Tag: Mistakes

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key areas of focus are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When starting any new business venture, some mistakes will be invariably be made, but it’s important to know what mistakes not to make. This contributed post is thus entitled, Don’t Make These 5 Big Business Mistakes When Starting Out.

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Many business owners make mistakes when just starting out. This is ok; learning from mistakes and making changes that way is absolutely key, so mistakes shouldn’t be looked at as a reason not to begin in the first place. If you’re afraid of making mistakes, you’ll never get anything done!

However, just because mistakes can be looked at in a positive light, doesn’t mean you should make the same mistakes that many new entrepreneurs have made time and time again. Avoiding obvious mistakes can save you a lot of time and money. Below we have 5 big business mistakes you should avoid when you’re just starting out. Take a look:

1. Skipping The Planning Stages
Why would you skip the planning stages of your business when they are the stages that can make all the difference to your business later on down the line? Planning your business in detail with a business plan (you can use a template to make it easier if you’re not sure how to begin) will keep you focused later on down the line and give you something to refer back to if you need it.

A business plan can help you to look at things objectively when you encounter problems, as well as secure financing. Do not skip these stages if you want to make a success of your business!

2. Not Setting Goals
Setting both long and short term goals for your business is imperative if you want to make sure you achieve what you set out to achieve. However, you should find out how to set effective goals first. They should be measurable and actionable, so you can accurately assess whether you have met your goals and break them down into baby steps. Goal setting is a very important step in every entrepreneurs journey.

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3. Undervaluing Your Products and Services
It’s normal to want to get more customers and interest when you’re just starting out, but undervaluing your products and services is not the way to do this. You need to make sure you’ve thoroughly researched your competition so that you can price your products and services fairly. You don’t want to be known as a cheap or budget business if you offer high quality products and services. It can actually go against you, even if you think it’s a good idea at the time.

4. Not Thinking About Things In The Legal Sense
You’ll need to think about all of the legal implications of your business, such as insurance, contracts, and anything else that could trip you up later on down the line. You can read this webpage to learn more about contract draughting and get a feel for why it is important. You want to make sure that you, your business, your customers, and your team are all protected adequately.

5. Failing to Research Your Ideal Customer
Researching your ideal customer will help you to create better marketing campaigns as you can target people right down to their age, profession, relationship status, and more. Who are you servicing with your business?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.