How To Prevent Your Business From Being Dead On Arrival

Before starting a business, know when you’ll run out of money.

I was touring commercial properties for sale and stepped into a restaurant space. The bar, built out of hand-carved turn-of-the-century paneling from a shoe store, was gorgeous. It was the only thing finished in the space. The rest was all plywood, sheetrock, and broken bricks, as though the construction crew had stepped out on a coffee break, never to come back.

It broke my heart.

The owner had a vision but ran out of money so early in the process, it was clear he never could have pulled it off. 

It was tragic. 

If you’re thinking of starting a business, be real. The first thing to do is assess how much money you have and how much money you need to live on until your business can support you. 

Then and only then can you find out how much money you need for the business. Some businesses need a lot of capital upfront. A restaurant or store needs a physical location, special equipment or inventory, staff and all the other expenses it takes to run a business even if it’s losing money. It takes a while for any business to break even. 

Some need little capital. You could run your service business out of your living room and require little more than recouping lost income and living expenses.

In either case, do not pass GO until you know what you have versus what you’ll need. Some business deaths are 100% preventable.

Jean Henry Marlet, uploader G.Garitan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons