If you speak to people who know business statistics, you will hear them say that many small businesses will fail within the first five years. These facts are a contributing factor to people buying long-established businesses in order to gain a higher chance of success compared to a start-up. So what are the odds of surviving more than five years? There are government organizations who keep statistics on this. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “About half of all new establishments survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years or more. As one would expect, the probability of survival increases with a firm’s age. Survival rates have changed little over time.” These statistics are backed up by the Small Business Administration (SBA), who state that nearly 66% of small businesses will survive their first two years. What that implies is that only about one-third of […]

There are plenty of terms that are touted around the business world like efficiency, but finding their meanings is not as easy as using them. So what do words like efficiency mean? If you Google efficiency, this is what you will get: “the state or quality of being efficient” and “greater energy efficiency.” Synonyms: organization, order, orderliness, regulation, coherence; More an action designed to achieve this. Plural noun: efficiencies “to increase efficiencies and improve earnings.” Technical – the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or in a process to the total energy expended or heat taken in. It is also short for efficiency apartments.* In your Google search you will also see what Wikipedia says: “Efficiency is the (often measurable) ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the […]