57% of small businesses fail in their first year; 80% are gone after five
years. Many small to medium businesses limp on for years. Check each box that applies to your business.
TRUE FALSE
M ost small business owners work too many hours for too little reward.
M ost small businesses lack a way of doing business that is both profitable and
satisfying. They have a pattern, but the pattern may contain some degree
of organized chaos.
F or most business owners, their businesses doesn't serve their interests; it
consumes their lives and negatively affects their health.
M ost small business owners let their businesses negatively effect their personal
relationships. It leads to questioning whether the business or the business
owner is in charge.
M ost small business owners don't understand that they can create a business that
works without them.
H aving grown up with the business, most small business owners continue to wear too
many hats and have no plan for freeing themselves from the technical work of their
businesses.
M ost small businesses don't have a system for recruiting, hiring and training
effective people.
N early all-small businesses are organized around the existing people, rather than
the business system and its sub-processes. This results in inconsistent
performance and creates havoc when someone leaves.
M ost small business owners blame poor results on their people.
M ost small business owners feel trapped in their business.
S upervision, reporting and accountability in small businesses often overlap and
are unclear, which adds to confusion and the owner feeling entrapped.
M ost small businesses don't produce consistent, predictable results (profits
and satisfaction for owners, clients, and employees).
M ost small business owners have a system that treats all clients equally, don't
know who their most profitable clients are, and/or don’t have a structure that
caters to the 20% that produce 80% of the revenue.
M ost small business owners don't know how to identify and appeal to the emotional
needs of their workers or their clients.
M ost business owners are aware of some problems within their business and unaware
of others and don’t have either the time or the knowledge to correct them.
They don’t know how much money, time and tension not addressing them is costing.
M ost business owners haven’t taken the time to identify, study and address the "vital
few" things that, if done well, would transform their business into what it is they
started their business for in the first place.
M ost business owners feel threatened by technology and have not taken adequate time
to get caught up, let alone become a technological leader.
M ost small business owners started their business to earn more money, have control
over how work is done, have freedom to set their own schedule and to build equity
for themselves and their family.
