Business success can be yours if you avoid these critical mistakes

So, you have decided to start your own business. What are your motivations for doing it? Maybe you have an innovative product or service that you think could be the “next big thing” to take the world market by storm. Or maybe you’re so tired of being an employee: you hate your boss, you can’t stand your colleagues, you don’t believe in your company’s goals, you think it’s time to jump into the business world. Or maybe you’ve been laid off and feel that not being able to find a job in this economy is forcing you to start a business.

Whatever your motivation, you are now working for yourself. However, starting a business is the easy part. In the United States, the Small Business Administration states that approximately 627,200 businesses were formed, while 595,600 businesses closed during the same period. Pretty grim statistics, you might think. The question is: what can you do to ensure that your business is among those that survive and thrive?

Here are the 5 most common mistakes entrepreneurs make and what you can do to avoid them.

1. Hoping for quick success

It is easy to be drawn to the idea that we should be successful if we have invested some time, money and energy in a business. For example, placing an ad for a workshop and expecting a lot of people to sign up. Or invest all your savings in building the business and think that you deserve some clients as a result. When quick success is not achieved, self-doubt arises, causing you to lose faith and patience in your business.

When asked what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, Norm Brodsky, a veteran entrepreneur who has started and sold several multi-million dollar businesses, replied, “The most important quality is resilience.” He was referring to the ability to recover from failure, to reverse a bad situation, and to profit from mistakes.

This mistake can be avoided by taking a 360-degree look at the steps required to grow your business, implementing a well-researched plan, and having enough financial reserves to last at least 18 months when starting a new business.

2. Not applying sales and marketing fundamentals

Do you have a negative reaction to the word “sales”? Many entrepreneurs fear sales and marketing because of old mental images of “snake oil peddlers,” people who can convince others to buy things they don’t need. Entrepreneurs do not want to be perceived as manipulative salesmen and willing to rip people off.

While this is a common perception of sales, the truth is that nothing happens until a sale is made. As such, the first fundamental is to have a healthy mindset about sales and marketing.

Other sales and marketing fundamentals like having a target market, knowing who your ideal customer is, having a sales process, the 80/20 rule [that 20% of your marketing activities will generate 80% of revenue]The process of 7 or more touches that prospects go through before becoming a customer, the need to have a marketing plan, the need to invest at least 10% of revenue in ongoing marketing, may seem mundane. The truth They are applied in businesses that succeed, and are absent or sporadically in those that fail.

Some successful entrepreneurs may even go so far as to say that a business owner’s core business is marketing, not the product or service they offer. While you may not agree with this point of view, the point is: constantly exploring new marketing methods, testing them, repeating what works, and discarding what doesn’t, will ensure the survival of your business.

This mistake can be eliminated by attending any variety of Sales and Marketing 101-type seminars, really weaving the fundamentals into your business, and continually testing marketing methods. And as always, the strategies you’ll learn only work if you work at them.

3. Not knowing or owning why you are in business

Because the barriers to entry in most businesses are low, many people start a business without really connecting with why they want to be in business in the first place. Maybe they want to get rich quick, or have downsized, or had a life transition. [e.g. from being a professional to a stay-at-home-mom]or they have the mom and pop corner store mentality (if mom and dad could succeed then so can I).

Seduced by the lifestyle possibilities of the new business, some business owners may fail to see if the business is truly aligned with their passion and values. Prospects will notice a lack of passion or authenticity in what you do even if you don’t articulate it. Also, in the highly sophisticated and ever-changing world we live in today, it takes true passion in your products and services to sustain you and your business through the ebbs and flows of business cycles.

This mistake can be mitigated by clarifying what your passion is: what do you really want to do with your business? What are your values ​​around how you will conduct business with the world? Learn how and why your business started and accept the reasons. If possible, pass them on to your customers.

4. Not dominating the mental and emotional game

If running a successful business was as easy as knowing what to do and doing it, why aren’t there more successful business owners? Usually, it’s because we haven’t mastered the inner game of winning in business.

To win, you need to be aware of the types of behavior that are self-sabotaging, deal with them, and stick with your vision to the finish line. At the same time, you must continually nurture yourself by connecting with your belief in the success of your business and truly owning the positive difference your business is making in the world.

An example of self-sabotage is the inability or refusal to learn from mistakes. It is the tendency to repeat self-destructive behavior patterns even though you repeatedly end up getting hit on the head. For example, one entrepreneur I worked with nearly closed his business because, like the previous business he started, he didn’t embrace sales and marketing, letting sales slow down until it was too much. late.

This mistake can be eradicated by having a good business mentor or coach and asking them to help you discover your blind spots and develop an unstoppable mindset. “You can’t see what you can’t see” is why sports legends like Lance Armstrong and Michael Jordan work with their coaches. After all, you’re taking on the challenging but rewarding game of business, and you deserve all the support you can get.

5. Go solo

The entrepreneurship journey is not for the faint-hearted. There are many roles to play (salesperson, marketer, manager, bookkeeper), and these roles involve risk-taking and an enormous amount of energy and time.

While the business owner has to wear several hats, the trend is to do everything yourself. Before you know it, you don’t have enough time to socialize or spend time with your family, and you become increasingly isolated. Your business becomes your life. You are tired. And you get tired of your business.

What’s worse, many entrepreneurs don’t accept the help they can get because they think no one else knows their business better than they do. After all, they started their business in the first place so they could do things their own way! They have allowed their ego to get in the way.

This mistake can be remedied by outsourcing certain functions like accounting or website development. You can break out of isolation by joining think tanks for entrepreneurs, where you can brainstorm and solicit feedback and support. You can also create your own Advisory Board, where you can invite established professionals or business owners to advise you.