I see patterns of failure in businesses. Over the life cycle of a business, the first reason for failure is lack of sales. The sales may not be there for a multitude of reasons, but at the end of the day, the sales are not there. Business crashes.
Succeed in building sales to a sustainable level and the next hurdle will be finances. Perhaps it is trying to cash flow rapid growth, or maybe you are not monitoring your cost of production properly, but there will be a financial issue that comes close to killing your business. Solve it, and you advance to the next level of problems.
Make it this far and you will face a wellness issue brought on by the stress of running a business. It may be a heart attack, depression, divorce, substance abuse, or a multitude of other issues, but it will come. Be prepared, build a support network and have plans to take care of your mind and body as you run this marathon of building a business.
The next issue you face will be how to effectively managing the people you need for continuing growth. People skills are often overestimated and always in short supply.
Master the issues of managing people and guess what? You have to start all over again, because running a business with lots of people requires more sales, which changes your finances, adds to your stress levels and means you need to hire even more people. An ever growing circle of complexity for you to figure out.
The good news is, others have figured it out before, and have laid out paths for you. It is your job to apply these concepts to your business. Turns out, building a business is half art, half science.
Good luck!
