By Peter Windatt
BRI Business Recovery
IN previous Starting and Staying in Business features we have covered the first steps a business might take on the road to success and then we addressed the need to deal with the planning and cash-flow management that differentiate a flash-in-the-pan business from one that will endure and provide a real income for business owners and all who work in it.
So how to keep on keeping on? Having spotted that gap in the market how can you ensure that there is a real and meaningful market for you in that gap?
A harsh analysis of the US start-up market concludes that ‘there is more than a 50 per cent chance that any new business is toast in five years’. Here in the UK the numbers are similar. Since 2011, the rate of business births has continued to exceed the rate of deaths. The difference between the rate of business births and deaths continued to widen until 2016 but is now shrinking.
Uncertainty around the economic outlook may be the reason but, some 10 years after the 2008/09 downturn, this was, statistically speaking, ever likely to happen. With low interest rates and less inclination on the part of high street lenders to be seen to be ‘pulling the rug’ we continue to benefit from relatively benign conditions.
Those that make the difference, that thrive, rather than merely hang on in there, are those that manage to carve out time to work on their business as well as in it. Having experienced birth, enjoyed a period of growth and then reached maturity, they are finding ways to re-invent themselves before the business life-cycle overtakes them and they enter into decline.
The commonly listed reasons for failure remain cash-flow problems (82 per cent) and insufficient need for their product or service (42 per cent) – if you’ve followed the previous suggestions on producing trading and cash-flow forecasts, and achieving them, the next main driver is going to be ensuring that there is, and there remains, a market for you, your services or products, and that you can maintain that without loss of margin.
Sadly, wherever there is competition there will be winners and losers – you want to make sure you are on the winning team. If you have any reservations about this and you want a free, confidential discussion about what is troubling you, call BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency in St. James on 01604 754352 and we will try to ensure you stay on the road to success.
