In business as in life, there’s often a focus on looking on the bright side. There are both songs and books about it. The need to look at the positives is all around us. And, we’re sorry to break it to you, but they could be one of our leading reasons for failure.
It sounds strange, but we have good grounding for this belief. When you consider that around 50% of businesses fail in their first five years, it’s impossible to deny that something’s going wrong. Is it so outlandish, then, to consider that our false positivity is behind this? By always looking on the bright side, we fail to consider what we could do if the worst happens. So, when disaster strikes or sales slip, we’re left entirely unable to cope.
Hence why we’re suggesting an unusual yet effective new take on business. Call it business for pessimists if you will, but we think planning for failure from day one could increase your chances of survival. Here’s why.
You’ll have a better knowledge of the risks
It should go without saying that this half-empty approach can develop a decent knowledge of the risks your business faces. If you jumped into this without knowing how many people fail or why, you would soon do the same thing. But, if you do your research beforehand, you’ll know how little chance you have at success. And, you’ll know the risks you face. You’ll be aware of dropping sales, lack of engagement, and every other issue. That’s crucial given how likely it is you’ll come up against them at some stage. By arming yourself with knowledge here, you’ll be in a much better position to…
Develop actionable disaster plans
Often, the things which kill businesses are things with easy solutions if you think to look for them. And, your preparation here leaves you able to do just that. By acknowledging you might not see soaring sales, you can put plans in place such as increased marketing or incentives. By seeing how other businesses stumble over IT issues, you can put something like a data center disaster recovery plan in place. Name the disaster, and you’ll be able to find the solution for it. You don’t have to implement these things straight away, but keeping your plan in a drawer could be your best chance at survival.
Increase the sweetness of success
Though you might not think it, preparing for a failing business can also make success taste much sweeter. You know how risky this enterprise is, and you know how many people don’t make it and why. If you then go on to defy the odds, it’s sure to feel like the best success of all. Someone who doesn’t know what they’re up against may take these things in their stride. But, you have your eyes wide open, and you can thus enjoy every success which comes your way. When you consider it like that, pessimism doesn’t seem half as negative, does it?