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[NOTE: This post is part of a series on Entrepreneurship 101 to give a kick-start to those who are thinking about starting their own business. Our regular Job-Seeking and Career-Improvement programming will continue soon!]

After all the things that I’ve been saying about getting your small business going, whodathunk I’d be talking about problems and small business success in the same sentence.

But, it’s true! There are almost as many problems with succeeding in your small business as there are in getting it started in the first place. They’re much better paying problems, but they’re still problems.

And the reason that I’m telling you about them here, in a series about just getting your business started, is because this is the easiest place to fix them. If you plan ahead and set guidelines for yourself, you won’t fall into these traps.

So, let’s see the pitfalls associated with success, shall we?

A HIGHER CLASS OF PROBLEM

Most people don’t think about success as a problem. In reality, success is just another human condition. And as in all human conditions, there are both seeds of great things and seeds of despair planted. What you grow is up to you.

Still don’t believe me? Let’s take an extreme example that will show what I’m talking about. Let’s say that you’ve decided to become a drug runner and run drugs across the U.S. / Mexico border.

All a drug runner wants, much like Greta Garbo, is to be left alone. It is in silence and secret that he is best able to do his work.

Anonymity also plays a part. If you’re highly successful, then you become “known” on the streets and more and more people seek out your product. However, the the U.S. Border Patrol will also learn your name and face.

Now your job is much harder and your chance of failure is actually greater than when you started. So, much like this case where the drug runner has become known to the world, you have very few options to pursue your small business.


THE PROBLEMS YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO RUN INTO

Since I’m assuming that you’re not going to become a drug runner (although, with the previously linked-to drug runner concerned with suing the U.S. over human rights offenses, there should be an opening), let’s look at the problems that you’re more likely to run into.

• Loss of Family - Think of your small business as a time sponge. A very large time sponge. It has the ability to soak up every bit of time that you have and still want more. Many small businesspeople continue to work every available second because there are still things to do.

  Well, let me give you a hint. There will always be more to do than you can possibly make time for. Always. Regardless of how much you get done. There’s always another deal. Always another crisis. And your family will always end up getting the short end of the stick.

  The good news is that, if you will constantly have things to do regardless of how much you work, you will have no more or less to do if you work less. Embracing that truth helps you to specifically set aside time to just do stuff with your family. Or just relax.

  Not embracing that truth will find you alone and burned out.

• Becoming a Slave To the Business - Some small businesspeople are smart enough to delegate a lot of the functions to other people. And, in the process, they give them the power to make time commitments on their behalf either directly (”You have an appointment at…”) or indirectly (”There’s a staff meeting scheduled…”)

  Left unchecked, you will find yourself run ragged by your subordinates and customers and end up more of a slave to your business than you ever were to your corporate boss. And I would say that around 85% of small businesspeople find themselves in this very spot when they start to taste success.

• The Midas Touch - Or, at least, you think you have it. So, you start to change everything about your business. You think, since you’re successful and obviously can’t fail, that it’s okay to sink a ton of money into this brand new offering or marketing activity or whatever.

  And then, of course, a ton of money disappears like so much smoke. And everything that was working and got you to success has been dismantled, so your business starts to fall apart.

• Running a Business For The Status - Many business owners seek the approval of others so much that they end up running the business that way. They have to have bamboo floors (because it’s kind to the environment) and marble walls and a plasma screen TV every 5 feet and mahogany furniture and on and on.

  Not because they need any of this to be successful in business. They just want it to make them look good when their friends see the office. They would rather put money into seeking their friends’ / family’s / whoever’s approval than, for instance, into an investment where it could be making money for them.

  Trust me - leave status seeking to people who have inherited a fortune. You stick to your business and you’ll do fine.

• Running a Business For Your Spouse’s Status - Your spouse is (hopefully) an important part of your life. However, unless s/he is in the business itself, you should never allow them to run your business.

  Many status-seeking spouses won’t like one part or another of your business (or an employee or a product or a wall color or whatever) because it makes them “look bad” in their social circles. Don’t let their social status dictate your business activities. It’s always bad for business.

• Not Getting Your Piece of the Pie - I know - your business is your baby. But don’t get all turned around where you exist to serve your business. No, your business exists to serve you.

  As a result, you should always be sure that, when faced with the option, you let your business feed you (by taking money out of the business on a regular basis) rather than you feeding it (by continuing to pour more money in).

  Your business will disappear one way or another one day. Statistics say that you probably won’t sell it, or if you do, it won’t be one of those “Cisco pays $124 billion for small start up” moments. If your business disappears tomorrow, will it have contributed anything to you?

• “It’s Good To Be The King” Syndrome You never knew how good it was to be the boss! It’s a power trip. You’ve got control over people in a visceral way that you could have never imagined. After all, you control their livlihoods.

  However, in reveling in your power, be sure to share. Train up some people who can manage the business so you get to take a break every now and again. Yes, that means they’ll be able to see (or, worse, tell you) when you’re doing something bad for the business.

  But you want your business to be able to survive without your constant attention. Otherwise you end up in “Becoming a Slave to the Business”, above.

• Living on the Attention - Remember the blonde lady from The Apprentice? Her name was Carolyn and she was one of Trump’s right-hand men (or women) in evaluating how the teams did on the show.

  But, as it turns out, she also had a real job in Trump’s empire (I think she was a lawyer or something like that). However, she got to like the spotlight so much that she apparently let her real job slide. And got fired. And hasn’t been heard from since.

  Many small businesspeople do the same and end up doing philanthropy and dinners and being honored all the time. As a result, there’s noone there to run the business. And the small business owner is, effectively, fired. And never heard from again

I encourage you to go tear ‘em up with your new business. I hope that you’re wildly successful. (Heck - I hope you send me some money in recognition of all I’ve done for your business!) However, keep the above in mind from the beginning and you can sidestep these major problems before they start.


Next In The Entrepreneurship 101 Series: How To Think About Your New Business To Maintain Sanity


Enjoy the Search!

-Dan


Photo by: Thalling55

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 9:24 am and is filed under Entrepreneurship 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.