Home Library Translate
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Social Enterprise

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Risky Business

By Rolfe Larson on April 8, 2010

There’s just no way to avoid it. You might fail with your social enterprise.  Lose your shirt.  Wish you’d never started it. There’s no safety net for social enterprise, and there never will be.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that half of business startups with employees are gone five years later. Social enterprises probably do a bit better than that. So perhaps your odds are a bit better than 50-50. But it’s still risky business.

Yet all is not lost. There are things you can do to reduce risk. Write a business plan.  Need help?  Review the Free Management Library and blog on business planning.  (Full disclosure: I’m the author.)  The blog is currently running a series about feasibility testing, a central part of good business planning.  That means lower risk.

Also, don’t forget the “enterprise” part of social enterprise. Many nascent social enterprisers behave as if awareness of their social impact will translate into sales and profitability.  While in certain circumstances people will purchase, and even pay extra, for something that creates a desirable social impact (think Girl Scout cookies), most of the time they won’t.  Or if they will, it’s only if the product meets or exceeds their expectations. Fair trade coffee sells if it tastes great, but if it doesn’t, no matter how much the other stuff exploits indigenous Latin American farmers, it sits on the shelf. That particular social premium ends at their taste buds.

Finally, failing isn’t as bad as it’s cracked out to be. Most successful entrepreneurs hit their stride after failing a few times. But each time they learned important lessons.  So my final tip for this risky business is to decide that you’re OK with failure. Stuff happens.

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet the Blog’s Host

Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing and implementation strategies. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Tear Down This Wall: What are “True” Social Enterprises?
  • Top 5 Traits of Successful Social Enterprises
  • Do Competitions Help or Hinder Social Enterprises?
  • Admission Fees for Small Museums?
  • State of Social Enterprise 2016 (Crowd-sourced!)
  • Data: SEs improve self-sufficiency, stability
  • Does Success Require Profitability?
  • SE and the Privilege Economy
  • “Best” Books on Impact Investing
  • 14 Insightful Social Entrepreneur Ideas

Categories of Posts

  • Basics and Overviews
  • Communications
  • Competitions
  • Earned-Income Generation
  • Financing
  • General Resources
  • Impact Economy
  • impact investing
  • Life cycle financing
  • small museum
  • Social Capital
  • Social enterprise directory
  • social enterprise marketplace
  • Social Purpose
  • Taking your social enterprise to scale
  • Uncategorized
  • Venture Philanthropy

Related Library Topics

  • Advertising
  • Business Planning
  • Capacity Building
  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Service
  • Finances (Nonprofit)
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Organizational Performance
  • Product Development
  • Program Planning
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Starting Nonprofit
  • Strategic Planning
  • E-Commerce

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development
About Feedback Legal Privacy Policy Contact Us
Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC ®; All rights reserved.
  • Graphics by Wylde Hare LLC
  • Website maintained by Caitlin Cahill

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.X