There are many common mistakes that most Entrepreneurs make as they start their businesses.
As mentioned in the previous post, lacking a plan, spending too much money in the beginning, not understanding your potential clients/customers, thinking you can do it alone and expecting fast Success for no effort are some of the common beginner mistakes in entrepreneurship.
In this post, we make an addition of other 5 Common Beginner Mistakes You Should Avoid as an Entrepreneur to set a successful pace for your business even as a beginner in entrepreneurship.
-
Hiring too soon
One of the biggest mistakes a startup business can make is hiring employees too soon. We mentioned that building a great team for your business is very crucial. However, that should not be mistaken for hiring employees very early in the business.
Avoid hiring full-time employees when just having part-timers makes more sense and is less costly.
Why hire an employee when a subcontractor could have done the same job function?
It is easier and budget-friendly to run a startup with part-timers and subcontractors than having a whole team of full-time professional employees.
Hiring too soon could put your business at risk of potential cash flow problems. Put this in mind if you are still not getting enough returns for the business to take care of itself and pay professional full-time employees.
Running low on cash is one of the top reasons startup businesses fail. You cannot run a business without cash flow.
-
Underpricing Your Product/Services
Most Entrepreneurs tend to underprice their products and services in the beginning of their business so that they can get their first customers or even due to lack of knowledge. However, underpricing or undervaluing your products or services can affect your business growth.
Underpricing occurs when your products/services are priced below market value.
When your prices are priced below market value, you are not going to make sufficient profit. Business growth is driven by profits. When you are not making profits, your business will slowly start to fail even when you have many customers on board.
You might be missing pricing information of others in your industry and this can make you underprice your products. You can review what competing businesses in your area charge. With this, you will be aware of the price range your products or services should be in.
You can also calculate your desired profit margins and then price your products or services accordingly. You can do this by using your industry’s benchmarks for profit margin and also your own sales and financial projections.
Most startup business owners miscalculate the actual costs incurred in the delivery of their product or service and this can lead to underpricing.
When you cannot articulate or understand the value of what you are selling or the value of the services you are providing, you will definitely underprice them.
-
Lack of passion for your business
In life, it is difficult to be committed to something you are not passionate about and so does in business.
When you are not passionate about what you do in your business, it will not grow. That’s why entrepreneurs are advised to sell products and services they are passionate about and they love.
This is influenced highly by the reason you want to start the business in the first place. When you start a business with the main reason being to make a lot of money, research shows that your business is likely going to fail if you do not get money fast enough.
When you have passion and love for what you will be doing and strongly believe that your product or service would fulfill a real need in the marketplace, your business is likely going to succeed.
For a business to succeed, as mentioned earlier, it needs hard work, drive, determination, commitment, sacrifices, patience and a positive attitude.
When you are passionate about what you are doing in your business, you will easily do the above for your business to succeed.
When others throw in the towel, you are more determined than ever because you are passionate about your business.
-
Confusing busyness and productivity
In business, busyness is not productivity. You can be busy but not productive. You can be in your business all day, every day, every week but with little success and little growth to show for it.
Generally, productivity is measured by the accomplishment of goals.
In business, busy entrepreneurs work hard but productive entrepreneurs work hard and smart to accomplish their business goals and objectives.
A productive entrepreneur will make sure that their everyday business activities lead to a specific goal or objective being met.
They don’t just sell, they sell to accomplish a target or a goal they have put in place. It can be increasing sales or improving customer service.
They don’t just market, they market their businesses with a specific goal in mind and follow up and make sure that goal is met within the specified time.
Busy entrepreneurs can spend days with nothing tangible to show for their time and effort. On the other hand, productive entrepreneurs get things done and have results to show for their input and efforts within a specific time.
Being an entrepreneur can be a real juggling act. Keeping your head going into everything can make you busy but you will not be productive.
As an entrepreneur, you have to constantly try to improve your productivity. Prioritize your tasks, avoid multitasking and focus on the job at hand. Cut out unnecessary distractions throughout the day, make a list of things to get done as it’s hard to overlook something written down in front of you. Delegate menial tasks taking up your time and also make time to unplug to avoid a mental burnout, your business will thank you.
If you don’t, it’s only a matter of time before all those balls come crashing down.
-
Not starting today
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur waiting to start your own small business or side hustle, quit waiting and start today.
Some keep waiting for the right time to come. There is never a ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ time to start a business. Have a business idea, make a business plan to give your business a roadmap, get starting capital and take care of other issues to help you launch your business such as a business permit, among others.
Many people have great business ideas that would change the lives of many people and theirs too but have stopped themselves because they are afraid. Afraid they would fail or their business would not pick well, afraid of making mistakes and worries of not having the time and the energy to run a business.
Do not let fear take over your thoughts and dreams of starting a business to an extent of stopping you from starting.
Entrepreneurship is not a walk in the park. It has its own challenges which shouldn’t stop you. Some mistakes while starting a business are avoidable. On the other hand, there are mistakes you are likely afraid of making and sometimes unavoidable. These mistakes are the ones that will make you a better entrepreneur. You make them and learn from them. Avoid these avoidable mistakes and start your entrepreneurship journey on a different slate.
