3 Reasons Why Your New Business Won’t Succeed

Wow, what a depressing topic. Who wants to talk about failure? Not me. But I do want to steer away from the Robert Kiyosaki style advice that has plagued the internet. It’s critical to stay positive, but you also do need to understand why you’re not reaching your goals. Whether your new side business succeeds is directly dependent on YOU. Since many of you have expressed interest in more entrepreneurial topics, I wanted to talk about some common reasons hindering your success.

Let’s look at 3 reasons why your new side business won’t succeed:

You have no time.

Time flies by and it always seem like there simply isn’t enough of it. In fact it feels like there’s a global wide time famine affecting all of us. Yet people around us that have a family and other commitments are able to start side businesses/pursue other ventures (see Jeff Rose of Good Financial Cents).

You need to ask yourself: do you really not have enough time? Or are you just not interested enough to make time?

[Check out my post on time management & side income & my post on effective time management skills.]

You hate selling stuff.

The majority of us hate to sell stuff. I personally hate it when a friend calls me up with some “amazing deal.” I would much rather go to the store to buy something brand new than rely on a favor that might not even come true. For some pales, sales is a really dirty word. It shouldn’t be though.

There’s major difference between selling shady insurance/investments and solving problems. Becoming a personal trainer and helping someone meet their fitness goals is in a completely different realm than trying to pass off a used car to your buddy Jack.

Designing a web site for an aspiring writer/blogger is a mutually beneficial arrangement. You can continue to hone your skills as a web designer and the blogger can continue to build their brand with a new, eye-catching design. Is selling really that bad in this situation?

You’re waiting for the next big idea.

Who knows if there will be another Google or FaceBook. Who really cares? You need to drop the myth of the great idea and start getting shit done. You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel and you certainly don’t need to come up with the next iPhone just to make some money on the side. Stop waiting around and start working.

Are you making any of the above mistakes? Are there any other factors affecting the success of your side business?