These are the top ten mistakes that entrepreneurs make, compiled in one list to offer you some assistance with avoiding however many as could reasonably be expected. While mistakes are unavoidable, you can make use of the lessons learned by others to keep them from bringing you down. Entrepreneurs still makes the same rookie mistakes again and again. Here are the top ten rookie business mistakes made by entrepreneurs.
10. Multiply big numbers by 1%.
Entrepreneurs love to take an enormous potential market, (for example, the Internet-security market), calculate that even a 1% market share will be huge and simple to accomplish, and afterward envision the incomes they’ll achieve.
9. Blindly following advice
Another basic business mistake that new entrepreneurs make is indiscriminately following advice (whether it’s professional or from a companion who maintains a business in another field).
While you ought to dependably get professional advice, it’s critical to be objective about it and put the counsel in context of your business. Because you heard it from an expert, doesn’t mean you should follow each and every single word of it. Attempt to get different conclusions and do your best to settle on an educated choice.
8. Falling in love with your product
When you make a product, you clearly have an inclination towards it. You’ll most likely believe it’s the best in the market.
While that is most likely extraordinary for your inner self, it’s imperative to not dismiss all the chances you have to improve the product. At the same point, it’s critical that you don’t fall in the trap of perfection. Discovering a solid balance between knowing when perfection is not required and positive attitude do can go long way in your business journey.
7. Underestimating or ignoring the competition
While there is a considerable amount of advice floating around about not being fixated on your competition, which I agree with to a decent degree, but you should not completely disregard the competition either.
Every business has competition, and not just from other businesses – sometimes, the hardest competitor is you. On the off chance that you don’t know why your business is better than your rivals’, or even if you’re simply not passing on that message appropriately to your clients, then you are going to lose the war.
6. Not setting the right goals
A typical business mistake that I find in even people who’ve had businesses for a long time is not setting the right objectives.
First step is to have two sets of objectives – short and long term.
The second and more important step is to make sure that your short term goals lead up to your long term goal(s). When you get the second part wrong, you invest more time thinking and less time doing.
5. No marketing budget
Marketing is always a low priority on most entrepreneurs’ list. You must have a budget for marketing, especially when you’re new to the business. I think the reason why new entrepreneurs don’t set up marketing budgets is because they don’t see the value, or they’re unable to justify their (ROI) return on investments.
4. Taking a low salary
A regular business mistake that new entrepreneurs make is getting their salary wrong!
Regularly we tend to pay ourselves low in light of the fact that we trust that it will give us more capital for development. The drawback of that is when you pay yourself low; you are not valuing your work as business expense. Therefore, running a profitable business means nothing if you’re not paying yourself. You have to get into the habit of paying someone so that when you start hiring then you’ll understand the process better.
3. Doing everything yourself
This is a typical business mistake that many struggle with (both new and serial entrepreneurs). The sooner you start delegating the workload, the better it will be for your business and emotional wellness.
While it’s enticing to plan your own logo, do your own accounting, run your own finances, it’s usually a terrible idea. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you’re great at it. And even if you were the best at it, you need to figure out if that is the best way of your time. Entrepreneurs wear many hats, and sometimes choosing the wrong one can cause your business to fail.
2. Choosing the wrong business partner
Picking the wrong business partner is most likely one of the most exceedingly awful business mistakes you can make.
Having a great business partners is the stepping stone of running a successful startup. The most vital tip we can give you is to let the legal advisors carry out their jobs. Much the same as you don’t perform your own open-heart surgery, you shouldn’t make your own partnership agreement. It’s an important business step and you have to do it the right way.
1. Overspending on flashy things
Overspending is an exceptionally regular business mistake that a great deal of entrepreneurs make. As far as I can tell, it pays to be conservative in your spending until your business has a consistent positive track record.
A few regular things that I see new business people go insane on – business travel costs from hotels to dinners to drinks. You can undoubtedly diminish these costs. Same goes for fancy equipment, software, web hosting, office space, and the list goes on.
You should always be careful taking on debt – as a new entrepreneur you may feel the urge to sign an individual guarantee on loans and advances you get from the banks or investors. I am completely against it. Don’t take on personal loans in the name of business. If you have to, bootstrapping and crowdsourcing are great ways to launch. And the last thing you should probably never do is taking on credit card debts to launch an idea. It’s business suicide – don’t do it!
