Keys to Business Failure, Part 1 Why talk about failure and not success? About a week ago marketing genius and worldly philosopher Perry Marshall and I spent almost ninety minutes talking about some of the keys to business failure. I shot this video the next day – it’s a recap of the conversation we had. The keys to success are elusive. They are as varied as there are businesses. And the thing is, if you survive long enough, and keep experimenting, you can “fail” your way all the way to massive success. On the other hand, if you fail repeatedly, eventually you are out of business. So the keys to failure – and the knowledge of how to avoid them, improve your odds of reaching your goals. Watch this short video to find out what works and what doesn’t… 43 Responses Gary A Sund July 7, 2013 I'd watch a 2 hour video w/ you anytime Paul but there's so much else to do, it becomes impractical. 5 minutes was nice. Bet you could have made it 3 minutes and that kinda just feels right to me. Reply pl July 7, 2013 Hey Gary – thanks for the vote. More hours comin… Reply Astra Kelly June 17, 2013 Great vid!! Straight and to the point. Perfect length I thought. Thank you! Reply pl June 24, 2013 Thank you, Astra Reply K Grass Business Consulting February 21, 2013 This was an informative video for so many business owners. It is such an important distinction of those that want to maintain versus those that want to grow their business. Without this knowledge it is impossible to avoid the failure that so many people experience. Reply Chris January 23, 2013 Cant stand videos, it is obvious that it used to save time for the person making the videos and take time from the person watching it… and as any good marketer, the title is always better than the content, it’s the capital rule in marketing… the headline! Reply pl January 24, 2013 Hey Chris, everyone’s got an opinion of course. ~pl Reply Naseem Shiekh January 18, 2013 Hey:Paul good job!!! Basically people who are interested in watching a consulting video are not really concerned about the length, but its the contents which I guess you really know what you are talking about the other vital issue is that try to adjust its settings while loading so that it doesn’t take too long for buffering as other vice the viewer really losses interest.BOTTOM-LINE is 10 min video length with best recording settings should give results deemed. Good luck, keep up the good work…. Reply pl January 19, 2013 Your welcome, Naseem. And keep up you own… Reply Mary Wyatt January 18, 2013 Very insightful. 7-10 is a good video length for this type of info. Reply Mary Wyatt January 18, 2013 Very insightful. 7-10 minutes is a good video length. Reply pl January 19, 2013 Thank you, Mary Reply Bill Daker January 18, 2013 Paul appreciate the incite without failure there is no success. It is these road blocks in business life that tell us which ramps to get on and which ones to get off. Failure is the first gps towards success. Reply pl January 19, 2013 Well put! Reply Greg White January 18, 2013 Good stuff! A video needs to be the length to adequately cover your subject, no more and no less. Reply pl January 19, 2013 Thanks, Greg. Clearly so, yet some of us have little contiguous free time to watch longer videos, so I think ultimately length does matter. ~pl Reply arun January 18, 2013 Paul – Great insight . Cuts right through . If the video has great information and insights and the presenter gives the information in an interesting manner , then why 5 minutes , even 60 minutes is less. Reply pl January 20, 2013 Arun… Most of us don’t have the patience or attention or time for really long videos. Glad you find it that valuable. ~pl Reply Willie Crawford January 18, 2013 Brilliant observations as always Paul. Thanks for being such a great teacher and motivator. Your book “Be Unreasonable – The Unconventional Way To Extraordinary Business Results” is probably my very favorite book. I re-read it 3-4 times a year. Video length isn’t critical to me. If I know that I’m going to learn information that I can, and am likely to use, I will listen to longer videos. Reply pl January 19, 2013 Thanks, Willie. But did you just say that you re-read Be Unreasonable 3-4x a year? Sir, I am honored… Reply Willie Crawford January 19, 2013 Yes, Paul. I have a handful of books that I reread quarterly, because of the impact that they had when I begin implementing what they teach. BE Unreasonable is one of those books. pl January 20, 2013 Thanks, Willie, for saying so… Adam Gordon January 17, 2013 Paul, I keep coming back to the fact that it is not the volume of sales that matter. It is the volume of Gross Profits. I can apply all your points to that. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Adam – that’s a super-important point. More profits matter. There are times when you are trying to secure market share, for volume, for a market leadership position, for many reasons. Then you may be willing to sacrifice profits… for a while. Reply David Fulton January 16, 2013 Hey, Paul — Great meeting you in San Diego over the holidays! Thanks for your gems of advice. For me, videos are like Goldilock's and the 3 bears — some are too short, others are too long or and a few are just right. If you intended to catch my interest and get me to follow this video series, it was just right. I like your idea to break it up in bite-sized portions (to carry on the food analogy). Like the start of a 3 or 5 course dinner, this video was a perfect appetizer for me! Cheers! Reply pl January 17, 2013 Thanks, David. Great meeting you in SD last month. Reply Ric Pollock January 16, 2013 Hi Paul… in my nearly 4 decades of business… I have come across very few people who can cut through the puffery and shyt and render a topic to its salient points like you do… thanks for letting us share your thinking. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Hey Ric, not many people who can carry of “shyt” with such grace and style. Thanks. Reply Roxanna Clements January 16, 2013 Love your advice! A one minute video can be bad or engaging, a 5 min video can be bad and I'll click off but if I'm interested in what is being said, I'll stay. I made a video with a friend when we were goofing off with useful info (how to fix your thermostat) and its almost 6 mins and now has over 15000 views so I think it's all about how useful it is to the viewer and how they find you. Your stuff is always amazing to me and I love it that I know who you are! Oh, and, if the video is 10-15-20 mins I'll stay if its useful and its been suggested to watch it when I have that amount of time. