Most entrepreneurs who start a business will fail. The statistics vary but as many as 80% of people who start a business today will no longer have their company in 5 years. That is a pretty big failure rate.

According to the Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick:

“I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters, while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas. I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon’s advice to take sales of £300 a week. Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.”

What many new business owners fail to recognize is that entrepreneurship is first about survival, then about building a company. I have seen too many entrepreneurs to count who have grand visions of where they want to go but never even get to first base. They close down shop before they can execute any of their big plans because they run out of money.

If you cannot make enough to pay your basic bills then you will not be around in the long run to fulfill your dream. It takes a lot longer to get a company off the ground that most people think and in the beginning it is all about survival – do whatever you need to do to keep yourself, and your company, going.

This will mean sacrifices. Maybe you have to take a part time job until you have enough money to support yourself. You also might need to take on clients who might not seem “ideal” at first. You can always fire them later on when you have a more solid base of support but money is money and you will need anything you can get your hands on when you are first starting a business.

Think big, keep the grand vision – but act small. Make sure you have enough in the bank so you can survive the rough early days and see your company vision through.

What have you done to keep your company going to make sure you are still around to see the next day?

Evan Carmichael