Only 1% Make it
It's no secret that 90% of new businesses will fail within the first year. What you may not have known is that of the small handful that do survive a further 90% will fail by the end of year 3.
Which means that roughly only 1% of new businesses see it through to a decade.
There are so many things that can go wrong with a new business. Not keeping proper financial records. Having a partner that decides to cut you out of the picture. Irate customers. Accidents and illness.
For many these problems may spell the end. But if you're the kind of person that keeps on going no matter what then you may have a chance.
The Magic Formula
What few realize is that there is a magic formula that helps you survive no matter what.
That one thing that will get you through the tough times is a consistent demand for your product.
Think about it. Lets say that you had not been keeping proper financial records and when the tax man found you, you discovered your tax bill was out the roof.
What is the one thing that could keep you in business and not in the queue at the liquidations counter. The certainty that profits were still going to come in.
In other words plenty of customers wanted your product or service with even more customers appearing every day.
In a situation like that you'd have something to work with. Future income. All because you still had customers.
Their Confidence Depends on Your Potential
You could say that customers are the secret to business survival.
But that doesnt help you if you don't have any customers. Or if getting a customer requires lots of time and effort and the pressures of business are taking up most of your time.
The trick is to set up your customer acquisition process so that there's some automation to it.
Today with the internet it's easier than ever before. Now you just click a few buttons and you can rest assured that someone somewhere is going to be hearing about you or seeing your special offer.
Which means that the phones are going to ring and the emails are going to arrive in your inbox.
Seeing The Wood For the Trees
But what is the secret to this you may wonder.
Many people know that advertising is like a magic formula. And logically if you stop advertising customers stop enquiring.
It should then come as no surprise to you that the secret to you surviving past your first year in business is to advertise consistently without fail and to keep a record of it.
That's right, so if you hand out 50 business cards, have someone stand at the robots and hand out 1000 fliers and spend $50 on google ads that got you 100 clicks. Then you count that all up every week and mark it off on a graph.
You do the same each week and draw a line between the marks.
Find the Correlation
Do the same thing with your income. Create a graph and mark off how much you invoiced that week.
As the weeks go by you you'll notice that there's a correlation between the two. Depending on the kind of business you have there might be a one week delay or a 6 week delay. It might take a while but eventually you'll be able to see how the promotion graph starts being mirrored by the income graph.
