LESSONS I LEARNED FROM A FEW FAILED RETAIL BUSINESSES

Some years back I dropped out of university (worst decision I ever made) and COVID hit. Most of my year 2020 was spent at home, specifically on my phone, scrolling aimlessly but that was the only thing I could do then and you know how much that sucked. I promised myself that 2021 would not be spent that way, I would try to get out of my broke and miserable situation by any means necessary. 2021 came and it was time for me to walk the talk so I borrowed my mom some money, not a lot, but enough which she gave me because I really did a good job at convincing her or maybe because she just loves and believes in me.

Being my first time ever to dive into the entrepreneurial waters, I made some grave mistakes which taught me a ton of valuable lessons, lessons which you can never find on any business-related book and can only learn yourself from your own experience. Keep in mind that some of the things you’ll have to experience first hand in order for you to grasp, no amount of research and caution will ever prepare you enough.

The lessons are;

· Books can only help you to an extent. Understand that different businesses are run in different ways, and they have their own unique set of challenges. Some rules are general and apply to many businesses all at once but there are always some specifics when you narrow your focus to one business. This is why failing is inevitable and seriously important, you discover a problem you never knew existed and if you solve it successfully, you are already ahead because you know what nobody else knows, you get a trick up your sleeve that your competition has no clue of.

· When you start at the top, you are headed to the bottom. I was the one to always think that you require the big bucks in order to set up a successful business but I quickly unlearned that. I later came to read Damyond John’s book The Power Of Broke and that lesson became engraved in my mind. Some types of businesses do require millions in start-up capital but those are not the type of business anyone with no experience should look to start. These big companies we see today had very humble beginnings and their growth has been organic. That is what anyone looking to start a business should aim for, start in the cheapest but most efficient form possible and aim to grow organically. This way, even if you fail, you’ll not be deep in dept.

· Nobody cares if it’s your passion. Turning your passion into a business is not always a good idea, you could be the best at what you do but the market favors people who solve problems and if your passion does not solve anyone’s problem, then it is just useless, you won’t be able to make a living out of it. People want to get their money’s worth; they don’t care about anything else. If you look around you, you see that it is actually the boring/disgusting businesses that are the lucrative ones since they offer to do tasks which no one else wants to do and charge a fee for it.

· If you don’t understand your target market, you are headed for trouble. Don’t be selling Toyotas to Mercedes like markets thinking, that if they can afford Benzes then the Toyotas will fly off the shelves. Frankly, just because people can afford something does not mean they shall buy it. As said above people want their money’s worth, when they make more money, their budget also grows along. This is a mistake I made thinking that everyone thinks the way I do. I used to think that people would purchase my commodities just because my prices were low.

· Keep records of everything. Don’t assume that just because you buy low and sell high, you are destined for success. It is crucial to keep records of everything in both good and bad times. In all businesses, there are patterns which you can only see and understand if you keep records, which will come in handy if you are calculating a risk. Failing to keep business records is what makes people start believing in luck and curses. Even the springs and summers have a pattern, stock traders know this very well too.

· Communication skills matter in any type of business. Speak to as many people as you can because it comes in clutch when you are trying to get someone to give you their hard-earned money without sounding like it. The talk in business is different from the talks you have with your friends; in business you should talk with confidence as this signals to your customer that you believe in your product/service and they can trust it. For introverts it is going to be harder in the beginning but you’ll become better at it with time and experience.

· The earlier you begin, the better. A business does not have a summit, only the ones you place on it, this shows that the earlier you expose yourself to a business, the more you learn about it plus the more time you have to grow it into the undiscovered heights. Resist procrastination and act on what you have always wanted, if you fail, good and if you succeed, great. If you procrastinate until you are forty, you shall be making rookie mistakes that you should have been making at twenty. That is why it’s important to start a business even if you love your job and it pays you enough. Jobs are not 100% secure. You could get fired, quit or retire from that job and you’ll want to do something of your own, don’t wait till then.

Am not a business mogul yet but I’m on my way there. These lessons are among the many-some inexplainable-I have learned myself from being my own guinea pig. As the first point said, different business models have different rules and challenges, so sometimes you’ll have to do it yourself in order to see the outcome.

Failure itself is not what demoralizes people, it is the fear of it. Once you are in that moment of failure you realize that it is not as bad as you envisioned it would be. So, just dive in and fail forward and soon you could be the one guiding others.

As you begin or go on with your entrepreneurial journey, try to learn as much as you can because even the most successful people on this planet do not know everything. Learning will prevent you from making mistakes which have already been made before. If you work a job, remember that that too is someone else’s business. A business unlike a job has no limits, is full of surprises, thrill and the money that you could make is not limited.

I’d like to challenge you who is reading this to start a business before the year ends (if you haven’t yet) and get the feeling of what it is like being your own boss. Make sure to strategize well before you set it up, minimal risk with high profit margins.