Best Action Steps After a Business Loss.
There is hardly a business that never sees a ‘low’ phase. Before you start a business, know that no business idea comes with a ‘no failure’ warranty. Even the most tried and tested business may fail for no fault of anyone. A business is a daily gamble. This morning, I just woke up thinking what if my business fails today? What if I go bankrupt today? What if I lose it all? How will I handle the failure? With these questions in mind, I sat down to write this article.
Nobody likes to fail. However, the fear of failure is the main reason why most of us shy away from investing in our dream project or starting a new business. Now I am proud of all of you who are building their businesses amidst the challenges involved, and you should be too. I give you a thumb up. Failure teaches us more than success and only those who have learnt it the hard way know this. In pursuit of our goal of becoming a millionaire, we encounter several challenges. Today, I want to share with you a step by step contingency plan; just in case you lose your business!
Here are a few action steps and things to do:
Feel Bad
If the loss of a business doesn’t leave you feeling bad and broken, I’d say something’s not right with you. Everyone feels bad in the eventuality of a negative or terrible situation; it’s natural. Humans are the same with respect to emotional reactions. You have had sleepless nights and heartaches due to investments lost. We even see and hear about individuals committing suicide because they lost their business or investment. During the global recession, the media was awash with news of millionaires and billionaires committing suicide. From experience, I can tell you, you have to be courageous in such situations. It’s not a pleasant thing to see your life investments going down the drain but this is where the need for emotional intelligence and control comes in.
Access the Damage
After you are done with mourning the loss, which, in my opinion, should not last more than a week, tops, access the level of damage done. Note the debts incurred; the mistakes made, the liabilities on hand and how bad the situation is. Where did I go wrong? What did I do that I shouldn’t have done? These are the questions I will try to answer in such situations. Contact HyperEffects to learn more about what makes your business grow and what to avoid in order to succeed.
Important Asset Saving
Your business strategies, your team, the vital documents and the strategic employees are your most important assets that are still yours to keep even after you have lost it all. After accessing the level of damage done, pick and save your most important assets. The next most important to pick is the lessons learned from failure. If you move on without the lessons learned, you could be a fool on the way to financial doom.
Brainstorming
Get together with your team to find the best possible way forward. Analyze the situation to ascertain where you went wrong and the possible solution. Your team is also on the sinking boat and would be happy to save it or atleast save themselves from drowning, if possible.
Rebuild or Restart
Lastly, do not give up. You cannot mourn over the spilled milk forever. Rebuild what’s lost, or start something new. Choosing what you want to do should be based on the assessment of the current situation and the analysis done by your team. The strength of an entrepreneur lies in his ability to start another business after each business failure. Keep up your entrepreneurial spirit strong; it’s what makes you an experienced entrepreneur. Let each failure lead to a stern resolve to succeed. This is how you survive business failures, crashes and problems. This is how can keep going until you hit your goal to become a billionaire.
A business is not a goal. It is what you make out of your dreams and for your dreams. Enjoy the process! Unless all you want is to cash out, and you’ve got some built-in exit strategy, you want a long-term entrepreneurial career. There will be good days and there will be many bad days. Just don’t give up. Don’t let what others think about your business affect you. Its literally none of their business anyway!
