Planning and timing is crucial to the success of any growing business

Among the many factors that affect and determine the success of a business, be it at a start-up level or at advanced level of operation, is the issue of timing.

This is probably one of the last things that follow after you are clear about what you will be doing and why you are doing it.

Timing is one factor that can prevent a brilliant and exciting idea from seeing the light of day. There are several ways of going about finding that right time and I’m going to try and summarise the effects of imperfect timing to you in simple terms.

But before we do that, let’s look at one of the root causes of many ideas not seeing the light of day, and that is a lack of research.

This is primarily observed in the start-up phase of a business, where a lot of assumptions are made with regards to launching products or services into the market and the market reacting positively to them.

The frustrating reality that many meet when they’ve already invested resources is the realisation that it’s not that simple; sales don’t just come knocking on their doorstep.

Business consultants always want to offer complicated reasons why businesses fail but the simple reason behind the failure of many is the fact that no or little research in to the prospective market was done and counter measures for possible problems were not in place.

It is at this point that the realisation of loss sinks in and the stress of no new business and creditors further dampen the situation.

The same is also applicable for existing businesses that want to expand into new markets.

The same principles apply when you start or expand your operations, the most important being to ensure you do thorough research on the market so that you do not lose a lifetime of your savings and your company as a result of an improper research.

This is just one of the reasons why I am constantly advising and teaching people about the possibility of starting or growing a business without using any money; if things don’t work out as planned, you simply scrap the project and move on to the next one with no loss incurred. Sometimes these loses could result in your life savings being wiped.

It is by doing your homework that you will get to clearly understand the market that you want to tap into, and that will give you greater guidance in terms of when you can launch your product or service, failing which the consequences could be severe.

Timing goes hand in hand with research, these two pillars of business success are not to be taken lightly.

Kholofelo Pholafudi is the author of The Psychology, Science and Art of Turning Contacts into Connections