A recent study by the Organization for Entrepreneurial Development based on surveys of the OED own Certified Advisers showed that the reasons most small business owners cited for the failure of their business were frequently “off point” – geared more towards blaming the economy or external factors rather than issues with the owners themselves, their management style or internal structural issues.

OED’s research reveals that the following top reasons small businesses fail;
Owners can’t get out of their own way. – Owners are so involved in their businesses that they can’t see outside their “box”. They are working “in” the business not “on” the business
Poor accounting and financial controls – Owners can’t be in control of a business if they don’t know what is going on. With bad numbers – or no numbers – owners are flying blind and will often crash
Marketing and sales mediocrity – Many business owners run their sales and marketing as they run everything else – by the seat of their pants – and then wonder why they don’t meet their goals. They don’t employ the proper methods and don’t have any real plan.
Amateurish Management – By their very nature most entrepreneurs lack focus, vision, planning, standards or even the basic skills needed for professional management. If you put difficult employess, unhappy customers or squabbling relatives in to the mix you have a recipe for disaster.
No Exit Plan – Most small business owners see their business as their retirement plan, but have no real idea of how they are going to monetize their primary asset. You need to know way ahead of time how you are going to exit – be it sale, transfer, succession or merger. A failure to plan, is a plan for failure.

The key to success in all small businesses is

COMMUNICATION and ACCOUNTABILITY – without BOTH of these elements your business WILL fail.