Business women generate cash in their business. In fact, to stay in business generating a cash flow is necessary. Sure, it’s important to think positive, do effective marketing, and understand social media. But the bottom line is that operating a sustainable business means you must know how to generate profits.

If you are not generating cash profits, you are operating a non-profit organization. But even a nonprofit organization can make money (although the use of profits differs from the profit organization, but that’s another story.) As an entrepreneur, you have to learn about conducting a business, how to do strategic planning, and gain the knowledge necessary to keep up with trends, the changing marketing place and respond to the needs of your target clientele.

A business woman needs to put certain systems in place along with other required business elements. But once you know these basics, you can develop your business.

So are you developing a real business? Let’s be honest; it’s possible that what you do everyday is not really a business. Maybe you’re great at the technical part of what you know – gardening, designing a website, bookkeeping, etc. – but you find you’re not attracting clients and making money.

You certainly intend to be in business, but the reality is that you might only be doing busy work. That’s why you start and stop new projects every few weeks and see few results.

The truth is, it might not be your fault. Really smart, dedicated people fall into the trap of thinking creating a business and especially creating on online will be a fast easy fix to financial woes. That comes from reading so much of the hype that’s out there about what it takes to do Internet business.  And that hype if simply not true.

Business experts say that one in five businesses will fail within just a few years of starting. The actual numbers are probably quite a lot higher. You don’t want to fail. You want to succeed. When you know the top reasons why entrepreneurs fail, you can better prepare your business for years of success.

I’m going to be share five of the top reasons why entrepreneurial ventures fail on a regular basis next time.

1. Failing to plan means planning to fail. Creating a basic business plan to guide your business is an important first step for business success. A business plan serves as a roadmap that outlines all aspects of your business so you have a firm direction to travel as you move forward. The plan doesn’t have to be complicated, just complete. It includes the purpose of the business, target market, operation schedule, online communications plan, marketing and public relations plan, beginning budget, and beginning financial statements. Developing the plan helps you solidify your business idea so you move forward with confidence.

2. Failing to file all necessary documents. It’s important to properly set your business up in the area where you work. Be sure to check with the local business license department to find out what type of business licenses you might need to file, even if working from home. In fact, many home-based business owners think they don’t need to be licensed then later find out they owe fees, taxes and maybe even fines for not having filed. It’s usually not tooo expensive to get started if you do it the correct way.

3. Failing to clearly define your line of products or services.  It might sound strange to say some people start a business without a clear understanding of what they have to offer for sale. In fact, this goes back to the business plan as you should discuss your product or service line in the plan. What do you offer to make money? Who will want what you have to offer?  How much is it worth and what will the market bear to pay? Having a line of product or services means having a selection usually at varied price points for the buying public to purchase. Think about this as you start getting ready to go into busy. If you’re not selling products or services, maybe you’re being really busy but not doing business .

4. Failing to diversify your marketing strategy.  Doing business means  letting people know you exist so they can be your customer To do that you need to market your business. In these days, marketing is more difficult than before as there’s so much happening both in on-line and off-line in marketing. It’s important to learn how to use at least one social media platform for your online marketing. It’s easy to spend a lot of time casually playing around on social media and forgetting to target your words to a specific market. Instead of keeping busy by just aimlessly posting and playing around on our sites, take time to learn which platform is used by your target market and spend time posting relevant information there. You can get past wasting time and start being effective with all of your marketing postings.

5. Failing to define your target market.  Your target market are the specific people or businesses that want what you have to offer. Too often, when asked who they target market is will say “everyone”, or “all women”, etc. However, this means you don’t really know who you’re trying to attract to your business. You can’t focus your marketing message, find the correct social media platform to use, say the correct words to grab their attention. It’s imperative to take time to figure out exactly who you want to serve with your business in order to attract the right people to you. This is a key area for your business plan. Marketing is one thing, but first know who or what you’re marketing too in order to find success.

Knowing and avoiding these basic steps that keep many new entrepreneurs from being successful are important. Take time to plan, then work your well-worked plan for success.