Failure should not be a synonym for last year's business. However, if it seems to you that 2013 did not bring your business any benefits or was more difficult than expected, it is necessary to analyse what exactly happened and (if possible) how to avoid this in future. The Business 2 Community website has prepared a guide on how to summarise the previous period, analyse the risks and learn from them.

Sources of problems

1. Your company got out of control. Many business owners believe their success is defined by speed of growth. However, expansion without any solid basis can very quickly cause major problems for the company and its structure.

2. You have ideas but lack a plan. Churning out ideas is easy for a visionary. Much worse is trying to realise an idea without prior consideration of all the possible consequences. If the idea is so amazing, it can do without a plan. Usually, however, this does not work.

3. You have ideas but lack the capital. You need money in order to make money. Nevertheless, sometimes companies do not understand how much their efforts can cost. Do you think about reserves too?

4. Management has failed. Poor management control is one of the most common cases of failure. There may be a lack of experience or the skills required to cope with the situation. How is your team coordinated?

5. Communication is poor. Whether inwardly or outwardly to your customers, if communication fails, it is always bad. It could cause you corporate culture and reputation damage, especially in the age of social media.

How to learn from it?

You have probably discovered sources of possible failures. Sometimes it is relatively easy. However, there is no time to point fingers or to devote all your energy to minimising the negative impact of failure. It is time to learn for the future benefit of company functioning. Try asking the following few questions that may direct you towards further development.

Is there a strengthening or dilution of your business name?

Does your team lack experience or knowledge in a particular area?

Is your business still aligned with the company's mission?

Do you have a list of activities that should work and if they do not, do you know why?

Is there no better possibility of funding your business?

Are you sure that you have the right people in the right places?

Is it not better to start again?

The last question is the hardest to answer. Maybe you have already come a long way and at the very least you have devoted much effort to building on what you already have. Nonetheless, try to think if at least one of your activities could be done differently.

Make sure that you have mapped all your past shortcomings, but also possible weaknesses that in the near future may lead to failure. Details are key: for example, if a strategy is not working on Facebook, you might have to invest time, energy and money into a much more robust or completely different strategy on social networks. Try to visualise all the weaknesses and possible solutions, including potential impacts. This will help you better to organise your thoughts.

How would you evaluate your business in 2013?

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