Published June 20, 2005
http://www.freep.com/money/business/cain20e_20050620.htm
CAROL CAIN/SMALL BUSINESS: Consultant tells how to avoid blunders
BY CAROL CAIN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The facts pretty much tell the tale: Four of five new small businesses don't make it past their fifth year, the Small Business Administration reports.
Why?
Well, there are common pitfalls that many SBs just seem to fall into.
But with a little foresight and attention to detail before problems arise, says Minesh Baxi, they can help improve their odds of succeeding.
Baxi, 42, of Troy runs M. Baxi and Associates, which helps small and midsize businesses succeed in today's competitive marketplace. He's also a career coach.
He's written a new booklet for SBs called, "How to Avoid the Top Ten Business Blunders," which he gleaned from years of advising and coaching SBs -- as well as some of his own mistakes. It's available for free on his Web site, www.mbaxi.com.
"I want more people to understand that they don't have to make the same mistake as someone else," he says. "There's always a better and easier way to get things done." In his booklet, Baxi explains that an idea may be a good reason to start a venture, as long as it's backed by quality research. He guides readers beyond the good-idea stage.
His top 10 blunders:
- "Just because I have an idea, it will make me money."
- "I am the expert in all aspects of my business," Never taking the help of experts: accountants, attorneys, business coaches, etc."
- "All I have to do is spend enough money on advertising or be in the right location, and people will come."
Never mastering the science and art of getting clients.
- "I don't need a lot of money to build a successful business."
By financing using credit cards and never preparing for contingencies.
- "I can teach anybody to do my job."
Not realizing that everybody has different strengths and weaknesses.
- "Profit is just around the corner."
Living on hope instead of actual projections.
- "What system? I don't need systems."
Instead of a concept promoted by business consultant E-Myth Worldwide, which is to build people-based businesses, Baxi says they should be system-based, so, if someone is gone, the system still works.
- "I don't need to know my numbers."
Doing business by guesswork rather than tracking and learning from the results.
- "Trusting people before testing them."
Hiring people who are not a good fit for the jobs and giving them responsibility before checking their loyalty and expertise. Having no guidelines for them to follow. The same applies to partners.
- "It happens to other people; it won't happen to me."
Starting from scratch
Baxi was born in Agra, India, about four hours from New Delhi. He attended universities there, obtaining an undergraduate electrical engineering degree and master's degree in information technology.
He was working for Data Consulting Services, headquartered in Bombay, and spent time in the United States working for various computer clients. He eventually realized he didn't like working with computers, preferring to work one-on-one with people.
So he switched companies, joining General Electric Co. and beginning a job that kept him working in Michigan and Minneapolis. He later moved to Michigan in 1990 and decided he wanted to consult full time, so he launched his firm.
"I started from scratch," he says. "I did a lot of networking with chambers and other organizations."
He's also cowritten a new book on networking called "90-Day Networking Superstar," which he is self-publishing and will be available on his Web site in August.
After helping entrepreneurs deal with a wide variety of issues, he says one of his biggest criticisms of SBs is that they don't spend enough time contemplating or figuring out how to promote or market their services or products. They devote their resources to creating the product, but then come up short when it is time to market or advertise it.
A big mistake: not knowing where the company is, financially speaking.
"You'd be shocked at how many cannot even tell you if they are profitable," he says. "They just don't know where they stand, and that is not a good thing."
Baxi does much of his consulting with clients via phone, which explains how he is able to take a week off each month to spend time at home with his family. And he heads to Florida each October through April to avoid Michigan's colder months.
He notes that most people confront a new opportunity every three to six months but are too busy or preoccupied to see it.
But, he says, "entrepreneurs who spend more time looking beyond the basics are more likely to see them and grab them for that reason."
Contact M. Baxi and Associates at 248-828-2970.
Copyright 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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