17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail: Unscrew Yourself from Business Failure

by Pooja Agnihotri

The secret to success in business isn't doing what other successful people have done; it's by avoiding the mistakes made by businesses that have failed. Instead of repeating their mistakes, now we can learn from them and best ensure business growth and commercial success. 17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail brings the cautionary tales of mistakes made by many businesses that ultimately led to their failure and which other businesses should avoid at all costs if they plan to survive and grow.

Genres: Business, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Nonfiction

252 pages, Paperback

Published June 9, 2021

About the author

Experienced marketer and published book author, Pooja Agnihotri, is on a mission to save businesses from themselves. By sharing knowledge and equipping businesses with the necessary tools to thrive in their industries, they can go from treading water to doing backflips.

Pooja Agnihotri has been helping businesses thrive through challenging and fast-changing times for over a decade now.

Reviews

[Chantal Hanby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has really great practical advice for an entrepreneur. I think an easy way to review this book would be to tell you that I highlighted almost 60% of this book's text because it has so much good content.

Ten golden morsels:

~ "Take a few minutes out of your schedule every now and then and remind yourself why you can achieve your goals. Make sure that your brain is getting enough training in seeing you and your business as a success and as a winner and not as a failure.”
~ “When you promise but don’t deliver, you start competing against yourself, against the image that you have built of your brand for your customers.”
~ “You are not selling products. You are selling value to your customers. The more value your customers see, the more they will like your business.”
~ “When you’re ready to enter the battlefield of business, make sure you are armed with the two most important tools for business survival: industry experience and business knowledge.”
~ “A business will require you to wear many hats. You have to be a leader with a mission, vision, and direction.”
~ “A failed entrepreneur has just passion but a successful one knows how to plan to keep that passion alive.”
~ “Great things take time. Your business idea is one of those things. If it’s taking time, it means your idea is trying to bring a big societal and cultural change.”
~ “Vision and mission metaphorically represent the address that I’d forgot to add in my “invitation.” Alternatively, they represent the final destination of your business.”
~ “Sometimes the right business decision is to let it go - to let go of an underperforming employee, to let go of an unprofitable branch, to let go of a weak advertising campaign, and to let go of an idea that fails to create the hype you wanted it to be.”
~ “We have to start listening to what our ideal customers have to say about our product with an open mind.”

Loads of lessons on running a company and avoiding failure. Lessons that could be applied to business and life. Glad I picked it up!

[Joseph Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is 10 out of 10. I have not read it yet and I know you are probably wondering how can you give this rating? Well, I have complete 80% of the book. I can tell you right now that I have gotten a lot of ideas from this book and there have been so many mistakes that I have done in my past businesses. It teaches you the strategies on how to learn from business failure. This book will has a lot to offer you.

[Megha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely read the same book twice, but I'm going to do just that with this book. What I really liked about this book is that it's written very nicely, I felt a sense of connection. This is an amazing read for those starting a company, those who already own a company and those thinking about making that move. Beware, this book is better in practice than in theory. If you consider yourself an entrepreneur and are willing to put the principles into practice, then it's worth reading.

[Atheeth Belagode · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended me to check this book out when I wanted to start an online boutique store for my mom. This book gave me some really good insights on starting a business and avoiding mistakes.
This book has a lot of information for anyone looking to start a business.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Running a business is not for the faint of heart; entrepreneurship is inherently risky. Successful business owners must possess the ability to mitigate company-specific risks while simultaneously bringing a product or service to market at a price point that meets consumer demand levels. To safeguard a new or established business, it is necessary to understand what can lead to business failure and how each obstacle can be managed or avoided altogether. I liked this book very much and recommend it to anyone managing a business.

[Soniya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful experience with this book. Pooja’s writing style had me hooked since the start. Every page you learn some deep insights about how to market your business better and more effectively. Every point seems important! And it’s like I am having a discussion with her in person over a cup of coffee and we are talking about all of this. So deeply inspiring and insightful. Can’t wait to read more books from her!

[Arti Peethambaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect guide for all budding entrepreneurs and for the ones who love marketing and business. There are some amazing insights. It is very easy and simple to understand with all the real-life examples. This book makes you understand the business world and makes you rethink the theories you believed before. I have read many books on marketing but I have to say this is absolutely my favorite. Thank You Pooja!

[Lauren Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was influential, informative, and educative. The writing style is really good,You get a feeling like a mentor or a teacher is sitting next to us and guiding you to prepare for the journey by telling you about problems and how to tackle it.

There needs to be a paradigm shift in thinking about failure prevention as the foundation of your business and growing from there! Recommend it!

[Noah Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly crafted, this book delivers most honest facts that we as business owner somehow don't acknowledge while running a successful business. I got this book recommended from a friend and I am glad to have read it. I honestly can't spread this book enough considering COVID's devastating effect on the majority of small businesses. Read it, practice it and implement it in business.

[Joesph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book is packed with useful strategies and insights for a successful business. Only shortcoming is that it outlines just 17 reasons. Agreed they are all valid and powerful reasons to sink a business but there are many more that can be added.
Its a good book and I do recommend it, just wish it had more in it.

[Sharon Pepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine book showing some of the flaws of small businesses and why so many fail. It's actually pretty amazing and if I wanted to start my own business, hypothetically... I now feel entirely qualified to do so.

Happy entrepreneuring!

[Susan Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a Great book... It is the perfect summary for someone interested in business. Great on delivery as well. Gifted a copy to my son and he feels the same way. I asked him 'what did you like most?' and he said "he like the clarity and simplicity its been written in and also there aren't lot of books on business out there which focus on business's digital marketing and advertising. Its a perfect bland of business insights in digital times."

[Elizabeth Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my experience, In the frenzy of excitement, it’s easy to forget that in reality, the majority of business crash-land in the first 3 years of their existence. The dream wears off, the reality hits. The smartest thing an entrepreneur can do is to study exactly why startups fail, identify a problem, and think about how to prevent it. For this purpose alone, this book is ideal.

If you want to survive, you need to be different. You have to stand out of the crowd.

The crucial part of running any kind of successful business is to keep an eye on your competitors, watch what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong.

[Avery Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many startups fail because they don’t have a viable business model or idea. Many fail because they haven’t been able to gain enough traction with customers or are unable to cope with competition. And that seems reasonable. But some startups even after successfully traversing market challenges still don’t manage to survive. Pooja has listed out reasons as well as solutions. She is giving you a structure with this book and I recommend it reading it once at least.

[Olivia Yang · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an small business owner a lot of the tips were applicable. Definitely worth a read!

[Vaibhav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. People who are interested in business, startups and who are thinking of starting a business will most probably be interested in reading this book.

[Aleena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book in full of examples and pearls of wisdom relevant to US businesses while, at the same time, covering universal business principles.

[Maria Salazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend it.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." - Paulo Choelho

If you're wondering why you should read this book, I'll say it's better to learn from other people's mistake than do it yourself. As mistakes in a business are proven to be costly and disheartening, avoiding them should be in every business owner's priority list.

This book mainly talks about seventeen reasons that lead to business failure. Once you learn how to tackle those obstacles, you will not have to worry about business failure.

17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure

“Having tunnel vision and not an all-around focus on all the factors that can affect your business in some way or another can have pernicious effects.”
― Pooja Agnihotri, 17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure

[Monroe Calvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

My business partner recommended Market Research book by Pooja. I read it over the weekend and found it insightful. Its was a short one so I decided to read this one as well. Both books are well written and have lot of knowledge bundled into short package.

Each sections provides food for thought, suggesting practical things you can do immediately to improve your business. Practical and progressive, it’s designed for businesses large and small – from start-ups to mature businesses – with a wealth of ideas to grow business and avoid disasters.

[Marverick Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an entrepreneur, I spend a good amount of time playing marketer. Too often, it's what we are confident about that turns out to be dead wrong. I found myself having epiphany after epiphany about failed product launches reading this book. I am humbled by the wisdom and, strangely, emboldened. Now that the lights have been turned on, I realize what i don't know and what I have been doing wrong. A wonderful example for other business books to follow. Rated 4 stars cause I think the book ended too soon or maybe I am a fast reader :)

[Advaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books in your bookshelves which you can read many times and every time you will get some new ideas. This is a book like that. Whenever I read this book I find out some new ideas every time. The psychological techniques and dealing with cetain situaiton are delead in a pretty good manner.

[Edmonia Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Refreshing, honest, easy to understand and insightful. The author has deep entrepreneurial experience and interests. Quite entertaining despite lacking some structure. More like a reference book to check for advice when needed, it definitely gets better on the second half of the book.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Behavioral science tells us that we think we're smarter and wiser about making decisions than we actually tend to be. We "know" so many things that aren't true, and we hold on to those beliefs even in the face of objective evidence that we're wrong. In our personal lives, that can be problematic. In business, it can be disastrous.

As a young professional in business and finance, I prefer learning that is seamless, flexible, and holistic. With all the guide and key points in this book, I feel I can step out of my comfort zone and make better decisions.

Key Takeaway: Keeping a business and taking it to the top takes plenty of skills, research work, extensive experience, and expert professional know-how. Wanting to own a business is one thing; maintaining and continuously strategizing to keep it from failing is a completely different story.

I know that I will re-read this book at some point. I recommend you do read it once atleast.

[Kiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an experienced marketer, I truly enjoyed reading this book! It's packed full of insight, offers up a fresh take on marketing, and can help a reader better segment customers based on mindset.

Book is well-written, a potential game-changer for businesses both big and small, and has plenty of easy to grasp examples. It's one of the better books you will read this year and I look forward to recommending it to peers. Seriously, don't think twice - buy it, read it, take notes, and profit!

[Inderjeet Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s an amazing book. A must-read book for all entrepreneurs. It is really very informative and contains useful insights to succeed in business. Moreover, it is easy and simple to understand and contains real-life examples which make your reading more interesting. I just loved it.

[Mustafa Salamov · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty much what it says it is. While there’s a strong focus on marketing (which makes sense since the author runs a digital marketing agency), it still shares a lot of useful ideas. I’d recommend it to anyone thinking about starting a business, and it can be part of an MBA course.

[Vaishnavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the book. I would really recommend it to anyone who want insights on facing challenges of budding businesses and also if you are looking to start something on your own like me.

[Aiden Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique book for its target reader. Kinda liked it.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good content for a youngster starting to look at what they need to know for a simple business - or indeed any age with a simple business they need a quick guide to whys and wherefores of.