Is the failure in the business end of the business?

[devilbatista]

If you fail in the business like, you cannot make profit. You have loss and you couldn't pay your debts and you lose your business. Do you think this is an end?

For me, This isn't the end you can again start your business with the following,
- Management
- Customer friendliness
- Gain Profit
- Have Economic Planning

You won't fail unless you give up.

What do you guys think?

[Nazreen]

That depends. If the failure is something that you can't recover from, then it's better to file for bankruptcy. This decision should be considered very carefully. If you're heavily indebted in your business and you think that you will be unable to pay the bank or your creditors, then I think it's better to pack up and file for bankruptcy. But before you do so, it's better if you call your creditors first for a possibility of an extension on your loans or maybe come into some kind of agreement.

[devilbatista]

If you're heavily indebted in your business and you think that you will be unable to pay the bank or your creditors, then I think it's better to pack up and file for bankruptcy.


And what will you do after that? Won't you start a business or you will sit idle? and what happens? you have no income and you will become poor. I disagree with you Nazreen here, If you pack up your bag then what will you do in later days of life. Starting a new business won't be easy if you are heavily indebted and you packup bags and you cannot pay back. It's better to start the business slowly and steadily in such case.

[Nazreen]

Actually, I didn't say that you cannot start over again if your business fails devilbatista. In your main post, you said that you couldn't pay off your debts and end up losing your business. So I assumed that you are not able to recover from your failure and have to file for bankruptcy.


If you fail in the business like, you cannot make profit. You have loss and you couldn't pay your debts and you lose your business. Do you think this is an end?

A bankruptcy will mean the end of the business. The only good thing about this is that you won't have your creditors breeding down your neck anymore. If you want to start over again with a new business, you'll have difficulty in getting credit from banks or creditors though.

[devilbatista]

In your main post, you said that you couldn't pay off your debts and end up losing your business. So I assumed that you are not able to recover from your failure and have to file for bankruptcy.

Nazreen, If you have read my post well. I have just stated that if you can't pay the debts for the time being. I didn't mention that you can't recover. The thing is you are assuming it. However, nothing never ends untill you give up.


A bankruptcy will mean the end of the business. The only good thing about this is that you won't have your creditors breeding down your neck anymore. If you want to start over again with a new business, you'll have difficulty in getting credit from banks or creditors though.

To earn you have to do a business or you have to be in someone's business. You can't earn in reality without doing a business. And again the creditors will be breeding your neck. There will be difficulty in starting whole again. But you know life is full of ups and downs. You should continue no matter whatever the condition is for your existence or for someone you earn.

[Fergal]

I agree that no one should let one business failure deter them from starting and trying again. In fact many very successful business people have a business failure or two behind them.

I would however, say that it is very important to do your utmost to ensure that you don't leave any employees or creditors unpaid if your business fails. You should do your utmost to pay them because it is the decent thing to do and you may find it very difficult to do business in the future if you don't pay all your debts.

Not only this, but if your business is not doing well you need to analyse the situation carefully so that you close it down on time. What I mean by this is that you don't keep losing money until you get to a situation where you cannot pay off creditors and employees. There comes a time when you need to recognise that there is a serious problem and you need to cut your losses and get out of the situation as best you can. There's one thing worse than having a problem and that's having a problem and not knowing it.

People sometimes overlook the importance of debtors, if they are having business difficulties. If you are going to close a business, this is a very important time to start looking at your debtors and bring in the money you are owed. If your debtors know that your business has gone bust they will often be much more reluctant and slower to pay you. They will start purchasing from new suppliers, and probably pay them up front so that they can establish a line of credit.

[Swastik]

"Failures are the pillars of Success". In my view, we should never stop trying. Failures don't mean an end to everything. Instead, they provide you a more solid experience for the rest of your life. When mistaken one time, it stands a very less chance of mistaking another time for that person.

But, as Nazreen said, it's a matter of trust, credibility in business. If you're having a bad reputation in the market, it will be a loss for you. It will be very difficult to build your market if people doubt your creditbility.

If you look at the pages of History, there have been many instances where people failed in many attempts. But, they never lost hope and succeded. Thomas Alva Edison, Lincoln are some good examples.

[Nazreen]

Sorry devilbatista, but if you cannot pay for the time being as you've mentioned, then I agree that we should not give up immediately. Filing for bankruptcy should only be taken as a last resort.

Fergal's made a very important point that we should analyze the situation carefully. You can implement some cost-cutting activities too, to minimize your losses. The thing to note is that you must not be married to your product or business. You mustn't be so committed that you don't want to move away from it even though the sales graphs and reports tell you otherwise.

Commitment to a business that is not making money is not a good business decision. Your business might be involved in selling in an oversupplied market, like selling consumer electronics, where you don't have a choice but to go head to head with big business. This will result in cutting down of prices and smaller profits. If this is the case, it will be good for your business to change your product line. It all comes down to the basic law of supply and demand.

[devilbatista]

Yeah Nazreen, Filing for bankruptcy can be the last resort but you should never give up no matter business should go on as the show must go on.

And Fergal has made nice points. We should not leave employees or creditors unpaid, because it will hamper starting a business further.

Another thing is that If we should not let our debtors now that oue business going down, if you happen to tell them or you find out this then as Fergal said they will be much slower to pay you and something they won't pay you when your business fails.

[Fergal]

..Commitment to a business that is not making money is not a good business decision...

To paraphrase Alan Sugar from the Apprentice, if your business is not making a profit, it is not a business, it's a hobby.

