my blog! - Trudy Phillips Business Consulting

Posted On January 13, 2013 by Trudy

January 8, 2013

By: Octavia Kuransky

Alabama sits almost dead center in the middle of the national rankings for business start-up according to Birmingham Business Alliance research. Unfortunately, according to the Small Business Administration, only about 7% of business start-ups survive beyond a year. The number one reason for failure, according to the SBA is under-capitalization ? just not enough money to stay afloat for long enough to gain sufficient market share to support themselves.

The second reason given for business failure is poor management generally brought about by an ill-prepared or underprepared owner. There are other contributing factors to success or failure such as timing, economic and supply chain problems and the research shows that most entrepreneurs go through a number of businesses before one succeeds. But all things being equal, are there some people who just should not be the boss? According to Trudy Phillips, owner of TMP File Management, the answer is yes. And with 28 years of business management and coaching experience and currently serving as the business coach for start-ups at the high profile REV Birmingham group, Phillips should know.

We asked her for some non-negotiable traits for the successful nascent entrepreneur. First, ?if you?re not a risk taker?, she says, ?you should forget about going into business.? Business is risk, she explains further. There are no guarantees that the business will succeed or succeed to the degree that you ? the owner ? need it to. The record breaking, history making corporations on the front of Forbes are there because they are out of the ordinary occurrences. Second sign of a non-entrepreneur, according to Phillips, is the requirement for a steady secure income. A business has needs of its own and those needs have to come first. Investing in advertising or new equipment has to come first even at the expense of paying the owner, Phillips says. For the first year or two ? or five as in the case of a restaurant ? that may mean that the owner actually has to work another job if a steady income is required. The third reality check if you?re thinking of going into business for yourself, according to Phillips, is your level of knowledge about the industry you intend to enter. This is a case of what you don?t know will definitely hurt you, Phillips says. Without sufficient knowledge about the industry, you may as well jump off a cliff in the dark with regards to winding up where you want to be. The fact is that competition in any area is such that even the most savvy in the business are challenged to maintain a decent profit margin. The neophyte is definitely in a defensive position. So if risk is a problem and you need a secure income stream and you?re not really familiar with the industry, you are probably better off looking for a good job. You can reach Trudy at tmpfilemgmt@aol.com.

Posted in Business Planning, Coaching, Financial Info

Source: http://trudyphillips.com/archives/359

extenze tenacious d steve smith zou bisou bisou tim tebow press conference tebow press conference trina