10 Surefire Ways to Fail in Business
1. Don’t think it through
For guaranteed failure, it’s best to have no clear idea what your goals are, what steps will lead you to your goals and what stumbling blocks you may encounter along the way. Don’t research the market and the competition. Never plan ahead. Just wing it.
2. Be inflexible
To ensure a complete lack of success, steadfastly refuse to adjust your goals, strategies and business practices. Do not learn from your mistakes. Ignore changes in the marketplace. Stick to your guns.
3. Refuse to market your business
If you want to lose money from the get-go, assume the value of your product or service will shine like a beacon without all the muss and fuss of marketing and advertising. Don’t waste your precious time and money promoting your business. If you build it, they will come. Just wait for it….wait for it….wait for it…
4. Shun professional advice
If you want your business to languish properly, remember never to access any of the help that’s readily available. Never consult an attorney or accountant. Do not work with a business mentor, consultant or business incubator program. After all, how complicated can it be?
5. Honor unsolicited advice
In order to fail miserably, pay close attention when friends or relatives tell you that you will never succeed or give you pointers on how to run your business. If someone with absolutely no experience with anything even remotely close to your business offers you advice, take it!
6. Assume you’ll get a second chance
Nothing speeds the demise of a business faster than dissatisfied clients. Don’t meet deadlines, don’t keep your pricing competitive, don’t follow through or keep your promises. They’ll forgive you, right?
7. Be pessimistic
The fast track to failure. If you don’t believe in yourself, then no one else will. Even if you’re doing everything else right, lack of confidence and a pessimistic outlook can be the poison pellet your business needs to commit suicide.
8. Delay
Pre-emptive failure. Come up with a great idea but don’t act until someone else beats you to it. Plan to start a business but wait for a better time, better place, better economy. Wait until conditions are perfect…
9. Give up
Have the last word. Slay your own business. Persistence is for wimps. Admit defeat, the sooner the better. At the first obstacle, speed bump or challenge, just bail.
10. DON’T TRY
The single most effective way to fail in business is never to try. Works every time.
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