Small Business Quick Quiz
Question #3
Most small business owners are pre-programmed to fail because…
- a. there’s a time bomb planted in their businesses
d. it’s not what they don’t know that sinks them — it’s what they don’t know they don’t know!
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| The Short Answers #3 |
The answers to the questions are listed here in short form. For more complete discussion of the issues raised, visit the linked resources. Better still, subscribe to Small Business Pro. newsletter.
3a. Correct! That time bomb has been ticking away since before you opened your doors for business for the very first time. And there’s a 90% chance that it will explode, killing your business and destroying your personal assets, your health, your confidence, your reputation, even your family relationships. It’s a HUGE risk. There’s a 75% chance that it will go B-O-O-M! in the first five years, too. So you need to do something about it, urgently. The good news is that we know what it is, we know where to look for it, we know how to defuse it — and we know the culprit who planted it there! See Resource Information on Why Most People Fail in Small Business.
3b. Correct! The reasons that motivate most people to go into small business are their fierce independence and personal pride... the very same things that cause most of them to fail, because 80% either don’t believe or won’t admit that they don’t know all they need to know about managing their businesses successfully. That “independence” is actually emotional dependence... they fear losing face if they admit their own ignorance or incompetence. Especially men. Which is ironic, considering that men (in Western Society, anyway) are born with a threefold advantage over women — yet women enjoy a 300% to 400% higher survival rate in small business than their male counterparts! See Resource Information on Why Most People Fail in Small Business and The Right Reason for Going Into Business.
3c. Correct! For all the same reasons as Answer 2g. “Self-employed” and “being your own boss” are the most dangerous mindset any small business entrepreneur can adopt. It encourages you to do all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. See Resource Information on The Right Reason for Going Into Business and the false perception of “self-employment”.
3d. Correct! (Have you worked the answer out yet?). What we’re really talking about here is the difference between conscious incompetence (what you don’t know — but you at least know you don’t know it, so you can do something about fixing it!) and unconscious incompetence (what you don’t yet know you don’t know... so you blunder on, putting your business, your assets, your health, your confidence, your reputation and family relationships at constantly-growing risk). See the resource information at Four Stages of Personal Control.
3e. Uh oh! You’re absolutely right — because anyone who thinks THAT is usually unconsciously incompetent (see the answer to 3d above). They only think they know everything — so their minds are firmly shut. See the answers to 3a and 3b as well. See Resource Information on Why Most People Fail in Small Business and The Right Reason for Going Into Business.