It’s a beautiful dream to become a successful business owner, but the chances that it isn't going to be a smooth one remains there. The journey is with bumps and unexpected detours. Surprisingly, most business owners wouldn't have it any other way. It's a badge of honour to be successful.
As a business entrepreneur here are some mistakes that have made which have noted for others to take note before starting a business. These mistakes have helped me get to where I am today and for you starting a business, taking good advantages of these mistakes, makes the whole process smoother with less trouble.
Running the business is always the top priority. Perhaps the biggest misconception about starting your own business is that you're only focused on chasing your passion. But the truth is you're going to spend most of your time on developing business strategies, marketing, selling, interacting with customers, and doing administrative tasks like bookkeeping, invoicing, and payroll. In short, you're a business owner first and a content creator. You might not realize this until you start your business.
Some common mistakes first-time founders should avoid while in the pursuit for success.
· TAKING THE WRONG ADVICE
Start-up advice are plenty but most of it are wrong. When taking advice, consider the source, and weight your response proportionally. Seek advice from people who are in the business, not just one person but different people so you can weight your choices. At this point I will advise you also have a personal coach with many years of experience and values to guide you. It is very important. No man is an island we all need the assistance of someone.
· HIRING THE WRONG TEAM
First-time entrepreneurs hire the wrong people. Most especially when it comes to hiring the key staffs. Hiring a key staff with too little experience, is shown by the time spent. Two people can work side-by-side at the same company and leave with dramatically different levels of experience depending on their engagement, self-reflection, and pattern recognition. It’s important to sort the pile according to company needs, and not just hire anyone.
· MOVING TOO FAST
It’s very important to reserve capital until the company understands what the customer really wants, so you can have something to fall back on when the company begins to find its purpose. Yes, you might ask why starting a company without knowing its purpose. But trust me it’s a different ball game when you start. A lot of challenges come with it especially financial challenges when it comes to cost of maintain, purchasing, paying of bills and salaries of the business and many more.
Most people will suggest you must go first and go fast, so you can get to the market first, get the best of employees, and full steam ahead while shovelling capital. And sometimes that is right, but I have seen far more companies fail from growing too quickly.
The best advise is to “Take one step at a time and be sure to celebrate the major accomplishments and milestones along the way.”
· FAILURE TO FOLLOW AND WORK WITH THE MARKET ESPECIALLY IGNORING THE MARKET RISK WHEN STARTING A BUSINESS
Ignoring market risk is the biggest reason companies fail. Most founders put too much emphasis on perfecting their technology platforms, which is understandable, given that many founders are passionate technologists and not enough on making sure those platforms deliver real business value.
· IGNORING CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
Founders should be wary of ignoring the feedback of a venture capitalist or a potential customer who has engaged deeply with the firm. Every constructive feedback must be put into consideration and worked on.
· FAILURE TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Your customers don't want to do business with some faceless, nameless organization. They want to know that there's an actual person on the other end. Someone who will respond to their inquiries and understand their pain points.
Engaging with your audience is one of the most important tasks that business owners must work on. Instead of hiding in an office and never interacting with your customers, respond personally to comments left on forums, blog posts, social media channels, review sites, and emails. Speak at industry events and mingle afterward.
In conclusion nobody has a magic formula to a one-time success. But if mistakes like these can be taken and implemented, the chances of achieving that dream of running a successful business for the next few years are there
