The First Two Years
I attended a networking event in Hartford a couple of months ago. At this event I met a business owner who said: "One of the first things I ask a prospective vendor is how long they've been in business. If it's anything less than two years, I refuse to do business with them." I pressed him for more details. "People in their first two years of business just don't have it together. They promise what they can't deliver. They're impossible to deal with. They don't have their processes down yet. I just won't work with someone who is still trying to cut their teeth. I just can't afford to do business with someone who will probably be gone soon."
It's a sad commentary for new businesses. And unfortunately, the numbers back it up.
Every year, some 1 million people start a business.
By the end of the first year, at least 40% of them will be out of business.
Within 5 years, more than 80% of them 800,000 will fail.
We don't have to look very far to find success stories to balance off this First Two Year idea. Some businesses come right out of the gate and start building their success. What is it that separates these companies from the failures? In the last newsletter I wrote about the Seven Reasons Small Business Fail, and if you were to address each of those issues, you'd be in pretty good shape with your new business. But there was something that I didn't mention last time: Unstoppable Belief.
When a business owner has an Unstoppable Belief, it's the same as having "Unlimited Funding". That belief alone can make everything happen. Often the people around them think that they're crazy for even starting their business, but they do it anyway.
Here are three examples of Unstoppable Belief, two from my hometown, and one you will already know:
Ron Nodine built a small smokehouse in his back yard, a quarter mile down the street from my parent's house in Goshen. Everyone thought he was crazy. That was in the early 1970s. The business has grown and flourished. It now supplies specialty stores around the country.
Bud Wright was a farmer in Goshen. He had this dream that he could turn a great portion of his land into a resort lake (mind you, this was all dry land with a stream running through it). People would drive by and watch him work that bulldozer, clearing land day after day. Today, Woodridge Lake is a thriving, gated community that has beautiful homes, tennis courts, and a luxury clubhouse.
Do you recognize the name Korczak Ziolkowski? He's the sculptor that had the Unstoppable Belief to create the Crazy Horse Memorial. Although not complete, it's well underway, and was his life's work. Since he started working on it in the 1940s, and knew that he wouldn't finish it in his lifetime, do you think that his belief was an important part of his ability to carry out this work? You bet.
In closing, whether you're in your first two years of business, or your second decade, make sure that you've got that Unstoppable Belief in creating the perfect business. I promise that it will serve you well.
Till next time.....
Jerry
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2003 Jerry Wistrom and All Out Coaching, LLC
All rights reserved.
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