How long does it take a business to become established?

[Pearl_20]

There's no fixed number for a business to become successful and business varies from the other, one thing you must consider when starting business is knowing what your customer's want and not comparing yourself to another person's business. Some businesses takes up to 3-5 year's before it stands very well and just like I said it depends on the type of business for those selling food stuffs or food vendors this set of people with a good location can scale up compared to other type of business and business requires consistency and showing up every single time.

Some people will open their business and lock their shop for days before the reopen the customers has moved on to any person for you to know that your business has become established is when your customer's come back even if you close your shop and reopen, they still call you, your prices doesn't fluctuate and you're very consistent with what you do, you can also determine the amount of goods you can sell for a day and how much you can make because you already know the growth of your business and how successful it has become.  Every business has it's time Frame and there's no specific number for a business to become established you just have to give it time and be patient also, some business grows faster than others depending on the type of business you run.

[Somegory]

This topic brings back memories, I use 4 good years to learn a skill and it took me an extra year to start up my own business and it was my biggest regret ever, because after 2 years have passed I started questioning everything.

The business was so bad that after the day is over I will have to walk miles back to my house because I don't make any money, it sometimes takes three weeks before I sell something, it was at that time I decided that the business isn't for me.

The fact is you won't know until you try and this is why some people are advising that when it comes to a brand new business it's better to slowly fund it up, make sure you have some money aside, do not go all in one a business because you can't tell how it will turn out yet.

[Y3shot]

Waiting for 3 to 8 years? I think that is too much for me. I understood what you are saying but I think a business should look promising already before 3 years. Any business that is not profitable for me in 1 or 2 years, I stop doing the business. I still think that 3 years can be good, but 8 years is too much.

For businesses to become established depends on the nature of the business, but it should be under 3 years.

I agree with you that a business being established doesn't mean that, within this time frame, it must have reached the height of being a big business, but at least there should be a sign of growth.

In 2 to 3 years' time, if there is nothing to indicate that the business is growing, then it means the business is not doing well. It is important to check the cause of the business not doing well, and if it is something that can't be corrected, one should consider quitting and venturing into a business that one can handle and progress with.

[iv4n]

Waiting for 3 to 8 years? I think that is too much for me. I understood what you are saying but I think a business should look promising already before 3 years. Any business that is not profitable for me in 1 or 2 years, I stop doing the business. I still think that 3 years can be good, but 8 years is too much.

For businesses to become established depends on the nature of the business, but it should be under 3 years.

3-8 years is too much for everyone... 3-6 months is like a grace period, maybe even a year (as you wrote, it all depends on the nature of the business), where business is taking more than it brings! Costs, marketing, and many other things... but after that initial period, you should know if it's promising or not.
If you are losing capital for 3-8 years and waiting for things to get better, something is terribly wrong. People should know when to cut their losses, it's as important as patience.