Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, and Business and Entrepreneurship. When starting a new business, particularly if you’re a novice in terms of the whole process, some mistakes may be made early on by nature. If possible, it would advantageous to avoid those mistakes you can see them coming. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Common Mistakes Many Entrepreneurs Make When Starting Up.
* * *
Starting a small business isn’t always easy. In fact, it very rarely is. There are just so many decisions to make, things to think about, and things to do, and all of this results in pressure that can cause a lapse in judgment. Mistakes in business are opportunities to learn, but risky ones at that. While some errors are simple to resolve, other could ruin your company before it really begins. To stay safe, here are some common entrepreneurial mistakes that you should avoid.
1. Skipping The Planning Phase
Once you’ve decided to launch your own startup, the idea of researching and planning can seem incredibly boring and tedious. Despite this, it’s an essential first step toward business success. Without a rough plan, you’ll be operating in the dark, which will like result in many more mistakes later down the line. Make sure you consider every area of your company and set realistic targets.
2. Insisting On Working Alone
A common misconception about entrepreneurship is that every business owner does everything on their own. Thankfully, this is far from realistic. Even attempting to work completely by yourself will lead to stress, wasted time, and exhaustion, all of which will leave you of no use to your company. Instead, you should learn to delegate effectively and focus on the most important work.
3. Pricing Products Too Low
Being a new business doesn’t mean that your product is less valuable than others on the market. In fact, if you’ve played your cards right, yours should actually be worth much more. With that in mind, you should make sure that you price your products fairly, instead of giving them a massive discount As long as your product lives up to the cost, there’s no point in going cheaper.
4. Assuming You Know Everything
No one ever knows everything about business, especially first-time entrepreneurs. With that in mind, you may want to find yourself a mentor or consultant to offer their wisdom and advice. Ideally, you should opt for someone with experience in a number of successful startups, like Jos Opdeweegh. You should also keep up with business news by reading blogs and newspapers.
5. Providing Poor Customer Service
Your product may be the best on the market, but, if you or your employees treat your customers poorly, they’re going to stop buying from you. This can ruin large and established businesses, so you can guarantee that your small company would see some damage. To prevent this, you should constantly aim to improve customer service, by asking for feedback and suggestions.
6. Neglecting Your Marketing Strategy
Unless people actually know who you are, they can’t buy from you, and your business will be over before it’s even begun. For this reason, you need to dedicate some time and money coming up with a killer marketing strategy. This should start to target potential customers before your startup even launches, ensuring you have customers on your very first day.
Mistakes are made every day in business, but, to keep your new startup safe and successful, should try to avoid those listed above.
