{"id":16958,"date":"2019-05-21T11:53:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/?p=16958"},"modified":"2019-06-03T16:37:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T16:37:47","slug":"small-business-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives","title":{"rendered":"6 Small Business Initiatives That Didn\u2019t Go As Planned (With Tips)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a small business owner, you know things don\u2019t always go according to plan. Setbacks are bound to happen. It\u2019s the nature of a growing business that\u2019s reaching for its next goal or milestone.<\/p>\n<p>It can be difficult to make decisions without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/calculated-risks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">knowing your outcome<\/a>. Where should you put your dollars? How do you measure success? How do you prepare for the outcome, good or bad?<\/p>\n<p>We interviewed small business owners (across industries and areas of expertise) to ask about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/business-hurdle-survey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business initiatives<\/a> that went awry. In the below infographic, they share candid responses to what went wrong and what they learned that could help other business owners.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-16959 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG.png\" alt=\"small-business-initiatives-infographic\" width=\"1600\" height=\"13327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG.png 1600w, https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG-36x300.png 36w, https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG-768x6397.png 768w, https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG-123x1024.png 123w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Share this Image On Your Site<\/h3>\n<p><textarea style=\"width: 540px; height: 120px;\">&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;&lt;span data-mce-type=&#8221;bookmark&#8221; style=&#8221;display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;&#8221; class=&#8221;mce_SELRES_start&#8221;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please include attribution to Valpak.com with this graphic.&lt;\/strong&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#8217;https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives&lt;span data-mce-type=&#8221;bookmark&#8221; style=&#8221;display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;&#8221; class=&#8221;mce_SELRES_start&#8221;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;&#8217;&gt;&lt;img src=&#8217;https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB-Initiatives_IG.png&#8217; alt=&#8217;small-business-initiatives&lt;span data-mce-type=&#8221;bookmark&#8221; style=&#8221;display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;&#8221; class=&#8221;mce_SELRES_start&#8221;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;&#8217; 540px border=&#8217;0&#8242; \/&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;<\/textarea><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Realizing that your small business initiative didn\u2019t work out can be tough to swallow. However, pivoting is simply part of the entrepreneurial journey. Once you&#8217;ve decided that a pivot is the right move for your small business, be bold. Focus on what your business does best, be honest with your team and think about your next opportunity. With effort and determination, you might just join the businesses that have pivoted to get to the top.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sources: <a href=\"https:\/\/bench.co\/blog\/tax-tips\/how-to-set-aside-business-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bench<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/resources.careerbuilder.com\/news-research\/prevent-hiring-the-wrong-person\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CareerBuilder<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbusiness.chron.com\/much-gross-revenue-should-payroll-18985.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chron<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/clutch.co\/accounting\/resources\/why-small-businesses-need-budgets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Clutch<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/press-release\/most-small-businesses-operating-without-a-2018-budget-2018-10-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">MarketWatch<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/blogs\/how-set-marketing-budget-fits-your-business-goals-and-provides-high-return-investment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a small business owner, you know things don\u2019t always go according to plan. Setbacks are bound to happen. It\u2019s the nature of a growing business that\u2019s reaching for its next goal or milestone. It can be difficult to make decisions without knowing your outcome. Where should you put your dollars? How do you measure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"siege-2018.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_swt_meta_header_display":false,"_swt_meta_footer_display":false,"_swt_meta_site_title_display":false,"_swt_meta_sticky_header":false,"_swt_meta_transparent_header":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.7 (Yoast SEO v24.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Small Business Initiatives That Didn\u2019t Go As Planned (With Tips)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We interviewed small business owners across industries to ask about business initiatives that went awry. In our infographic, they share candid responses to what went wrong and actionable tips to help other business owners.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Small Business Initiatives That Didn\u2019t Go As Planned (With Tips)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We interviewed small business owners across industries to ask about business initiatives that went awry. In our infographic, they share candid responses to what went wrong and actionable tips to help other business owners.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Valpak Advertising\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ValpakAdvertising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-21T11:53:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-03T16:37:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB_hero.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jessica Leone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@valpak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@valpak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jessica Leone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives\",\"name\":\"6 Small Business Initiatives That Didn\u2019t Go As Planned (With Tips)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/blog\/small-business-initiatives#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMB_hero.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-21T11:53:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-03T16:37:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/#\/schema\/person\/f9e1a807c0d7a66a67c7e7e149cd552c\"},\"description\":\"We interviewed small business owners across industries to ask about business initiatives that went awry. 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Setbacks are bound to happen. It\u2019s the nature of a growing business that\u2019s reaching for its next goal or milestone. It can be difficult to make decisions without knowing your outcome. Where should you put your dollars? How do you measure&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16958"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17330,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16958\/revisions\/17330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpak.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}