Doomed from the start. If you’re an entrepreneur or an
entrepreneur-hopeful, it’s probably difficult to keep those four words
from causing you to second guess your every move as you plan and run
your business. They become especially hard to ignore when you consider
the fact that less than 30 percent of businesses last more than 10
years, and most failures happen within the first few years of operation.
The truth is, many things could go wrong: an ill-conceived business
idea, poor planning, lack of capital, ineffective leadership, and more.
In the high stakes world of running a business, those are the facts.
But, says Bill McBean, there are other important facts about business
ownership. Facts that could help you avoid the mistakes and pitfalls
that trip up so many others, and go on to achieve the success you’ve
dreamed of. He calls them the Facts of Business Life.
“Of course, there are a variety of skills owners need to know in order
to make a business work,” says McBean, author of the new book The
Facts of Business Life: What Every Successful Business Owner
Knows That You Don’t (Wiley, October 2012, ISBN:
978-1-1180949-6-9, $24.95, www.FactsOfBusinessLife.com).
“But after many decades of running my own successful businesses, and
learning how other successful owners have created success, I have come
to the conclusion that these facts are the seven essential concepts
needed to create a successful business life.”
McBean knows what he’s talking about. A successful business owner many
times over and a trusted mentor to entrepreneurs, he shares in his book
a career’s worth of wisdom that you can put to use right away. The
Facts of Business Life provides a thorough explanation of each fact
and why their sequential order is important. And, he is the first author
to define the five levels through which every successful business
evolves—its life cycle: Ownership and Opportunity, Creating Your
Company’s DNA, From Survival to Success, Maintaining Success, and Moving
On When It’s Time to Go.
Best of all, The Facts of Business Life makes it clear when
each fact should be implemented and how they should be implemented on
each level. (Make no mistake—while the facts will always remain the
same, their application will change as your business grows and matures!)
That’s where the book’s greatest value can be found: McBean makes it
very clear how and why each level signals to an owner that it’s time to
change up the way he or she leads, manages, markets, etc., and he
provides actionable advice on how to best proceed.
“Now, don’t get me wrong,” McBean clarifies. “There are no guarantees
for entrepreneurs—and to add to the challenge, each business is one of a
kind, in terms of how it competes, its constraints, and how it operates.
But what you can do is tilt the odds in your favor.”
If you’re ready to build a strong, lasting foundation for your business,
here are McBean’s tried-and-true seven Facts of Business Life:
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Fact 1: If you don’t lead, no one will follow
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Fact 2: If you don’t control it, you don’t own it.
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Fact 3: Protecting your company’s assets should be your first
priority.
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Fact 4: Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting
it.
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Fact 5: If you don’t market your business, you won’t have one.
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Fact 6: The marketplace is a war zone.
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Fact 7: You don’t just have to know the business you’re in; you
have to know business.
“Ultimately, I don’t believe that any entrepreneur can succeed—or at
least reach his or her full potential—without knowing, understanding,
and applying these seven Facts of Business Life,” concludes McBean.
“It’s equally important to understand how these facts are interrelated.
“For instance, being able to develop strategic plans or market your
product will mean little if you don’t have a good grasp of business in
general,” he concludes. “But I promise, if you commit yourself to
understanding these facts while being prepared for their implementation
to change as your business goes through its inevitable life cycle,
you’ll be creating a best-odds scenario for success.”
