Do You Have A Business That Is Not Taking Off?

Do You Have A Business That Is Not Taking Off?

• Posted by COACH RYAN V 

I have learned from a seminar I attended a few months back that the number one dream of Filipinos is to own a business. True enough, despite 80% of Filipinos are employees, there are many who started business ventures. I observe that most pinoys have two main criteria for what business to start:

1.The product they want is their passion - they start a business through determining what product to sell

2.The type of business they want to get into is “in” at the moment (say, internet café’s, siomai kiosks)

And much to the dismay of many pinoys, only 10% of startups ever make it to their first five years. The 90% either close shop or do not take off as grandly as their owners hope. Why? It’s because pinoys misinterpret what business mentors say “You should be passionate about your business” and “your business should be within the trend”.

Being passionate about the business does not mean you should fall in love with the product yet you haven’t thought about its market. A lot of business owners believe that they have the superior product. However, let me put into point that McDonald’s burgers are way worse than Tropical Hut; yet McDonalds sell more burgers than Tropical Hut (is Tropical Hut even existing still?). If you focus too much on your product’s superiority and not on your business system, chances are you are not a real business owner. You are just an employee trying to push yourself to be in business. You have to be passionate about your business and not about your product. It may mean you have to stop producing your beloved product for the sake of your business’ survival.

Trend is different from hype. Trend is something that stays for a very long time while hype only stays for as long as there is excitement. More often than not, hype is what drives most pinoys to get into a specific business. A new product enters the market and is recruiting distributors, there’s a new dimsum kiosk in town, etc. Many who start a business that is based on hype find themselves closing shop within two years of opening. Why? It’s because when it’s hype, there will always be a next hype that is a stronger hype. And when that new hype comes, the old hype will be pushed out of the scene. Get it? If your business is in trend, however, it means you are serving a long term want and your business is not based solely on a specific product but rather on a market segment. Market segments, in a certain trend, change their needs and wants constantly that’s why a business has to be flexible. If your business is just hype, then you will not be able to respond quickly to any change in the market conditions.