The advent of the World Wide Web has changed the way businesses are conducted. Today, services have taken the center stage, and are now the most critical aspect of any trade. Entrepreneurs leverage on this, hence carrying out business deals with the click of a button, and in the comfort of their rooms.
While the gains from it are enormous, many business operations have been altered in the last 50 years.
According to this report, the advent of the internet has removed the personal touch from businesses. Similarly, globalisation has also had negative impact on the ways business transactions are accomplished.
Starting a business today, do not guarantee a favourable outcome. In fact, the rate at which businesses fail is alarming.
In a recent research carried out by the Small Biz Trends, it observed some of the following:
· Half of all businesses in the US fail in the first four years of inception: A bit more than 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first four years.
· In fact, of all small businesses started in 2011:
· 4 percent made it to the second year
· 3 percent made it to the third year
· 9 percent made it to the fourth year
· 3 percent made it to the fifth year
Why Businesses Fail In The 21st Century?
There are many reasons behind the failure of businesses in the 21st century. Some of them are:
Incompetence: As a business owner, if you aren’t competent, you’ll find it difficult to compete favourably.
Lack of experience: Of course, you need experience to succeed in any business. If as a business owner you aren’t experienced, the chances of your business succeeding is slim.
Insufficient knowledge: Possessing the required knowledge about your business, the market, and the customers is a no brainer. If you decide to start a business without this, it’s likely to fail.
Lack of Funding: Getting funds as a small business is quite challenging, yet it’s an integral part of any business. Without funding, your business could remain stagnant for long.
Making all the difference for your business: What the Five Hour Rule entails
The “Five Hour Rule” is a term coined by Michael Simmons, co-founder of Empact and co-author of this cornerstone article. It’s used to describe the habit of setting aside a single hour each day, or five hours a week, to deliberately practice something that’ll help you grow.
According to Michael, this concept was adapted from the life of Benjamin Franklin, who consistently invested roughly an hour a day throughout his adult life in deliberate learning.
Franklin’s learning time consisted of the following:
· Waking up early to read and write
· Setting personal-growth goals (i.e., virtues list) and tracking the results
· Creating a club for like-minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who helped to improve themselves while they improved their community
· Turning his ideas into experiments
· Having morning and evening reflection questions
How World Business Leaders use the five-hour rule (And how you too can)
Surprisingly, world business leaders such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey and so on, all make use of the five hour rule to achieve tremendous successes in their lives. Interestingly, most of their activities in this regard are centred upon three basic tasks which include:
· Reading: Most successful entrepreneurs and businessmen read a lot. By reading, you become aware of things that happen around you, make more informed decisions, and become an opinion leader. “Books were my pass to personal freedom”, says Oprah Winfrey. Cultivating a good reading habit is the right way to go for your business. It puts you ahead of competitors and can make you successful in no distant time.
· Reflection: As a business owner, you should set aside time daily for reflection. By doing this, you engage in deliberate thinking about your activities, think through of what you have achieved, and what more you can do. LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weinner schedules two hours of thinking time per day. Reflection helps you to identify the problems in your business and how to fix them.
· Experimentation: If you wish to be successful as an entrepreneur, then you must experiment. With this, you run-through what you have observed, to ascertain if it fits into the solution you’re looking for. Companies such as Google allow their employees to experiment new projects using 20% of the time spent on work. Facebook uses the hack-a-months programme which allow its employees do same.
The Five Hour Rule: How it can help your business thrive
To grow your business, the five hour rule comes in handy
If put into practise, it can turbocharge your business performance and make it thrive.
By using the five hour rule to grow your business, you’ll achieve the following:
1. Plan your schedules effectively: Planning is essential for every business. Of course, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. With the five-hour rule, you’ll map out your daily activities, what you want to achieve, and how you want to do so.
2. Stay focussed in business: The five-hour rule is a tool for remaining focus in whatever you do. With this rule, you’ll become resolute and achieve a lot in the long run. Take for instance, if there is a certification that you need, to grow any aspect of your business, finding the time to do such could be difficult. With this, you can dedicate more time, hence reaping the benefits of doing so in your business.
3. Become intentional: The five hour rule makes you deliberate with your business activities. With this, you get used to doing minute things deliberately to grow your business. When you do this, your business will boomerang and blossom.
4. Practice more: Truth is, businessmen and entrepreneurs are one of the busiest persons on earth. But with the five hour rule, you begin to practise more despite your tight schedule. These steps if well taken can enhance your success, and get closer to your daily goals in the long run
5. Become a problem solver: In business, problems arise, but instead of tackling them head on, most entrepreneurs sweep them under the rug. But with the five-hour rule, you’ll be able to solve the problems as they arise. At the end, solving your problems will become effortless, and your business will profit greatly from it.
Many business owners today focus on making money, and that’s it.
None is bothered on how to deliberately improve their business know-how.
But with the five-hour rule, learning takes precedence over any other activity.
When you learn, you become better and your business benefits greatly from it.