1. Overextending on your resources: Or simply doing more than what your resources whether it be in finances, human capital, strategic partnerships, time, etc.
2. Micromanaging: Instead of looking over the shoulders of your team mates, focus more on the overall strategy alignment and faciliate intra/extra departmental communications.
3. lack of strategic vision, feature-creep, too tactical (putting out fires, playing catch-up vs how to sustain long term competitive advantage)
4. Eating an elephant whole: no matter how well thought out the project is, the individual pieces may be perfectly executed on time and on budget but then it’s impossible or extremely difficult to integrate the pieces. Instead it is probably a better idea to chunk out the projecs to produce measurable results such as described in the “rapid results initiative” where specific quantifiable milestones are set, and once reached can be either built upon or scrapped depending the the goal discovery process.
5. Poor communication between cross-functions: Bureaucracy is part of the game, get used to it, or better yet, learn to be a better communicator and have not just let the marketing or engineering head decide on the project requirements but set aside time to get insight from all constituents and stakeholders.

The untold story, beyond financial losses

Not only do failed projects cost time and money, sometimes amounting to several years, and millions of dollars. But it demoralizes all the stakeholders to the project, especially the frontline employees and managers that had direct reign and input into the project.

As has been quoted in the media and surveys, the majority of projects fail to meet expectations or even sustainable results. Therefore an improvement in the knowledge of the field of project management is perhaps the bare minimum in advancing one’s career, or business success in this high paced environment.

Some of the main aspects you have to concentrate on when you have business ideas are the abilities and gifts you can pour into the business. It is very important for you to be identified with your business project. Those ideas should be based on activities and actions you take pleasure in doing. For example, if we suppose that you dislike working in the open, landscaping business would not suit you. On the other hand, if you like working with children, setting up baby-sitting or tutoring business would be an excellent idea. In this case, without any doubt you business will be more successful because you will have put your mind, effort and also your heart on it.

Another vital step is to analyze the needs of a specific product or service in your region before setting up your business. Do people of your area need your product? Are there other business like the one you are planning to start? You should ask yourself whether or not you are the only one offering that service or product. If you are not, you will have to analyze the competence you will have to face. You have to think whether the service you are offering is one that customer would repeat, or if it is a one-time specialized service. Obviously, the former are more likely to succeed than the latter.

There are other aspects you have to take into account. These aspects are described below:

- One of them is that if the idea is unique, you will reign the market. But if there is much competition, it will be difficult to enter into the market.

- A second point would be if you can offer quality from the very beginning, otherwise, you won’t succeed.

- Finally, you have to think about your capital to start your own business. There are many business ideas that require little investment and bring great profit. Some demand research, such as daycare service, and others need a large amount of money to begin the business. So take this recommendation into account before investing all your money in a small business idea.

1. You’ve been downsized out of one or more jobs.

2. You company merged with corporation ABC and you’ve been rightsized out of a job to reap the “synergies” of the merger.

3. You’ve trained your replacement in Bangalore prior to your job being outsourced.

4. You’re working 60 to 80 hour per week and getting paid for 40 hours out of fear of either 1), 2), or 3) above.

5. You’re working under contract and think you’re an entrepreneur or a “consultant”, but you’re really just an “employee without health benefits”.

6. You’re recently retired from a large corporation with a “secure” pension that’s about to be decimated (defaulted to the federal government) so your former employer can continue to compete in the global economy.

The job churn I’ve just described is not just about globalization, however globalization and a digital world with high bandwidth has altered the playing field in corporate america and labor is now a commodity that can and will be acquired anywhere in the world. That either means off-shoring production and even R&D to places like Mexico or China, or digitally outsourcing high skilled jobs like software development to India.

You could argue that not every job is pressured by globalization and you’d be right. There are about 50 million private-sector workers (nurses, truckers, supermarket and other retail clerks, hotel and restaurant employees, construction workers, janitors, security guards, etc.) whose jobs can’t be shipped to Beijing or Calcutta. However, these are not the high paying jobs you and I are talking about. The hard fact is that for more and more highly trained and skilled workers the labor pool is now global and you’re competing for work with a newly minted accountant, MBA, software engineer, or physics Ph.D. from India, Singapore, the former Soviet block, or China.

In the last fifteen years the global workforce has doubled in large part due to the embrace of market capitalism by India, China, the countries of the ex-Soviet Union. In addition, U.S. technical dominance and its share of science and engineering graduates at all degree levels is declining rapidly. In 1970 over half of world’s the science and engineering doctorates were granted in the U.S. Today, the European Union has already surpassed the U.S. and projections for 2010 show the EU producing twice as many science and engineering doctorates as the U.S. and if current trends continue, China will actually surpass the U.S. Bottom line, more justification for U.S. Corporations to move R&D and other science and engineering functions offshore.

So what are your choices? You might decide that you’re powerless and blame corporate greed and hope the government or “someone” will step in to protect your “sovereign right” to a high paying job. After all, you did all the right things, got that great education, made good grades, and worked hard. Well for one, corporations are not being greedy they are just seeking the lowest cost of doing business and competing as well as they can. If that is no longer in the best interests of the their “county of origin” labor pool, that is not their problem. Their allegiance is to the shareholder, that is how they are structured and financed. Think the government with save you? Think again, corporations accounted for a huge amount of the funds raised in the last election cycle and therefore own a good deal of political capital. Besides that, globalization in the long run is good for the world economy and for our long-term prospects of peace and prosperity. However, in the near term it’s going to be painful transition unless you wake up to the fact the the ground has shifted and you have to find a new way to achieve Your American Dream.

The short answer would be when you don’t need to, or your company is not desperately looking for financing in order to survive.

