Failures lead to Success!

Crawl before you walk. Do not bite off more than you can chew. Do not feed a baby steak.

These are all old wise tales which are very true in every sense of the word. This is especially true for business owners and entrepreneurs. Those people who try to start too fast or go after something too big too quickly, usually fail. We all have to start somewhere, but I suggest start at the beginning. Worse than not starting at the beginning is not starting at all. Too many people talk the talk but never back it up by walking the walk.

I suggest to you, just don’t talk but find a way to start. Start small, but start. It is better to have ten small failures before success, than one large failure and never try again. Most entrepreneurs have failed multiple times before achieving success.

Failure is only failure when we quit. If you are going to make mistakes, make them small failures, learn from them and then try again but just take a different route.

Franchisors at or near Bankruptcy

Here is a list of franchisors that have filed bankruptcy, or are reported close to filing bankruptcy. Notice how many of them are food related. In my opinion it would be a smart move to NOT open a food related business (with a few exceptions). There seems to be more safety in non food related type businesses. It is reported franchising in general has a 75% success rate by end of year five. Food related will probably be much lower.

Anyway here is the list of those franchisors at or near Bankruptcy.

• Perkins
• Marie Callender’s
• Giordano’s
• Friendly’s
• Souper Salad
• Dippin’ Dots
• Sbarro
• The Little Gym
• Fatburger (Fatburger parent company not part of bankruptcy
• Mrs. Fields/ TCBY

Elevator Pitch

What is an elevator pitch? In 20 seconds or less it is explaining what you do for a living. It is hopefully interesting enough where the person you are giving it to will be intrigued and will ask you for your business card.

Successful entrepreneurs try to give their elevator pitch twice a day. It is best done face to face but over the phone can also be successful. This means most good business owners will need to be talking with a few new potential clients every day. A good way to start a conversation, which can lead to an elevator pitch, is to ask others what they do for a living. Generally they will ask you the same question.

Be prepared by always having a couple business cards with you.

Good successful business owners will market themselves or their companies 1 to 2 hours every day. If you are not talking with customers, clients or people on a daily basis you need to get out of your comfort zone and do it. Remember 2 elevator pitches a day will keep the doctor away.