ed under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resouHaving been a business consultant for over 20 years I have seen (what appears to be) every business idea, under-funded startup operation (including some of my own) under the sun. And probably 80 percent of them failed. Basically, the reasons are always the same… an overestimation of the market and sales and underestimation of costs. The other primary reason for failure is that people simply lack business knowledge to make good decisions. They spend an inordinate amount of time reinventing wheels from the spokes up, most of it based on guesswork and wishful thinking. They simply did not have the proper foundation of knowledge to handle the workloads required of starting the business and they crumbled under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resour And probably 80 percent of them failed. Basically, the reasons are always the same… an overestimation of the market and sales and underestimation of costs. The other primary reason for failure is that people simply lack business knowledge to make good decisions. They spend an inordinate amount of time reinventing wheels from the spokes up, most of it based on guesswork and wishful thinking. They simply did not have the proper foundation of knowledge to handle the workloads required of starting the business and they crumbled under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resouary reason for failure is that people simply lack business knowledge to make good decisions. They spend an inordinate amount of time reinventing wheels from the spokes up, most of it based on guesswork and wishful thinking. They simply did not have the proper foundation of knowledge to handle the workloads required of starting the business and they crumbled under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resouf it based on guesswork and wishful thinking. They simply did not have the proper foundation of knowledge to handle the workloads required of starting the business and they crumbled under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resoued under the onslaught of information requirements to effectively handle business startup, management, marketing, sales, implementation of technology, accounting, law, human resources, taxes, etc. Simply put, this is too much information for an inexperienced person to digest on one hand while keeping all the plates of daily business operations spinning with the other hand. People get so many plates spinning in the air at one time that they lose control. And the plates come crashing to the ground one at a time…until it fails completely.

I have seen people trash lifetime savings on a “guaranteed idea”. One story I like to tell my clients is about a “wicker furniture” business startup that I was aware of in Toledo, Ohio (I was not engaged as their consultant). This particular individual spent money on a one year lease in a popular strip shopping c