You have an idea, and you are starting a business, great! A word of caution: You must look into the pros and cons and protect your business against unplanned failure. Remember, the first three years of business is very important and a decider phase – whether you are going to stay in the business or it will be another disappointment.
And just think, whether you’re a small group of experts initiating a business, or an individual with passion for a particular trade, or a mom trying to re-invent your professional front, you’ll certainly want to avoid the pitfalls that others or just beginners have experienced.
If you know the mistakes and different ways to avoid it as much as you can, then you can be on the safer side and you probably increase your chances to be successful. With that in mind, I’ve listed few mistakes you could avoid while starting a business:
- We don’t have time to plan instead we are simply in a rush to start or to begin. But it is so true that ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. So it’s always good to plan – be it a goal, marketing plan, business plan etc. The planning phase needs a long time and it’s quite a tedious job. But it will benefit you in the long run, simply worth your efforts. Be ready to be flexible enough so that if something doesn’t fit into your business plan, you must change it!
- Think about your specialty, your distinctive talent – say if you are getting in the business of interior decoration, it is too general to define yourself as interior designer, but if you are a health care interior expert or a kitchen interior designer, the impact is huge. If you stand out of the crowd, you are having higher chances to increase your revenue, right from the beginning.
- You’re in charge; value the commitments – When you’ve decided to get into business for financial freedom, flexibility of time or anything like that. But you can’t sit back and relax to get the leads and clients. You have to take it seriously; you have to be attentive to get the attention itself. Define your priorities, be clear on deadlines and never compromise with the quality of your work.
- Under-pricing – One of the most common mistakes a new business person does is he/she quotes a very low price for the job. Even when you’re just starting out, you must try to show the proficiency and maintain the level of the work. You must charge enough to be taken serious, but not too much to shock your prospects. Observe what others are charging, how mush risk is involved, what is the end result, their capability to afford your service, their convenience and so on. After going through every angle, think of the best price you can quote for your goods/services.
- Overlooking the legal issues – There are certain legal issues involved in every business. Gather adequate data regarding that and make it a point to follow them or else you could be in trouble.
- Overspending – you’ve just started… proper budgeting is essential. Spend wisely, think about it – do you really need to pay $5000 for a corporate website, how much to pay for other business expenditures like stationeries – business cards, envelopes, letter head, technology, computers, etc. Be careful about where and how much to spend.
- Stop your marketing – Its equivalent to a sin for any business. Even if you have enough leads or clients, it’s never enough for a growing business, don’t let your business die, but with every day you must aim to grow, increase and boost your business…continue marketing and see the results.
The mantra with starting a business is to stay motivated and updating your knowledge. You must be aware of few common mistakes and how to deal with them.
The key to be successful is to keep going no matter what happens or how long it takes, put your 100% in whatever you do, do it wisely and see the difference!
To your Success!