No one is immune to making mistakes. It happens to the best of us--a business owner, a parent, a college student, an entrepreneur--it happens to all of us at one time or another.
As entrepreneurs and business owners, it's impossible to avoid all the potential business-killing mistakes until it's too late. Today's business cycles have been changed forever by recent economic conditions and you simply can't afford to repeat the mistakes of the past.
With the first quarter of a new year fast approaching, you are already a step behind your competition if you haven't planned out most of 2020.
Businesses are dropping like flies. But it won't happen to you if you know how to avoid these 7 deadly business mistakes. So what are some of these mistakes? And how can you sidestep them on your way to success?
As entrepreneurs and business owners, it's impossible to avoid all the potential business-killing mistakes until it's too late. Today's business cycles have been changed forever by recent economic conditions and you simply can't afford to repeat the mistakes of the past.
With the first quarter of a new year fast approaching, you are already a step behind your competition if you haven't planned out most of 2020.
Businesses are dropping like flies. But it won't happen to you if you know how to avoid these 7 deadly business mistakes. So what are some of these mistakes? And how can you sidestep them on your way to success?
1. "My customers will be loyal to me." By all means provide better service than your competitors, but don't count on that to save you, you should also offer the lowest prices around and keep your costs even lower.
2. "If I offer people what they need, they'll buy it." Amazingly, people don't always buy what they need, even if they know they need it, even when they tell you they need it.
3. "I really don't have to market, because if I do a good job, the word will get around." While your reputation is certainly important, it doesn't get new clients or customers to the room. In any business or profession, you have to get into people's faces and constantly communicate what you do, how you do it and why you are better than the competition, in a way that doesn't turn people off.
4. "My business has no competition." If you think this, it's because you gave the market place a quick look, and saw nobody doing exactly the same thing as you. Not all competitors are obvious to the naked to the eyes, though. Some times your competition isn't a person or company but rather a "thing". Book publishers, for example, compete with not only other book publishers, but with the internet.
5. "I don't have partners or employees, so I must do everything my self." Just because you are legally the sole owner of the business doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. Sooner or later, in any business you learn that there are a handful of things, five or six at the most, that must be done well in other for a business to succeed. They vary from business to business, and sometimes take a while to figure out, but they are there, and you must learn them.
6. "If I make enough and sell enough, and there's money in the checking account, I'm successful." You won't believe how many entrepreneurs who truly believe you can ignore profits if enough people are buying your stuff. Every business owner has to agonize over what his products and services truly cost. It seems sometimes that every day you stumble across a "hidden cost" you didn't know you had.
7. "I can't really afford a lawyer, so am going to do my own contracts." Every business involves some form of legal agreement. They can be as simple as an invoice form or purchase order, or as complex as a 50-page property lease.
5. "I don't have partners or employees, so I must do everything my self." Just because you are legally the sole owner of the business doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. Sooner or later, in any business you learn that there are a handful of things, five or six at the most, that must be done well in other for a business to succeed. They vary from business to business, and sometimes take a while to figure out, but they are there, and you must learn them.
6. "If I make enough and sell enough, and there's money in the checking account, I'm successful." You won't believe how many entrepreneurs who truly believe you can ignore profits if enough people are buying your stuff. Every business owner has to agonize over what his products and services truly cost. It seems sometimes that every day you stumble across a "hidden cost" you didn't know you had.
7. "I can't really afford a lawyer, so am going to do my own contracts." Every business involves some form of legal agreement. They can be as simple as an invoice form or purchase order, or as complex as a 50-page property lease.
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