual pharmacies went into the red and were bought by chains.

Then there were business epidemics of communication shops, Internet centers, enterprises for the production of plastic windows, photo salons... Some of them were simply outrageous.

The first Internet center - "A." – cost its owners a tidy sum: 40 thousand dollars were invested only in repairs. Repairs of this class make sense only in own indoors - as happened in this case. (If you do too much renovation in a rented premises, this leads either to moving out of this premises or to an increase in rent.) A lot has been invested in both furniture and computer equipment. All costs were recouped in 11 months. Not bad.

For the second Internet center - “B.M.”, organized by the same owners, the invested funds were returned in 9 months.

Both Internet centers brought income to their owners. And quite significant.

After the Internet center “B.M.” was launched, many other entrepreneurs in the region N became interested in this kind of business. Soon more than ten new Internet centers were opened. Most of them could not even reach self-sufficiency. Why?

The main source of income for Internet centers was... network computer games. The very name “Internet center” was a cover - so that taxes would not be taken from computers, as with slot machines. Although Internet services were also provided there. The first Internet center hit the mark. Many teenagers were interested in playing computer games online. And they were ready to pay for it. The second center, located on the main pedestrian street of the city, made it possible to significantly increase the number of such players. But their total number in the city and the amount of money that could be collected from them monthly were limited. While this turnover was divided between two Internet centers, the business was highly profitable. When the number of centers increased from two to twelve, the number of players did not increase sixfold. It remained approximately the same. But the money they brought began to be divided not into two parts, but into twelve. At the same time, the lion's share still went to the two “old” Internet centers, which already had their own clientele. In order to somehow attract visitors, new centers began to dump prices. But the Clients’ money was not enough for the centers to be self-sufficient even at the old prices. And dumping simply accelerated the market collapse. Over the next couple of years, most Internet centers simply operated in the red. And they closed one after another. In parallel with this, new Internet centers were opened. Their owners believed that they could make money from this business! They probably thought that before them only idiots were involved in this business. As a result, the Internet centers of the newly minted smart people could not even earn enough to cover current expenses. And they burned out at cosmic speed.

Summary: if today this line of business is highly profitable and easy to enter, then soon the total profitability of all businesses in this line will tend to zero. This means that most of these businesses will simply be unprofitable.

It can be put even more simply: if you are going to invest money in a business that is not very difficult to enter and in which you can quickly make a lot of money, keep in mind that you are not the only one so smart. There is a whole city of such “smart guys.” And many of them are at this very moment investing money in the same business in which you are going to invest. As a result, the number of such businesses will increase several times. The number of Clients will not increase. None of you “smart guys” will be able to get back even the money invested.

A separate topic is the situation when an employee (junior partner) leaves the Company. To create his own business, exactly like the business he left. Most such attempts are doomed to fail from the very beginning. Some, however, can be successful. So which attempts to “leave” a business have a chance of success and which do not?

When the business is purely intermediary (buy and sell), it can be successfully “taken away” along with the Client base. The potential for such “stealing” is especially great for a merchant who serves the Company’s main clients. And maintains personal relationships with them. The likelihood of “stealing” increases if only this merchant conducts personal meetings with key Clients. And the rest of the Company’s employees do not meet them personally and do not visit them. Telephone communication is not enough! The likelihood of “diversion” is even higher if the same people are involved in both selling and purchasing. And even higher if a significant volume of deliveries is made to order - that is, large warehouse stocks are not required.

The more resources required to organize a business, the more difficult it is to “steal” such a business without direct theft. It is more reliable when organizing a business requires serious investments, real estate, licenses, and administrative resources. All this provides additional protection from "withdrawal".

Complex businesses are well protected from diversion. A complex business is not easy to raise and promote. But it is also not easy to reproduce, that is, to “take away.” This is what I have always liked about the Internet services business. In this business any initial funding is not a sufficient condition for creating successful business. The same can be said about many other high-tech and “expert” businesses.

The most unfortunate option for “stealing” a business is when they try to create a small copy of the original business. Such a copy is no different from the original except for size and resources. When asked how the new business will be better than the original one, they answer: “The owner of that business is a complete goat!” Of course, those managers don’t know how to run a business. And we are smart, and we will definitely succeed! Such homegrown entrepreneurs do not even understand the true extent of the problems facing business owners. They close their eyes and rush to open their own business. And when they realize how they got there, it’s already too late.

EXAMPLE

In one of my familiar training companies, one of the leading businesswomen believed that she was not appreciated enough. She conspired with one of the trainers. He was also of the opinion that the business was poorly managed, the employees were paid little, and the business owner was an asshole. Together they decided to create their own business. We started campaigning among employees. All this was revealed. And the sweet couple was expelled - along with another young employee whom they managed to attract.

Coach registered entity. We rented an office and started working. It was then that it became clear that it was quite difficult for the three of us to earn money, starting from scratch. And the office, salaries, taxes, accounting and everything else eats up money, monthly and constantly. The “original” business used the funds remaining from Client payments after payments to merchants and trainers for this purpose. As a result, profitability never exceeded 10–15% of turnover. Although a team of 30 people was engaged in making money. And where thirty people can hardly provide a ten percent profit, three are unlikely to be able to achieve a positive profit at all.

