Top 5 reasons wedding businesses FAIL!

I'm a wedding business owner.  You're a wedding business owner.  I need to sell a product and service to feed my kids and you need to as well.  So we read, and research and pound our heads against the pavement trying to figure out how to keep it profitable.

With the recent failing of Get Married, an online, television and printed wedding advertising company, many wedding vendors have asked, "What went wrong?"  Well, 50% of businesses fail within the first 5 years and working with hundreds of wedding vendors across the United States has shown me that wedding businesses are no exception.

One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why businesses fail and....

I think there's a SIMPLE answer to that question:
The entrepreneur!

The usual suspects that business owners tend to blame is their employees, the recession, the bird outside the office that just won't stop chirping. BLAH!  BLAH! BLAH!

The finger should be pointed at the owner themselves!  But who wants to admit that they're the one with the problem?  Of course, there are cases where something out of the owner’s control has gone terribly wrong - like a flood that washed their building away or a thief that broke in and stole everything... but I have found those instances to be few and far between.

Here, based on my own experiences and observations, are the top 5 reasons small wedding businesses fail.  This isn't pretty and you may not like it but you may learn something, adapt and thrive:




1. No market research before a launch. If there's not enough demand for your product or service at a price that will produce a profit then scrap the idea and think of something new. Do your due diligence and market research before starting the company. 

2. Owners who cannot see past their own nose.  They may be stubborn, they may be a perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, indignant, insecure. You get the idea.  Business is about adaptability and there's no "I" in adaptability. (ok there's two.  BUT every great business owner knows that success comes from listening to mentors and changing what's necessary, in their own attitude, and then success can follow.

3. Paying too much for labor, materials, rent, etc. Now more than ever, the lean companies are the ones moving forward with their head held high and not their tail between their legs. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today’s economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

4. Out-of-control growth. This would include moving into markets that are not as profitable or borrowing too much money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. I think this is the #1 reason why Get Married failed. 

5. Lack of a cash cushion. If we have learned anything from this recession is that bad things can and will happen.  If a wedding company is already out of cash it may not be able to recover from losing a big client or top producing sales person.

In life, your friends and relatives will forgive you, but entrepreneurship can kick your %^&*#. Eventually, everything shows up in the soup. If people don’t like the soup, employees stop working for you, and customers stop doing business with you. And that is why businesses fail.

What do you think?  Do you agree with me?...or disagree?