[DEADMAN]

In my view, No failure doesn't determines business end. It differs from people to people and cases of failure. Some people don't put their hand next time on the same work they failed. Some try and try, it's quite humanis. Another fact, you lost alot of your money and you're in debt then probably you should start planning for next business so that you won't repeat the same failure from the business you had.

I believe failure doesn't end anything, but it's motivational and innovative to start next project or never give up your devoted work to business world. It's a inspiration!

[Nazreen]

Business failures doesn't just happen to small or new businesses but also to big businesses and to those that have been in the market for a long time already. Also, the failure might not even be because of our actions but resulted from the actions of our competitors.

In Singapore, there was this NKF (National Kidney Foundation) scandal including false declarations and luxurious accommodations and first class plane tickets for the CEO at that time. This scandal affected all the charitable organizations here. Because of this, people were no longer willing and quite wary of giving donations to charity.

This is just but one example. The competitor might also have devised an innovative marketing strategy that caused your business to fail. In this case, we must determine what advantages the competitors have that are pulling customers away from our business.

[devilbatista]

Business failures doesn't just happen to small or new businesses but also to big businesses and to those that have been in the market for a long time already.

I agree with you Nazreen. Business failure doesn't happen only to small or new business industries but also to big industries and known industries. you always have to be careful about your business. Carelessness will result in the downfall of business. Some well known and established industries are also having business failure. So, we have to focus on our business.

[DEADMAN]

Yes, right Nazreen but isn't 100% true fact. Especially failure is to those business companies who just arrived in market and has been in market in between 2-4 years.

Short-term failure in Business:
Failure actually occurs when there is competition in the market between the companies, For example: A company releases a product of 14$ and everyone buys them. Let's take a washing powder as an example. After a year or so, another company starts the production same product with the price of just 11$ and if the product is better than the previous product then definately the failure of first company arises.

Long term failure in business:
We can take example of Google vs Yahoo!. Yahoo company was started alot before than Google really started his marvelous service. Google was a late release, yet quickly was able to catch the market with good plan which Yahoo was unable to do since their long span of time in the internet market. Thou, Yahoo is still available, but has failed in the reputation and it's usage by the merchants and customers.

This is what I want to say. That's all.

[Nazreen]

"Why couldn't we have done that instead of this?", " Why couldn't we have come up with that idea in the first place?" ... these are often the questions that we ask ourselves when our business fails. Instead of getting into this "could have done this, could have done that" mindset, it would be better if we ask ourselves this question, "What lessons did we learn from all this?".

When our business fails, firstly we need to call for an emergency meeting of all directors or in the case of small businesses, all the partners to see into this problem. We shouldn't sit idly by waiting for the problem to go away because believe me, it won't. In the meeting, we need to identify the root cause of the business failure. It can be because our product is no longer trendy. It can be because of bad customer service. Whatever it is, we should come up with solutions to this problem.

This solution should not be a "solve it all" solution because there is no such thing. One solution doesn't solve all problems in the business. It should not also be a one-shot deal but a continuing process. Despite the fact that one problem is solved, many challenges still remain to be overcome in the business.

[akhanna18]

CERTAINLY NOT failure in the business is not the end of the road . one has to rectify the problem behind the failure . by understanding the problem you can find solution to it .

[Nazreen]

Welcome to the Business Advice Forum akhanna18!

I'm glad to hear that you also strongly agree that failure in the business is not the end of the road. One has to persevere especially during these hard times and come up with a solution and how to get back on your feet from this failure.

[devilbatista]

akhanna18, yeah Business failure isn't the end at all. It's the begining for you to work hard and start your life. You should never give up. :)

[akhanna18]

CERTAINLY NOT failure in the business is not the end of the road . one has to rectify the problem behind the failure . by understanding the problem you can find solution to it .

[DEADMAN]

Yeah and the next point is when you're business failure in one field of Business, you can always switch to next field because business world contains variety of fields and so with according to people interest and ideas, they can implement to next when they are unable to recover with their
previous business plan.

But, nothing is impossible, We can get solutions of every problem. Anyone interested can read this thread for more information http://www.businessadviceforum.com/showthread.php?t=765

[ritajones56]

A failure in business shouldn't be the end of it. It is for weak-minded people, who just roll over and die. But giving up too easily is what holds so many back from achieving their true potential. Explore every last option and give it everything you have, and if the business still doesn't work, you can go into another field knowing that you gave it everything you had and it just wasn't meant to be.

[deepak_sharma]

It really depends on how much loss you have faced.I personally feel that it is not the end of your business.You can still start your business in different direction with new strategies and implementation.

[Fergal]

...You can still start your business in different direction with new strategies and implementation.

Hopefully you will have learned from your original mistakes / failure and not make the same mistakes again.

[prettysue]

In my opinion, it is definitely not the end of the business. It is just part of a business life. Still, the success of the business depends on yourself. Failures are just mere trials and challenges that if you manage to find a solution to it, you will surely succeed. I have read many biographies of the many successful people in the world. One thing is common to all of them, they did suffer from failures also but it did not stop them from making their business work. This is just one of the best way to learn from our mistakes.

[Fergal]

Admitting to and taking responsibility for your mistakes is another important factor. Don't rush to blame someone else if things go wrong. Ask yourself what can I learn from this, what will I do differently next time?

[deepak_sharma]

It is very easy for us to blame others for our loses.May be it could help you to open the back door and run but at last your conscious will ask answer.Therefore it is wise to learn from your mistake and come up again with a bang:)