Instead you are looking for capital in order to finance growth and expansion, or you would like to use the public shares as currency to make acquisitions.

But life isn’t always perfect, so we will take a look at a few questions asked by CEO’s that have called me looking to go public.

What should revenues and net profit be before going public? A company could conceivably have 5 consecutive year of profitability and be a bad candidate for going public.

I recently had a CEO called me from such a company, the revenues and net profit were identical for the previous five years but robust compare to many of the companies you see going public in the NASDAQ BB and Pink Sheets today.

But I didn’t see any growth in either revenues or net profit nor any indication that there was going to be some in the future, the CEO did not know where future growth would come from.

I told him that if he was just going public so that he could tell friends that he was the CEO of public company then he shouldn’t go public.

But if he could develop a strategy for growth and put together a business plan outlining how he was going to grow revenues and net income, he could become an outstanding candidate for going public.

The opposite of that would be a company that has been losing money for 5 years but is exhibiting growth in revenues every year and the losses are smaller.

This company has a business plan and targets for business expansion and every year is meeting those targets, and going public is part of the business strategy. So you tell me which company has the greater potential of being a successful public company?

Investors are always looking for growth candidates to put their money in to. So they will go with the company that has the potential to make them the most money in the future.

Another situation that I often come across is CEO’s who want to go public and don’t have any money for the audit or the legal fees.

There are certain expenses associated with going public that need to be paid. These CEO’s often want to do a reverse merger because it’s the fastest way to go public, but Public Shells are expensive and could be the costliest avenue use to go public.

When a private company purchases a Public Shell, the purchaser must perform a thorough due diligence of the Public Shell to make sure that it is clean and not bringing any past legal problem to the private company.

The due diligence process often get neglected because the private company is not familiar with the ins and outs of the public arena.

So they often take the advised given by the shell owner and submit to his demands. When companies rush to go public they often live to regret it, short cuts can be very expensive. I always give CEO’s who call me the alternative to reverse merger, such as Direct public offering, Regulation D or IPO but if their minds are already made up or they may have already purchased the Shell without doing proper due diligence.

I will do all I can to try and make it work but the CEO must be warn of the perils ahead and how to prepare for them. For example if he does have a lot of shareholders and a lot of shares outstanding he must reverse split the shares to reduce the number of shares available for sale including those own by the Shell owner.

The Shell owner will often require the private company to sign an agreement not to reverse the share prior to the sale, if they agree to this demand they will be making a big mistake.

Also if the company hires an investors relation firm to do PR work and pays them in stock they will see a temporary interest in the company’s shares while the IR is dumping their share.

An IR firm must be carefully and thoroughly check out by asking for names of previous and present client, just pull up chart of their clients stock and see if you detect a sudden rise in the share price and a quick drop once they began dumping their shares.

There isn’t such a thing as a perfect time to go public and if you start preparing early you will be ahead of the curve, start by having your financials audited. This is something that will have to be done and so if you do as you go along you wont have the big expense all at once.

Have a business plan prepared and that is a mirror of your vision and strategy, you will not stick to a business plan that does not reflect your ideal and your vision of what is going to work.

Make sure the business plan is sound and also flexible, it must allowed for a change in direction when one is warranted. A business plan is like a road map, it has a starting point an a destination, you mapped out the way you want to go but sometimes you must take and different route to get there.

Make sure you have capable competent people in the right positions a small company is not the place for specialist, you must have people who can multi task or you will be force to hire more employees than necessary.

Remember nobody know your business like you do but there are certain business principles that that must be adhere to, as well as ethical conduct that must be applied.

If you just follow the golden rule “Do unto others and you would have them to unto you” you will have done your part. Because you always reap what you sow.

You must be wise in selecting the people you deal with. There are a lot of unscrupulous character in the shell and consulting business who will sell you on going public even if you are not ready.

They will also sell you a Corporate Shell and anything else they can, and before you know you will be calling a legitimate consultant to help you but it may be too late.

I recently had a phone call from a CEO who had a nice small company but he need capital to finance the growth in the business, the company was growing every quarter but was trading for pennies because it had over 150,000,000 shares outstanding.

I suggested that he needed to do a reverse split before I could go to my financing people, because nobody will put money into a company that is so diluted. He replied that he couldn’t reverse the shares do to an agreement with the shell owner.

When you buy a shell make sure you are buying the entire flow and that the shares in the hands of the public is not substantial.

Otherwise choose an alternative way of going public. Reverse Merger is not the only way to go public.

Reverse Merger may be the least desirable option for some people, So before taking any action look into the other options available. If the consultant you hire only know Reverse Merger maybe its time to look for somebody else. There isn’t a perfect time to take your company public, it must be part of your over all business strategy and vision, and it requires a desire to make work.

You are not the only that finds beef jerky a good snack. There are still a lot. So why not turn this chance as an opportunity to earn? Buy bulk beef jerky and be the distributor of beef jerky in your area. Let your neighbors have an easy access to beef jerky and let them try the town’s craving. Since lots are craving for beef jerky, there is no an assurance that the beef jerky you will buy will be sold. Beef jerky cannot be only your favorite snack but also your business opportunity.

But the only ones who should be trained aren’t only the sales people who market your goods and bring sales to your company. Managers, especially Sales Managers should attend trainings too. Every person in a company should try to improve from time to time. And managers are no exceptions. For them to know the best and most effective practices in the market, there are sales manager classes that they can attend. These classes use the combination of results of sales performance effectiveness research and 30 years of experience of working with sales organizations. So that’s research plus experience – the most effective way to know the best marketing techniques. The key to a good marketing performance is training. With trainings, talents and skills will be improved.