Butler County entrepreneurs share their stories
One in every five businesses fails within its first year. It’s a sobering statistic that can hold potential entrepreneurs back from taking the leap into small-business ownership.
Anyone can turn an idea into a profitable business venture with the right motivation. However, the road to success requires careful planning, hard work and persistence.
“A large number of small businesses fail within the first five years,” said Russell Hearn, a volunteer mentor with the Senior Core of Retired Executives (SCORE). “There are two main reasons for failure. One is the lack of capital. The other is lack of a plan.”
SCORE is a nonprofit organization that boasts one of the largest networks of expert business mentors available to help small-business owners launch or run their operations. Hearn works with entrepreneurs in Butler County to either help them launch their idea or keep it going if they’ve hit a rough patch. SCORE mentoring is free, making it an asset to small businesses in the county.
Planning is the first critical stage of starting a business. A properly written business plan predicts all expenses and sales expectations, Hearn said. “You want to be conservative on the high side when it comes to expenses and conservative on the low side when it comes to sales.”
It can take six months for a new business to become profitable. “In this case, you’ll need three to six months of expenses in the form of cash to keep the lights on, the rent paid and the advertising going while your company reaches a break-even point and becomes self-sustaining,” he said.
