CEO Spotlight: Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail, From CEO Of IOOGO, Josh Alballero

We live in a world full of ideas, with the ability for many people to take those ideas and turn them into a business. This draw towards entrepreneurship is important for the economy, it is part of what drives job creation, innovation, and technological growth. For many folks the idea of starting their own business is a lifelong dream, however, once they get there they find themselves watching as that dream fails. It is estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that almost half of new businesses will fail within the first five years. Josh and Kristy Alballero, the Texas-based husband and wife team who successfully started their own company, IOOGO, are sharing 7 of the common reasons why entrepreneurs fail.

1. Poor planning and not enough research – Too often entrepreneurs fail because they jumped into opening a business without doing the right amount of research and planning. Planning lays out a game plan and roadmap, research helps understand the market and the prospective customer, without that information a business can fail quickly.
2. Not the right market – It does not matter how good an idea is if it is not being presented to the right group of customers. This goes back to planning and research, and not spending enough time getting to know the market, and what specific customer base and target audience the business will serve and appeal to.
3. Trying to do everything – When starting a new business, entrepreneurs will think they need to take on everything and do everything for the business themselves. It is admirable to be willing to try and solve an issue, however, too often entrepreneurs will try and fix or work through something they just do not have enough knowledge or the right skills to do. Trying to do too much, alone, leads to emotional, mental, and physical burnout, a reason many entrepreneurs will cite when looking back on why their business did not make it.
4. Going off Course – Entrepreneurs often get sidetracked, losing focus on why they started the business in the first place. People often think they need to do more, all the time, to always be trying to grow and take on too many new projects to give their business the attention it needs to thrive.
5. Not having an open mind – Not being open to new things, new perspectives, and new ways of doing things can handicap an entrepreneur. Again, while it is easy to believe that one’s own opinion and way of doing things is right, that is not always the case.
6. Wrong kind or not enough marketing –Too many people think marketing and advertising are the same things, or that just throwing up a random post on social media is going to be enough. A business is not going to succeed if no one knows about it, too many entrepreneurs make this mistake.
7. Setting measures of success too high – Often entrepreneurs go into it expecting to see a huge amount of profit or growth right away. Dreams of being the biggest name in the industry right away are unrealistic, a truth that many entrepreneurs do not realize until it is too late.

Believing in one’s own idea and being invested in that success is not wrong, however, to be successful as an entrepreneur one must look at the whole picture. Planning, research, attitude, mindset, being open to criticism and to new ideas, are just some of the ways entrepreneurs can set themselves up for success. Understanding why others have failed and trying to avoid those same mistakes is a step towards entrepreneurial success!