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Thanks, Roxanna Reply Ron Valdivia January 16, 2013 Good stuff Paul, I remembered you offered some program that taught people how to finance a business/buy one or take one over using other people's money, do you still offer that program I can't seem to find it on your site. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Hi Ron, new site coming up in a few days (soon!) and we’ll have that product for sale again. Reply Crystal January 16, 2013 This is a perfect length, with perfect info. However and So…., you are looking at the person brinked on Bankruptcy, the mall is empty, most of the other tenants have left, you have a $$$ store beside you. Your swank and cool concept is a great idea, but did’nt work… maybe for a variety of reasons outside of your control…. You are still comfortable sitting behind your till and have no idea what is actually going on “out there”. All great info, and thus we return to the first significant piece of advice: location, location, location. That could be on line or it could be in this tangible world… but you have learned via Hard Knocks….. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Crystal… You? Reply John Chancellor January 16, 2013 Paul, Excellent points and the time was great. Much longer would have lost a lot of people. The one big thing I think you failed to cover was the basic assumptions about the business model. I think far too many small businesses fail to do enough market research to prove their concept … they fall in love with their idea or they had a viable business and the market changed/shifted and they failed to adapt. If you have a viable business model, your points are spot on. Unfortunately, there are some business models that can’t be fixed … they are broken from the git go. Reply pl January 17, 2013 Good addition, John Reply barbgiven January 16, 2013 `Hello, Paul — I look forward to your 5-10 minute videos a great deal. As an owner of a soon to be start up, your insights are helpful. They tend to be common sense that needs to be reinforced and you do it well. Thank you. barbgiven Reply pl January 17, 2013 Good luck, Barbara. Most failed startups simply didn’t have enough cash to start with. Reply Barbara K Given January 16, 2013 Hello, Paul — As an owner of a new start up, your insights are truly helpful. I look forward to your 5-10 minute videos a great deal. Reply HWBRISCOE January 15, 2013 RELEVANT CONTENT.. VERY INFORMATIVE… Reply joelhelfer January 15, 2013 see comment above Reply Joel Helfer January 15, 2013 The five minute length of the video was fine. Question – starting a new business and invested a modest $500 per month to get both market and media exposure to make me a celebrity in my niche. What do you think of this strategy? Reply pl January 17, 2013 It’s a decent strategy. Don’t know if $500/month is too much or too little; depends on the “strategy” execution. 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Gary A Sund July 7, 2013 I'd watch a 2 hour video w/ you anytime Paul but there's so much else to do, it becomes impractical. 5 minutes was nice. Bet you could have made it 3 minutes and that kinda just feels right to me. Reply
Astra Kelly June 17, 2013 Great vid!! Straight and to the point. Perfect length I thought. Thank you! Reply
K Grass Business Consulting February 21, 2013 This was an informative video for so many business owners. It is such an important distinction of those that want to maintain versus those that want to grow their business. Without this knowledge it is impossible to avoid the failure that so many people experience. Reply
Chris January 23, 2013 Cant stand videos, it is obvious that it used to save time for the person making the videos and take time from the person watching it… and as any good marketer, the title is always better than the content, it’s the capital rule in marketing… the headline! Reply
Naseem Shiekh January 18, 2013 Hey:Paul good job!!! Basically people who are interested in watching a consulting video are not really concerned about the length, but its the contents which I guess you really know what you are talking about the other vital issue is that try to adjust its settings while loading so that it doesn’t take too long for buffering as other vice the viewer really losses interest.BOTTOM-LINE is 10 min video length with best recording settings should give results deemed. Good luck, keep up the good work…. Reply
Mary Wyatt January 18, 2013 Very insightful. 7-10 is a good video length for this type of info. Reply
Bill Daker January 18, 2013 Paul appreciate the incite without failure there is no success. It is these road blocks in business life that tell us which ramps to get on and which ones to get off. Failure is the first gps towards success. Reply
Greg White January 18, 2013 Good stuff! A video needs to be the length to adequately cover your subject, no more and no less. Reply
pl January 19, 2013 Thanks, Greg. Clearly so, yet some of us have little contiguous free time to watch longer videos, so I think ultimately length does matter. ~pl Reply
arun January 18, 2013 Paul – Great insight . Cuts right through . If the video has great information and insights and the presenter gives the information in an interesting manner , then why 5 minutes , even 60 minutes is less. Reply
pl January 20, 2013 Arun… Most of us don’t have the patience or attention or time for really long videos. Glad you find it that valuable. ~pl Reply
Willie Crawford January 18, 2013 Brilliant observations as always Paul. Thanks for being such a great teacher and motivator. Your book “Be Unreasonable – The Unconventional Way To Extraordinary Business Results” is probably my very favorite book. I re-read it 3-4 times a year. Video length isn’t critical to me. If I know that I’m going to learn information that I can, and am likely to use, I will listen to longer videos. Reply
pl January 19, 2013 Thanks, Willie. But did you just say that you re-read Be Unreasonable 3-4x a year? Sir, I am honored… Reply
Willie Crawford January 19, 2013 Yes, Paul. I have a handful of books that I reread quarterly, because of the impact that they had when I begin implementing what they teach. BE Unreasonable is one of those books.
