It is often said that 8 out of 10 companies fail within the first two years of launch. Here at The DEC, our goal is to flip that number around so that 8 out of 10 companies actually succeed. But why 2 years? What is so special about 2 years that most companies cannot reach that hurdle? My belief is that if you are a self-funded venture or a first-time entrepreneur you can usually make cash last about that long. And in other cases you have about 2 years of mistakes you can make before it does your business in. In either case, it is important to realize that we must surround ourselves with mentors, advisors, honest friends and experienced people that can help us remove obstacles that stand in our way of not only starting a business, but actually making it past that two year mark. It is those mentors/advisors that can help empower entrepreneurs to grow their business. My belief is that most businesses don’t fail because their founders had a bad idea, but rather those founders “don’t know what they don’t know”. When you surround yourselves with people that have been through the fire before and can tell you from personal experience what mistakes to avoid you can really focus on growing your company and making it successful rather than simply "trying to not fail".
One company that I have enjoyed watching in our DFW community just recently passed that 2 year mark, InspireMore. Created by Robert Neely just two years ago, InspireMore launched with main goal: inspire people. In an age of bad news and depressing social comparison there needed to be a place where people could come and be inspired to “be the change they want to see in the world”. InspireMore empowers its users to make a global impact simply by sharing inspiring content. And in addition to providing exceptionally inspiring content they also raise money for charities all over the world. Built primarily around on online advertising revenue model, InspireMore IS profitable and had its biggest month of revenue in March reaching nearly 10 million people each week. And on top of all of this they are looking to hire two more positions. How is that for growth?!
Here are some of the most popular content (videos and articles) that you can find on InspireMore’s site. www.inspiremore.com