There’s nothing like a tough economy – and unemployment – to encourage people to take the plunge and open their own businesses. Some have more business experience than others. Some have more education than others. When I started my company, I went through a series of surprises and shocks and the occasional nightmare. With all of the recent interest in entrepreneurship, I thought I would highlight six warning signs that you are about to be broadsided by one of the classic and inevitable struggles of business ownership. If you hear yourself saying these words, take a step back and think about what you’re doing. My hope is that by being more aware you will be better prepared.
1. “Where’s all the business from our marketing launch?” Marketing can be very expensive, and it is difficult to know what will work. It can propel your company, or it can have minimal or no impact. There will be no shortage of people looking to take your money to help you with your advertising and marketing. The people who sell advertising are usually not marketing experts — they’re salespeople. It is their job to sell. It is your job to be discerning. If you can, test before you invest.
2. “The accountant must be wrong! We must be making money! We’re so busy I can hardly keep up.” You can’t just be a salesperson. You need to do the math. It’s about margins, cost accounting and discounting. It is about the bottom line, not the top line. Plenty of people are very busy right up until the day they run out money. Accounting can be exciting — exciting like finding out you are going broke, or exciting like driving a big profit.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Six Shocks of Entrepreneurship - You're the Boss Blog - NYTimes.com
Author: JAY GOLTZ
