6 Business Mistakes Everyone Makes (But No One Likes To Talk about)

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Everybody wants to succeed in business but many people make mistakes, especially when they’re just starting out. Sharing these mistakes helps others avoid them in the future, but few business people are courageous enough to talk about them.

Building a startup is not easy. Errors are bound to occur, such as failing to lay a concrete foundation or practicing poor marketing strategies. Entrepreneurs often plunge in without carrying out a sufficient feasibility study. One of the most common mistakes is lacking a blueprint of their business ideas.

Agreeing that mistakes are likely to happen in the journey towards prosperity is one thing, but business people must be willing to learn from their mistakes. Only then do they gain experience that will help them in their future endeavors.

Below are six mistakes every business person can identify with.

1. Hiring an unsuitable team

Many entrepreneurs are eager to start a business. They’ll do everything they can to get it up and running. Some will hire employees without evaluating them properly.

There are risks involved in hiring staff too quickly. You may end up with a team that is not passionate enough to develop the startup, and nurture it to stability. This can result in loss of revenue, which in turn discourages you as an entrepreneur.

To avoid such disappointments, it is important to carefully choose a team of zealous individuals with different skills. People who can collaborate, and devise better strategies to ensure the business thrives. Hiring friends can do more harm than good. Entrepreneurs should look for employees of diverse character, experience, and qualifications. Such individuals are able to bring together their reasoning and experience to steer the company in the right direction.

2. Underrating your worth

Transitioning from being an employee to an entrepreneur can be intimidating even to the most determined individuals. Employees work by following instructions. People may not realize that being an employee can take a toll on your confidence, and damage your effectiveness. Being an entrepreneur needs you to be your own boss. You have to plan your day, and issue instructions to your employees. This brings liberty, but adjusting can take some time.

Having a mentor plays a big role in helping you understand your worth. In the absence of a reliable person to consult, you may not know how to put a price tag on your services in relation to your skills. You will have to work extra hard to earn enough for your upkeep, and to make sure the business runs efficiently. Many things can go wrong if you overwork yourself, such as being too tired to deliver quality service, getting stressed, and being unable to meet customer expectations. But this does not have to be the case. Entrepreneurs can seek guidance from qualified freelance coaches online.

What do they stand to gain?

An entrepreneurship coach has many years of experience in the business industry.They are able to offer guidance, and help you realize just how valuable their skills are. A good mentor helps you gain self-confidence, garner experience, and work towards gaining more skills in the business industry. These characteristics are enough to make their price tag worthwhile.

Regardless of how qualified entrepreneurs are, they should be careful not to overprice their services as this can turn customers off. The quality of service an entrepreneur delivers will determine the kind of relationship they have with their customers. Customers make or break a new business. Delivering top quality service will help any entrepreneur retain and earn more customers.

3. Lacking knowledge about technology

No business person can afford to stay ignorant about technology these days. Individuals, startups, and big corporate companies use social media to build their brand. Anyone who does not understand how this works does not realize how much they are losing. Being tech savvy allows entrepreneurs to surf the internet and research how to improve their business. There are many things technology can do to uplift a business.

Think about how many companies are taking advantage of content marketing to promote their brand. Technology has revolutionized the way we interact. People do not have to leave their desks to access your services anymore. With a simple click on an application, they can access, place an order, and have their orders delivered to their doorstep.

The popularity of smartphones makes online transactions easier and more convenient. If you are tech savvy, you will come up with concrete methods of spreading your brand to make sure it reaches a wide coverage. You can give your business a great start by hiring technologically qualified people to steer this process, and ensure you grow beyond your competitors.

4. Being too busy to take care of yourself

In the quest to be the best service provider in the market, many people forget to take care of themselves. Everyone wants to make a name for themselves in the industry and this demands a lot of work, but if they are not careful, they may suffer from fatigue due to poor eating habits and sleep deprivation.

This can cause sickness and inability to perform. To succeed, you need to set aside time to take care of yourself. Only then can you rejuvenate enough to carry on with utmost efficiency. Try to take proper breaks over the weekend, and avoid bringing work home as this takes a toll on your sleep schedule.

5. Not knowing how to say no

Entrepreneurs are, understandably, eager for customers to be satisfied. To facilitate this, they often fail to have a stipulated time for answering calls and replying to mail. They end up being overly responsive. This comes with various consequences. Customers get used to quick replies, to the degree that anything less is seen as failure. This takes a toll on the business, because it’s impossible to be constantly available at any time.

As a business grows, it’s important to have set regulations. Customers should know when you are available to meet their demands. Give different options they can use to reach you without fail. This ensures you and the customer work collaboratively.

6. Being too submissive

Having a strong desire to succeed can force an entrepreneur to agree to every request, be it an event or a job. Many people take advantage of this to ask for free samples, especially from startup businesses. This can lead to losses, time, and wasting value. You should learn how to define your goals, and stick to your operations. Before agreeing to any customer requests, make sure they conform to your set goals and targets.

Finally

Many people try and wait for the perfect time to launch their businesses. What they do not seem to understand is they are in the perfect moment to enter the business world. When you have an idea you should execute it immediately, because procrastinating waters it down. Remember that content marketing goes a long way in promoting your brand.

Have you made mistakes in business? Do you have any suggestions to share with us and other readers? Leave us a comment below.

 

Upplagt 28 november, 2017

NickGolding

Entrepreneur & Creator

Nick is the Entrepreneur Correspondent for Freelancer.com. He is based in Sydney, NYC, & London. His life consists of frequent flyer points.

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