Published from How to Start an Online Business and Not Fail; Nearly Burning Down a Garage
How to Start an Online Business and Avoid Failure; He Almost Burned Down His Garage! Flamin’ Oversight! I was returning home one evening in mid-December, 2004. Mom and I had been visiting Grandma, and had driven clear across the state and back home again to do it. It was after dark, and we were tired; but we were really jolted as we approached home: our neighbor Steve’s garage door was open, and there were huge orange flames furiously shooting up along the back wall, near his workbench! Steve was a retired ironworker, and partially disabled. Nearly every Friday, he would fry fish using his gas cooker in the garage. I learned afterward that he had been doing just that, but had left the burner on too long while he went to tend to something else; the oil overheated and caught fire. Just in time… …Steve’s friend Cecil saw an opportunity to take action: He crawled along the garage floor, under the smoke, and shut off the gas valve. Then he stopped the burning oil with an extinguisher. In the meantime, I had gone to our house and called the fire department, and a couple of trucks arrived. The firefighters checked for hot spots, and we all thanked each of them for coming out to help. If his friend Cecil hadn’t been there, that fire may have burned the whole house down, because the rubber gas hose from the cylinder could have melted—creating a fireball of burning propane!
--All because Steve overlooked the small-but-critical combination of time and temperature.
How to Start an Online Business and Not Fail: Avoid Oversight Overlooking small details can make any business go up in flames—and that applies to any type of business, really. Failing to understand your target market, not having a financial plan, trying to “go it alone,” and— maybe worst of all—focusing on just making money, are all examples of oversights that you absolutely must avoid in order to achieve success with your online business. The Online Seller’s Dennis L. Prince really puts that last one into perspective: “While it might seem counterintuitive, going into business for the sole purpose of making money is what often trips up many entrepreneurs. When you’ve decided you’ll go into business for yourself, it’s often because you want to escape a daily grind, to have more meaning to what you do each day, and to improve or otherwise impact the lives of others. Those are sound and noble reasons to start your online business, but if you then only focus through the prism of how much money you’ll make, you’ll risk derailing your natural motivations.” I don’t care what your reasons for making money are—even if you’re planning to give it away; you’ve got to have a genuine desire to lift your customers up, and make their lives better through your business. That’s exactly what my intentions are when I tell people to “take action, click on a link and join me;” I want each person to empower themselves to live with more liberty and prosperity. It’s all a matter of focus. Dennis offers some suggestions for focusing: “Instead, focus on your passions, your dreams and what you believe you can deliver to others. Love what you’ll do first, and the rest will take care of itself. You’ll be driven to make your business customerfocused, you’ll seek out talent and advice to help you stay on a correct course, and you’ll enjoy ‘going to work’ every day.” --Josh “Mad Thrad” Campbell P.S. What oversights have you avoided in your business? Leave a comment in the box below—I’m curious! P.P.S. For more cutting-edge online business training and coaching, visit my blog, watch the free video, and join me today. I have a vision for building a team of people who have the most liberty, as well as the most wealth. I think you deserve both. Sources: http://www.theonlineseller.com/2012/07/17/top-5-reasons-small-businesses-fail/