This is what happened with our trio. They constantly needed more money than they earned. Squabbles and strife began. Six months later, the three “accomplices” broke up, throwing the blackest mud at each other. The coach tried to assemble a team from scratch two more times - both times everyone scattered. Less than a year later, he gave up the office. And so another one died promising business. Which, according to common sense, should not have been created at all.

Instructions

First, enough of the frantic activity. You are a person, not a machine. Start small: turn off the alarm clock and get up when you want, don’t forget to stop at a couple of shops along the way, cancel all meetings in the morning, and the more sudden, the better. Do not explain the reason for cancellation to anyone: you are not obligated to them!
If you're going to be there by lunchtime, answer a couple first personal letters, read everything on Yandex, go to lunch and only then start. By the way, there are many interesting games on the iPhone.

Secondly, never spend extra money on creating and maintaining a company website, especially if you sell something through it. Hire a first-year student, or better yet, let him create the simplest website for you and not update it too often. After all, clients will buy everything they need, whether from you or not.

Third, if you are sued, do not rush to hire attorneys to represent you. It’s expensive, and you already have a lawyer, even two. True, they are mainly engaged in design employment contracts with employees, but what if they also succeed in representing your company’s interests in court? It's worth checking.

Fourthly, if you are facing negotiations, then it is not at all necessary to prepare for them. This is not your first day in business and you know all your clients better than your own relatives. And when did you fail to impromptu?..

Fifth, think about your relatives. It seems that one of them recently complained that he had lost his job. Show your participation - take him to you. Maybe a couple more friends. Working in your own company will be much more interesting. And those that none of you like can be delegated to the rest.

Sixth, you spend too much money on staff training. Why all these trainings? role-playing games and seminars? Anyone or almost everyone can sell, and if he is not yet able to sell effectively, then, most likely, he is simply lazy.

Seventh, it is not at all necessary to check the solvency of clients. If a client comes to you, he definitely has money. The fact that he does not meet payment deadlines does not mean anything bad about him. Having heard from a new client that your company’s services are expensive, immediately make a 50% discount.

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note

How to ruin your own business. CHAPTER 1. How to ruin a business even before it is created. Co-founders, or when there is no agreement among the comrades. One of the most effective ways ruin your business from the very beginning - do it together with your partners. In Russia, an attempt to start a new business not alone subsequently means a death sentence for this business - with a probability of more than 50%. There are many reasons for this.

Helpful advice

How to ruin your own business Anyone who is not familiar with “Bad Advice” by Grigory Oster is unlikely to appreciate Konstantin Baksht’s “bad advice” to Russian entrepreneurs, because he probably doesn’t read books at all. If the first tips are useful to everyone - from young to old, then in the second, children will see only funny pictures: one, for example, depicts an eccentric chained to a shovel, throwing everything that comes to hand into the firebox.

Sources:

• Specialized site about small business.

Start your own business- the dream of many. Of course, organizing own enterprise, a person is determined to succeed and expects that over time it will become successful and profitable. However, there are many examples when, after some time, the enterprise became bankrupt, and the entrepreneur again began to work “for his uncle.” We analyzed the main mistakes they made. And now, if you want to ruin yours too business, then we can give you some valuable advice.

Instructions

Choose an area of ​​activity where you have no competitors at all, avoid them by occupying a marginal niche. The lack of competition will lead you to no need to generate successful ideas and develop your business. Your caution and reluctance to participate in a highly competitive business will allow you to remain on the sidelines.

Do something you don’t understand the details of and don’t be interested in its specifics. Trust him to lead 2-3

Konstantin Alexandrovich Baksht

How to ruin your own business. Bad advice for Russian entrepreneurs

DEDICATED TO MY FAMILY

To the father who showed me how a man should live and die.

To my mother, who supported me when I fell again. And she believed in me, no matter what.

To my beloved uncle, who taught me that getting up once is not that important. It is important to be able to get up after a fall.

And, of course, Lena, Sasha and Misha.

I rise for you.

Introduction

They say that it is difficult to create and develop a business in Russia. Almost impossible. And that's true.

There is practically no government support for business in our country. Quite the contrary. High-ranking officials strive to bring big business under their control - which is what they do in the breaks between dividing up posts and trimming the budget. Lower-ranking officials are sucking the blood from medium and small businesses. The tax system is designed not for everyone to pay taxes, but for everyone to be guilty. Entrepreneurs are guilty in life. And they are responsible for everything.

Yet great risks are balanced by equally great opportunities. The profitability of business in Russia can be colossal. Russian entrepreneurs occupy pride of place in the list of the richest people in the world. This means that it is possible to build a successful business in Russia. And that's a fact!

However, an analysis of thousands of our enterprises led me to a sad conclusion. In Russia, the most dangerous person for a business is its owner.

Many of our businesses are doomed already at the creation stage. If things do start to get going, the owner can finish him off in a hundred different ways. It seems that most entrepreneurs are constantly trying to ruin their own business.