Adam Gordon January 17, 2013 Paul, I keep coming back to the fact that it is not the volume of sales that matter. It is the volume of Gross Profits. I can apply all your points to that. Reply
pl January 17, 2013 Adam – that’s a super-important point. More profits matter. There are times when you are trying to secure market share, for volume, for a market leadership position, for many reasons. Then you may be willing to sacrifice profits… for a while. Reply
David Fulton January 16, 2013 Hey, Paul — Great meeting you in San Diego over the holidays! Thanks for your gems of advice. For me, videos are like Goldilock's and the 3 bears — some are too short, others are too long or and a few are just right. If you intended to catch my interest and get me to follow this video series, it was just right. I like your idea to break it up in bite-sized portions (to carry on the food analogy). Like the start of a 3 or 5 course dinner, this video was a perfect appetizer for me! Cheers! Reply
Ric Pollock January 16, 2013 Hi Paul… in my nearly 4 decades of business… I have come across very few people who can cut through the puffery and shyt and render a topic to its salient points like you do… thanks for letting us share your thinking. Reply
pl January 17, 2013 Hey Ric, not many people who can carry of “shyt” with such grace and style. Thanks. Reply
Roxanna Clements January 16, 2013 Love your advice! A one minute video can be bad or engaging, a 5 min video can be bad and I'll click off but if I'm interested in what is being said, I'll stay. I made a video with a friend when we were goofing off with useful info (how to fix your thermostat) and its almost 6 mins and now has over 15000 views so I think it's all about how useful it is to the viewer and how they find you. Your stuff is always amazing to me and I love it that I know who you are! Oh, and, if the video is 10-15-20 mins I'll stay if its useful and its been suggested to watch it when I have that amount of time. Reply
Ron Valdivia January 16, 2013 Good stuff Paul, I remembered you offered some program that taught people how to finance a business/buy one or take one over using other people's money, do you still offer that program I can't seem to find it on your site. Reply
pl January 17, 2013 Hi Ron, new site coming up in a few days (soon!) and we’ll have that product for sale again. Reply
Crystal January 16, 2013 This is a perfect length, with perfect info. However and So…., you are looking at the person brinked on Bankruptcy, the mall is empty, most of the other tenants have left, you have a $$$ store beside you. Your swank and cool concept is a great idea, but did’nt work… maybe for a variety of reasons outside of your control…. You are still comfortable sitting behind your till and have no idea what is actually going on “out there”. All great info, and thus we return to the first significant piece of advice: location, location, location. That could be on line or it could be in this tangible world… but you have learned via Hard Knocks….. Reply
John Chancellor January 16, 2013 Paul, Excellent points and the time was great. Much longer would have lost a lot of people. The one big thing I think you failed to cover was the basic assumptions about the business model. I think far too many small businesses fail to do enough market research to prove their concept … they fall in love with their idea or they had a viable business and the market changed/shifted and they failed to adapt. If you have a viable business model, your points are spot on. Unfortunately, there are some business models that can’t be fixed … they are broken from the git go. Reply
barbgiven January 16, 2013 `Hello, Paul — I look forward to your 5-10 minute videos a great deal. As an owner of a soon to be start up, your insights are helpful. They tend to be common sense that needs to be reinforced and you do it well. Thank you. barbgiven Reply
pl January 17, 2013 Good luck, Barbara. Most failed startups simply didn’t have enough cash to start with. Reply
Barbara K Given January 16, 2013 Hello, Paul — As an owner of a new start up, your insights are truly helpful. I look forward to your 5-10 minute videos a great deal. Reply
Joel Helfer January 15, 2013 The five minute length of the video was fine. Question – starting a new business and invested a modest $500 per month to get both market and media exposure to make me a celebrity in my niche. What do you think of this strategy? Reply
pl January 17, 2013 It’s a decent strategy. Don’t know if $500/month is too much or too little; depends on the “strategy” execution. Reply
