The entrepreneurial journey is filled with blunders, mistakes, and misfortunes. Regardless of the number of years of schooling, training, and actually operating a business, you are bound to face a wide range of dilemmas.
What is important is that you learn from your mistakes, and change course quickly, based on what you have learned. This will help put you on the path to success.
Business owners tend to fall into the following traps that put their financial and personal lives under unnecessary strain.
6 Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make
So what are the most common mistakes small business owners make? Read on to find out more.
1. Getting Into Business For The Wrong Reasons
It bears repeating that being an entrepreneur is brutally hard work. There will be times when the hardships can get so overwhelming that you question why you chose this path in the first place. You need to begin this journey with a firm resolve, conviction, and purpose as to “why” you want this business to exist.
This “Why” will push you forward when you hit real barriers: financial, competition, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt, just to name a few. Having a very weak reason, such as, “My friend did it, so can I”, will only leave you deflated when troubles arise.
2. Ignoring Your Bank Balance
In the whirlwind of activity that is running your own enterprise, it’s easy to drop the ball on this one. Unfortunately, it tends to happen more to entrepreneurs than they realize. Although the revenues and profits can be rolling in, you can potentially run out of money. Stay vigilant of your bank account at all times.
3. Forgetting To Secure Your Intellectual Property
The business world can be highly competitive and cut-throat. New businesses must be quick to secure their intellectual property. This can include patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
If your competitor files a patent over your business, your business can be responsible for owing fees, or worse, prohibited from selling your own products. This nightmarish situation has happened and no new operation can afford this.
4. Poor Hiring Choices
The team is the backbone of any startup company. One wrong hiring choice and the business can fall like a house of cards. To set up a solid foundation from the start, hire based on skill, intelligence, and perseverance first. Therefore, when a company wants to take off quickly, it can do so from a solid base.
5. Not Honing In On Sales
Very early on, it’s easy to spend a considerable amount of time ‘tinkering” with the specifics of a product such as its design, delivery, and packaging. However, nothing proves the viability of a product faster than getting it out there and selling it.
Not getting sales in fast enough can potentially slow down your operation from ever taking off.
6. Zero Customer Engagement
If your customers are not obsessed with your product, then there is a serious problem. If they are not loving your product, you need to find out why. The only way to do this is to engage with them online through e-mail and social media.
Really listen to what they want, what their pain points are, and how you can address them. Then deliver on their needs. Connecting with your customers on a daily basis is critical.
Starting A New Business Is Not Easy
The possibility of launching an idea and bringing it to fruition is what drives many new entrepreneurs to take part in this world of the unknown.
Thankfully, there are many entrepreneurs who have gone before us and lived to tell their experiences. So much can be learned from their mistakes. Preparing yourself for these potential risks will help you sidestep many of the risks that are inherent in running your own business.