Trade Off Serial Entrepreneurship

Many successful owners of small to midsize retail businesses are serial entrepreneurs. They occupy themselves with one business concept at a time rather than undertake a range of diverse business enterprises simultaneously. What valuable habits distinguish the most profitable serial entrepreneurs?

• When successful serial entrepreneurs have positive results, they move quickly to build on those results. Because they’re focused on the one business concept, they can recognize successful results promptly and then devote all their resources to carrying out the next steps in their plan. 
• Their close attention to the one business concept at a time helps them see trends and thereby not only predict the likely future of their retail business, but also plan for how to create the future they desire for their retail business. 
• They are not discouraged by failures. The unanticipated obstacles are seen as learning opportunities, and prolonged setbacks motivate a search for better alternatives. Those alternatives might include abandoning the current enterprise and promptly moving on to the next entrepreneurial challenge. Successful serial entrepreneurs know when to cut their losses. 

     It follows that less successful serial entrepreneurs fail to spot when to cut their losses. Researchers at Warwick Business School, Durham Business School, and Nottingham University compared serial entrepreneurs to portfolio entrepreneurs. The latter group are those business people who diversify in their retailing endeavors, running a set of businesses at the same time. The researchers found that the portfolio entrepreneurs learned better from failure because they have less investment in defending their prior actions. Their pride isn’t tied so tightly to one enterprise. They experience less pain from the failure.
     Associated with this, serial entrepreneurs are less likely than portfolio entrepreneurs to see accurately what they themselves did wrong. Their zeal to move on could result in serial failures.
     Together, both these sets of research findings point out the tradeoffs for you, retailer, in focusing on one business at a time. Even within one small to midsize store, the owner/operator must carry out a broad range of duties. Taking on more than one business at the same time could quickly corrode effectiveness in any of them. But beware of overinvestment in the one business to the point where the pain of admitting failure prevents you from initiating essential corrections.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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