–Why only 5% of businesses will ever be successful
One of the statistics that hits you when you research on business success is that 95% of businesses fail or barely stay alive within the first 5 years. If you watched my video, you know that the first price of success is your belief and this has a great impact on your outcome.
I always encourage business owners to have a big vision, because you cannot see in your reality what you have not seen in your mind.
We are surrounded by the ‘vision babies’ of people who saw in their mind first and worked to bring it to reality.
When you have a great vision like a lot of business owners who speak to me share, the next and most important factor that will distinguish the 5% who succeed from the other 95% is what I call “The process”.
How do you differentiate a good quality product from a poor quality product? Sometimes it is the finishing, sometimes it is the performance or sometimes it is the attention to detail that was paid in creating the good quality product that is absent from the poor quality product. The summary of all these factors is “The process”.
One of the fundamental flaws I notice in many business owners in Africa is the unwillingness to go through “The process”.
I was recently appointed as a member of the board of trustee for the ELOY foundation which is behind the prestigious ELOY awards that has celebrated and empowered women in the last 10 years. The vision of the foundation is sustainable empowerment for female entrepreneurs.
During our board meeting, I declared that lack of training was not the problem of small businesses in Nigeria. My fellow board members were surprised.
I went on to explain that there were so many training programs and opportunities available online and offline. Some of them free, some provided scholarships and the others paid.
Knowledge has been democratized that I doubt there is anything you cannot learn if you really want to.
From over a decade of working with small and growing businesses, I see too many business owners who are not willing to go through “The process” and do what it takes to succeed.
Last week, I shared my own story of how I was trying to ‘hack’ my way to becoming a full stack application developer. My survival instinct was to look for a short cut instead of investing the money and time it would take to bring my vision to reality.
Unfortunately, so many business owners are like this!
You give birth to a new baby (business) and you expect the baby to be able to fuel your fantasies by the 3rd year of its existence. Or you put so much pressure on the baby (business) from day 1 that by the time the baby is 10 years, it can barely walk and has been stripped of so much value that it is barely surviving.
I understand the economic challenges and societal pressure, but can you pause and think about how much you have taken out of your business recently to fund something that was a personal obligation vs. invest in something that will help your business grow?
Did you just buy that #50,000 weave and tell yourself it was durable as against investing the same amount in a VIP day session with me to map your business next level?
Okay, okay, you don’t spend on such frivolities… But did you just sow a seed to your religious or charity Organization of a similar amount for a breakthrough that you could have invested in putting your business in order? (Get my drift?)
I have nothing against sowing seeds by the way, I sow because I believe in the principle of seed, time and harvest.
And this principle transcends religious giving; you need to sow the seed of time, money and effort to bring your vision for any area of your life to reality.
In February, I had a strategy session with a member of my current Business Leaders circle program and it was an amazing experience that opened so much personal and business potential that would make the next 10 years of her business trump the last 10 years.
She called me a few days later and said; you are amazing at what you do, why don’t you put yourself out there more like some popular business coaches on Instagram?
I paused and told her: I am not seeking to be an Instagram celebrity(nothing wrong with it if it serves your business), I have a long term vision to create the next generation of African billion businesses; that is my focus and it requires a different process in building this. Hmmmmmm, she responded.
What are you building? Have you counted the cost? Are you willing to go through the process and pay the price? Are you committed to invest in the brilliant vision you want to create?
If not, it will remain a myth….Think about it really deeply and tell yourself the truth.
Now, as you do that, I will like to make my last call for participating in my business ignite program if it interests you and you are willing and able to invest in your process.
