It’s a common tale that 9 out of 10 businesses fail. (this number is often repeated at a similarly high ratio, such as 8/10 or 7/10)

The Growthink Blog tackles this myth in The “Flywheel” Value of a Business:

Entrepreneurs and managers of startup companies and small businesses often undervalue the “root” value of their enterprises. Similar to how a car, which, if it simply runs (no matter how poor its condition), has a baseline value, so does a business.

At Growthink, we like to call this a business’ “flywheel” value. By this we refer to the value of a business that comes simply from the core aspects of its existence - the assembly of a team of people committed to a common cause, an ability to process business from customers/clients (incorporation, a business bank account, etc.), a brand/history in the marketplace, and the learning/information/intelligence advantages that are accrued by the business’ principals via the expertise gained from repetitively grappling with and meeting client product and service expectations.

The real gold:

This “flywheel” value is borne out by statistics that, contrary to public perception, show that most businesses - once started - do NOT go out of business at the very high rates usually assumed. A survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business’ Education Foundation outproves this. While the “common wisdom” is that 9 out of 10 small businesses fail within the first 3 years, the NFIB estimates that over the lifetime of a business, 39% are profitable, 30% break even (providing a living for the principals), and 30% lose money, with 1% falling in the “unable to determine” category.

I’m not disclaiming that by some metric, 8/10 or 9/10 businesses might fail. These might include side businesses that never get off the ground. Ever had a friend pitch you for an MLM scheme or done some side freelancing that only lasted a month or two? By some measurements, these tiny “microbusinesses” could be considered failures. (not that one can’t also make a lot of money doing consulting, or network marketing, for that matter)