Of course, they do not do this out of masochism. And not because of sophisticated malice or insidiousness. It’s just that, trying to somehow raise and develop a business, they constantly make common mistakes. Moreover, these mistakes are the same among owners of completely different businesses in different parts of the country.

In this book, I tried to list the main “rake” that slow down the development or destroy the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. If, when building your own business, you do not at least repeat these mistakes - your business can already be considered exemplary. To be on the safe side, at the end of each section there are recommendations on what to do in order to build a business reliably and efficiently. Of course, not all recipes are given. But several of the most important and key ones are still described.

They say smart people learn from the mistakes of fools. And fools do not even learn from their own mistakes. The truth is that you can't build a business without making your own mistakes. But you don’t have to do it yourself All mistakes, right? If this book saves you from at least a few mistakes, each of which could cost you your business, then you bought and read it for a reason. So, go ahead!

CHAPTER 1. How to ruin a business before it even starts

We create a business to become a business owner

Do you know the survival rate statistics for new businesses? In the first three years from the moment of their creation, approximately two-thirds die. Over the next three years, another two-thirds of the survivors die. Result: of newly created businesses, six years from the moment of creation, only one in nine survives.

Many businesses are doomed from the very beginning simply because they were created in vain. Every business is initially created to implement some idea. But not every idea is good enough to become a viable business. And the most disastrous idea for the future of business is the idea of ​​the founders “We create businesses because we want to become business owners.”

Someone creates a business to make the best Italian restaurant in the city - this business has a chance of success. Someone creates a business to produce high-quality tiles and sell them throughout the country - this business also has a chance of success.

And someone creates a business because being a business owner is cool. You are your own master, a free person. Employees work for you. You are a great and terrible boss for them. Again, how your status rises in any party! You introduce yourself as the owner of your own business - not like the pathetic mercenaries around you!

As a result, budding entrepreneurs sleep and dream of how to create their own business. They take the first idea that comes to their mind. They convince themselves that success will inevitably await them. And they start a business.

“Let's organize our own monthly city magazine!” The city has already published 150 city magazines this year. 30 of them went bankrupt. Of course, the new unremarkable magazine will be an outstanding success!

“Let's organize our own cellular communication salon!” As a result of ever-increasing competition, most free-standing salons closed 3-5 years ago. Nowadays, only communication store networks are competitive. First of all, on a Russian scale. But, of course, the new salon on Chuvyrlovka Street will be an exception to the laws of the market. And it will make its owners rich!

In fact, not every idea (even a smart one) can turn into a successful business. It is often necessary to work through and calculate 10–20 ideas in order to begin implementing just one of them. Moreover, there is no guarantee that this best idea will turn into a successful business. Ultimately, you make an attempt, you make every effort to achieve the goal. In some cases, you get a more or less successful business. In others, you lose the strength and resources invested in this attempt. Partially or completely. And in any case, you gain invaluable experience.

You have no guarantee of success. Even when you have worked through many ideas and selected the most successful one. What can we say about the situation when they take the first idea that comes to mind and try to build a business out of it? Some such attempts are simply amazing in their cretinism. At the same time, the one who creates such a business is not always a cretin. More often we are talking about self-deception. A person wants to organize his own business so much that he convinces himself of the promise and success of his business idea. This is where the fundamental principle of persuasion comes into play...

It is much easier to convince yourself of the success of your business than to convince the market of it.

In addition, many business founders do not even understand which business idea can become successful and which cannot. Young enthusiasts lack basic life experience. Adults and more experienced people are being deceived into false business ideas by their young and energetic acquaintances and relatives. The most dangerous thing here is when an “investor” with money does not understand the specifics of the proposed business idea. For example, a Czech woman trades in the market and knows nothing about computers. Thinks computers are cool. They are the future. As a result, the son, who is interested in computer games, persuades his mother to give money to create a computer gaming club. The son himself spends a couple of thousand a month in gaming clubs. And he thinks this is a cool business. He knows nothing about how to organize it. Nor about how difficult it is to find suitable system administrators. Not that the market has been oversaturated for four years now. And most of the organized gaming clubs go down the drain. The result is natural: mom’s money is scattered in the wind.

The real reason why most newly organized businesses die is even deeper: To effectively build a business, you need to be a professional business owner yourself. The profession of a business owner is complex and difficult. They learn it mainly by trial and error. If the owner of a business is not experienced and professional enough, he can ruin any business that would be quite successful for another owner.

EXAMPLE

There are cases when owners successful businesses organize new businesses that were not viable from the moment of birth. I remember a story when the owner of a successful finishing and construction materials store organized the “M.” club. Initially, the idea was to add an exposition salon to the store - a room with luxurious finishing, in which the store’s VIP clients would be shown how to decorate and equip their apartments and cottages. But the exhibition salon was located far from the store. And clients simply did not get there.

Then another idea arose: let's make an entrepreneurs' club promoting a luxurious lifestyle! The owner of the newly opened club knew many businessmen and politicians: they shopped at his store. This should have been enough to begin with. And then everyone else will follow. After which the club will flourish and generate income for the owner. But the main thing is that the popularity and fame of the club owner, as well as the level of his connections, will grow by leaps and bounds!

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