I shared eight things I wish people would have told me when I was in high school in a recent presentation. I will be sharing number seven today.

• The greatest reason that businesses fail is lack of capital. Start small with no debt.

I’m going to be completely honest; our family didn’t start raising animals or making skin care products with a business plan in mind. These businesses just sort of happened because people saw what we were doing and asked us to sell them products that we had gifted to them, witnessed how were raising our animals, or tasted and smelled the difference of our food products. I’m a terrible business person and accountant, and I have learned how hard it is to make a profit in a business. I’m also learning that I’m not alone. About half of all businesses fail by the fifth year.

The only things that have kept our business going are my husband’s full-time job that has cash flowed the business, a desire for these good quality products for our family, and a love for what we are doing, along with the feedback we receive from our customers. I’m so thankful we didn’t get into this as a business because I can just picture us several years ago, my husband and I sitting down together with great excitement, (this would have been before our debt-free mentality) and thinking we had a great business opportunity to sell natural skin care products or farm products, and saying, “Let’s go get a loan, some nice equipment, and start producing!” Knowing now, what I didn’t know then, I can imagine the stress that the extra monthly payment would have caused us. Although I get discouraged if we don’t sell as much product as I hoped, it’s not as stressful, because we can use it ourselves or give it away.  

The Lord has really been changing my heart, and I’m spending more time at Excel counting the cost, figuring my time in producing, and getting more organized so we will see what happens. I do know this, I care about people’s health, and if we can get more efficient in our production and get this information out there, then we can help more people. How amazing that feels! I’m constantly reminding myself that most businesses take a lot of time to grow (most of us don’t see the mundane middle) and while staying out of debt has caused us to grow very slowly, there’s not as much financial stress. I also have to remind myself not to overproduce, to feed the family first, and keep on trusting the Lord, because He is so good! Do you have a business story to share or some wisdom you can give us? We would love to hear from you!