2 answers
1
Question
Asked
420 views
Why is your business not growing ?
What is your business not going? Why are you not making profit? Why are you losing? Why is your business running down? What are the things to do to make it unwell? How do make profit from it?
Login to comment
2 answers
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. I am glad to hear that you would like to become an entrepreneur. Have you thought about what industry you want to start your business?
Below are my suggestions:
1. Think about what industry you have interest or strength
2. Do some analysis on the industry, eg entry criteria, competition status, any alternative or substitute, etc
3. Attend industry related courses and management courses
4. Work in the industry some time to understand the business model and establish people network
5. Start the business online first if possible
6. Establish a long term business development plan and breakdown into short term milestones. Review the progress against the plan regularly and make adjustments if necessary
Hope this helps! Good luck!
May Almighty God bless you!
Below are my suggestions:
1. Think about what industry you have interest or strength
2. Do some analysis on the industry, eg entry criteria, competition status, any alternative or substitute, etc
3. Attend industry related courses and management courses
4. Work in the industry some time to understand the business model and establish people network
5. Start the business online first if possible
6. Establish a long term business development plan and breakdown into short term milestones. Review the progress against the plan regularly and make adjustments if necessary
Hope this helps! Good luck!
May Almighty God bless you!
Updated
Jonathan’s Answer
Hi Emily, This will be hard to answer but I will try.
1 - What is your business not going?
I think you meant to ask "what is your business not doing". If so, well, I will need to pick 1 item out of thousands. I pick "hiring quality employees". We often hire employees that are not a great fit because we have limited options. Or because we feel that we can develop them to the standards we want. Sometimes the answer is we cannot afford the right employee.
2 - Why are you not making profit?
We make a profit. If not, the company would go out of business. But there are certain parts of the business that are not profitable. Example:
Selling certain brand name accessories may have very slim profit margins. Once you calculate the cost to inventory / ship / sell, it is a loss. However, it is worth it as other parts of the business makes much much more profit. And having these premium accessories drive people to shop with us.
3 - Why are you losing?
Certain markets have certain types of customers. Connecting with those customer is important to sell. In markets where the advertising is not local enough, the product may be out of touch to the customer. And that means that someone else who better connected with the customer wins. So to answer your question, we are losing when we do not understand the market, or when the market changes but we react too slowly.
4 - Why is your business running down?
If the business is running down, it may be best to part ways. My company bought another company because we felt it would give us things that our customers wanted. As it turns out, that was not a good decision. Customers were unwilling to switch from what they already were comfortable with. It was better that we closed that particular part of the business to focus on things that made more money.
5 - What are the things to do to make it unwell?
The easiest way to answer this is make a list of things that you need to do to be successful. Anything that is not on this list will likely make it unwell.
6 - How do make profit from it?
Convince a customer that they need what you have. In my case, the ability to communicate on a phone. Charge the customer a fee that is greater than the cost to provide the service. Continually add customers that are buying this service. Retain this customer as they pay you every month. Look at everything that you pay for and find ways to save on these costs. Look for more things that a customer is willing to pay for.
Ask yourself why you want to know these questions. Without understanding why you ask, myself or anyone else will simply be providing data. But this data may have zero value to your true needs. For example, if you wanted to open a home building company, most of this data would not be useful.
1 - What is your business not going?
I think you meant to ask "what is your business not doing". If so, well, I will need to pick 1 item out of thousands. I pick "hiring quality employees". We often hire employees that are not a great fit because we have limited options. Or because we feel that we can develop them to the standards we want. Sometimes the answer is we cannot afford the right employee.
2 - Why are you not making profit?
We make a profit. If not, the company would go out of business. But there are certain parts of the business that are not profitable. Example:
Selling certain brand name accessories may have very slim profit margins. Once you calculate the cost to inventory / ship / sell, it is a loss. However, it is worth it as other parts of the business makes much much more profit. And having these premium accessories drive people to shop with us.
3 - Why are you losing?
Certain markets have certain types of customers. Connecting with those customer is important to sell. In markets where the advertising is not local enough, the product may be out of touch to the customer. And that means that someone else who better connected with the customer wins. So to answer your question, we are losing when we do not understand the market, or when the market changes but we react too slowly.
4 - Why is your business running down?
If the business is running down, it may be best to part ways. My company bought another company because we felt it would give us things that our customers wanted. As it turns out, that was not a good decision. Customers were unwilling to switch from what they already were comfortable with. It was better that we closed that particular part of the business to focus on things that made more money.
5 - What are the things to do to make it unwell?
The easiest way to answer this is make a list of things that you need to do to be successful. Anything that is not on this list will likely make it unwell.
6 - How do make profit from it?
Convince a customer that they need what you have. In my case, the ability to communicate on a phone. Charge the customer a fee that is greater than the cost to provide the service. Continually add customers that are buying this service. Retain this customer as they pay you every month. Look at everything that you pay for and find ways to save on these costs. Look for more things that a customer is willing to pay for.
Jonathan recommends the following next steps: