94. | What are the most common myths about small businesses? What are the facts that contradict these myths?
For years potential entrepreneurs have mentioned problems like these:
1. Not enough financing: The SBA reports that bank financing is up from its low in early 2009, and the same is true for funding from family, friends, and angels. Crowdfunding and bootstrapping techniques are also being discovered by entrepreneurs. 2. It is not possible to start businesses during a recession: Businesses started in recessions start lean—no fancy offices, no bonuses. That means they learn from the start how to do more with less, which makes them better able to handle future times of scarcity and trouble. According to a 2009 BusinessWeek report, seven of the ten largest companies in the 2009 Fortune 500 were started in recessions. 3. To make profits, entrepreneurs need to make something: In 2011, amid a recession, Sageworks reported that of the 10 most profitable industries for small businesses, 9 were services like dentists, tax preparers, mining support services, credit counselors, insurance brokers, and legal and health practitioners. Whereas getting a DDS or MD degree takes years and tens of thousands of dollars, bookkeeping and credit counseling require little specialized training. 4. If an entrepreneur fails, he or she can never try again: If entrepreneurs close a business and pay off their debts, they did not fail. If they learned how to do better next time, then they can honestly say they have paid for another piece of their education. A large number of today's successful entrepreneurs had failures along the way. 5. Students (or moms or some other group) do not have the skills to start a business: It would be hard for an undergraduate to open a medical practice, but lots of students have useful business skills. 6. Ninety percent of all new business fail within two years: This statement is wrong in two ways. First, the percentage is wrong. 25 percent of new businesses survive for 15 years or more. Second, businesses that close often do not fail but close success. |