Someone said, to err is human, and behind every business, there are human brains operating, so mistakes are unavoidable. Knowingly or unknowingly most of us commit a few mistakes which can prove to be fatal for the life of a business. But, saying that, unfortunately, you cannot completely eliminate your mistakes from a business (but blunders are certainly avoidable!).
While you cannot totally eliminate mistakes, to be specific, I don’t want you to, or else how would you learn? But there are some mistakes, once done can’t be mended – so for all the budding entrepreneurs here’s a list of a few mistakes you must avoid making at all costs:
According to recent research, more than 35% of entrepreneurs work for more than 40 hours per week. Entrepreneurs nowadays are confusing success with hard work. I don’t exactly deny that. Yes, it is extremely important to establish strong work ethics, but there is a thin line of difference working and over-working yourself. Overworking is not healthy, especially if you are looking for long-term success for your business. Before reaching your desired goals, you would be exhausted. In the worst-case scenario, you can also be a victim of chronic stress, depression, anger, and anxiety. In fact, you would spoil your work-life balance. So, what’s the whole point of SO MUCH work that it destroys you (ultimately destroying your business!).
It is important to be an optimist, but there’s a difference between optimism and overconfidence. I know it’s harsh, but there are more chances than not that your product would not be successful in such a saturated market. Don’t just go around boasting about your product unless you are ‘extraordinarily’ confident about it. A classic example of the same is, the Titanic, and the rest is history. I didn’t mean to put your morale down. You need to put your maximum effort every time, who knows what that one shot has in store for you.
If even in this era of outsourcing, you are not focusing on your core activity and are busy doing all things on your own, you will not only lose money but time, energy and other resources. A business has to do plenty of activities but that does not imply that you have to do each of those things single-handedly. The reason why I strongly recommend you to direct your entire energy into your core activity and outsourcing other aspects of the business. Of course, you can always take a meek look here and there whenever needed. Customer acquisition is one of the most imperative areas for every business, and customer acquisition companies like Ramped.io who are experts in this field can prove to be an extraordinary asset for the organizations.
The aim of a business is not only to achieve its short-term goals but to achieve the long-term goals it has set for itself. And to do so, your financial health must be spot-on! Finance is said to be the blood for every business, the reason why you can’t survive without it! So, now when you know, plan each and every expense wisely and keep a thorough check on your financial statements. If anytime you feel you are losing track of your finances, mind you, it's going to come back to bite you.
Yes, growth is a primary goal of every business but if you move too fast, the chances to stumble are a lot higher than the ones moving at a stable pace. Trust me; it is initially better to do one thing at a time, than juggling with n number of things at once. You certainly don’t want yourself to be trapped into many things and end up with nothing in your hand. It would be a huge wastage of resources like money, time and effort. So, instead, first, nail the one thing you are doing, and take one step after another. It is way better to be great at one thing than being average in many.
Before I conclude, remember I said right in the beginning, mistakes cannot be completely avoided, but can always be minimized. So, entrepreneurs, make mistakes, learn from them and get back up with all your might! (Just try and avoid these aforementioned blunders! :P)
Rudds James is an online marketplace analyst, startup planner as well as a writer. He's published on several topics composed of articles technology and advertising