Some entrepreneurs close their businesses, even during good economic times. The last few years made it even tougher for some small businesses to stay open.

Here are three common reasons for businesses failing and how you can avoid them to keep your business growing.

1. Money Problems

Making money is a big goal for all entrepreneurs. But there’s more to running a business than just bringing in lots of customers and sales.

It’s also important to watch your cash flow. This is how your business earns money and how you (and anyone helping you with your business) spend this money.

A positive cash flow is when your business earns more money than you spend. Struggling to keep a positive cash flow can cause a business to shut its doors.

You can use free tools like Google Sheets to track your business’ income and spending.

2. Marketing Mistakes

Many new business owners think all of their friends and family will buy what they’re selling. No business has a product or a service that’s perfect for everyone. Just waiting and hoping for sales to come in is bad for any business.

That’s why successful young entrepreneurs take time to think about their ideal customers. They then look for where people who match their ideal customer spend time on social media sites or elsewhere.

3. Low Profits

Not having a lot of sales seems like an obvious reason for businesses failing. But the cost of your products or services could be a bigger problem for your business.

Many new business owners make the common mistake of pricing their products and services far below their competitors’ prices. Doing this usually leaves new entrepreneurs with low profits that can’t support a business.

Customers are willing to pay a fair price for a product or a service that they see as valuable and/or helpful.  Showing your customers why they want or need your products or services can bring in more loyal customers compared to one-time customers looking for a discount.

Final Thoughts on Businesses Failing

There are many reasons why businesses shut down. Three common reasons for this are:

  1. Not enough cash flow
  2. Wrong marketing strategies
  3. Low profits

You can help your business deal with these problems by:

  1. Keeping track of your cash flow.
  2. Knowing your ideal customers and how to find them.
  3. Setting fair prices for your products instead of the lowest possible prices.

Also, just because a business fails, doesn’t make that business owner a failure. Many entrepreneurs who are now successful had a previous business (or a few businesses) that didn’t work out.

This means you can always learn from your mistakes and still be successful.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash