3 Rooms In The Haunted House Of Failed Businesses
We love Halloween and all the spooky movies, fun food, and decorations.
While talking to a neighbor about how we should have used an empty house on our street as a haunted house, I started thinking about Maker businesses. Sure, how would a Maker decorate an entire, empty house and make it spooky, but also what would the Haunted House of entrepreneurs and business look like. What would scare owners and creators so much that it would spurn them to action tomorrow.
While there are many to choose from, these were the top 3 rooms in my failed business haunted house.
Room 1: Settling For Mediocrity
We start in a room that looks like any other and is quite forgettable.
Many businesses try to just do something they have seen others successfully do the exact same way, but wonder why they fail. People don’t want something identical and if they did, they’d work with whoever did it first anyway. There has to be some kind of additional value or similar value but to a different target audience or you will fail.
This is the medium grey room that is familiar, but immediately forgettable in its boringness.
Room 2: Blaming Others
Now we’re in the blame room where we find a failed entrepreneur blaming the economy, politicians, people “not getting it”, or literally anything but themselves.
Anyone can blame others and 99% of people do (whether for their own failure or the success of others). You cannot control what happens to you, but you can always control how you act in response. Instead of blaming anything, let’s start taking control and moving forward.
My favorite story about this is the Red-Sided Die with 1 Green side (if you aren’t familiar, let me know and I’ll post the full story).
Room 3: Quitting With No Results
The ultimate failure: you believe you tried, but with nothing to show for it except what you stopped trying to do.
There is some “statistic” that says 90% of businesses fail, but based on statistics that also cannot be true. Yes, many businesses fail and some could be at no fault of the entrepreneur. However, my belief is that anyone with an objectively good idea that targets the right people with a problem they can solve and those people have the disposable income to spend on the solution should be able to have a successful business.
The harsh truth is that most businesses fail because someone half-heartedly tries for a little bit, blames others, and quits, rather than they give it everything they have, focus on value, and are willing to adjust based on data.
Each room comes immediately after the other.
Most business owners settle for mediocrity first, then blame others, then ultimately quit (while continuing to blame others). It doesn't have to be like this. We can circumvent the entire failed business haunted house by avoiding each of those things.
