Busting The 5 Biggest Small Business Myths

By Victor Wachira

Almost everyone has a business idea the only major difference is whether you actualize the idea.
However apart from lack of funds to start a business, people also face the fear put upon them by some myths behind starting up a business venture. The fear of quitting a job that you are certain to get a pay at the end of the month compared to venturing into a business you are not certain if it will kick off successfully.

Below are some myths that people believe in about business that are not necessarily true

1. To be successful you have to be first.

While there are some cases where there is such thing as “first mover advantage” it does not guarantee success. Remember the leading edge is also known as the bleeding edge. The standard Newspaper was established before the Daily Nation but the Daily Nation sell more than the Standard.

2. To be successful, you have to be cheaper.

Please explain to me the success of Mercedes, and Ferrari. None of them are the cheapest yet all have successful pieces of the market. Experts believe that if your competitive point is to be cheaper, don’t bother starting your business. Any dominant company can start a price war and likely wipe you out. One notable exception to this is Airtel network who are cheap but they cannot compare to the numbers of their competitor Safaricom.

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3. I’m a good cook so I should start a restaurant.

This is one of the most abused myths. It is often brought by well-meaning friends and family who say things like, “Hey, this meal is fantastic! You should start a restaurant!” There is more to running a restaurant than having a good recipe and being able to cook well. You will also be involved in buying, budgeting, payroll, managing employees, and taxes, just to name a few.

Do you enjoy cooking or do you enjoy running a business? Maybe you’d make a great chef in someone else’s business.

Or maybe you should get a partner to help with the rest of the business. Or maybe you’ll learn everything you need to do. Whatever it is, rest assured there’s more to the restaurant business than just cooking. This of course is true of every business.

4. The customer is always right.

No they’re not. And sometimes you have to tell them so. In fact, sometimes they are so wrong that you will actually have to tell them you don’t want them as a customer any more. It’s a tough thing to do if you only have a couple of customers, but sometimes they cost you more money than you make from them.

Small businesses fail to survive due to bad debts caused by customers, a good examples are mama mbogas and estate shops in your home area,you lend cutomers and when the debts accrues they never come back.

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5. We’re good friends. We will work well together / We should form a partnership.

There are certain reasons that your friends are your friends and they don’t necessarily go well with conducting business. For one thing, friends don’t necessarily have the same work habits. And it’s easier for a person to take advantage of a friend’s willingness to forgive their laxity. People act funny when money is involved. Even if people don’t take advantage of each other, things happen. What if one of you has a major life-changing event happen and no longer wants to participate in the business. You’re still liable for decisions made by the other party until the partnership is dissolved.