Entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging career paths anyone can, and naturally, the journey is filled with challenges. Success is determined by the decisions you make as an entrepreneur and you need to strategize on how you will leverage your strengths to ensure that you propel your business forward.
In business, mistakes happen, but part of effective leadership during the organisational crisis is being able to prevent certain mistakes and focusing on growth.
1. Making uninformed decisions
This is the worst mistake you can ever make because it can result in irrecoverable damage and loss of profits. With any decision or product change or investment, you need to ensure that you are taking the best course of action by conducting thorough research.
This particularly applies to the new entrepreneur who might still be caught up in the passion of a growing business and prone to making impulsive decisions.
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Any decision you make should be backed by the desire to learn the possible outcomes and how your business will benefit from the decision.
2. Attachment to ideas
As an entrepreneur, ideas will come and go and you need to get used to them going more than coming. Not every idea is a good one and we tend to get carried away with bad or impractical ideas that barely serve us in the long run. As a business person, you need to listen to those around you and present yourself as a receptive person to receive honest and productive feedback.
There is a theory that nothing is new under the sun. Therefore, it is highly likely that someone tried your idea before. Research, again, goes a long way in understanding the viability of a new idea. Before investing large amounts of money – some businesses develop a minimal viable product to test the market.
Becoming attached to your ideas can be dangerous and lead you holding on to and implementing a bad idea. Learn to let go of ideas, even those you are super passionate about.
3. Fear of getting your hands dirty
As the leader of a business, your involvement in the overall process allows you to understand how the daily operations of business work. As a business grows, the CEO may grow distant from operations leading to making decisions that may not be good for the business.
As your business grows, your engagement in daily activities is vital and this impacts the growth of your company. Your employees will also value you as an employer if you are invested in understanding their challenges from a practical standpoint.
Investors are also looking for someone who is not afraid to go the extra mile to improve their business and operations.
4. Ignoring the financial aspect
Money is everything. In business. That is why you are in business: to make money. This is the number one reason why businesses fail within a short time. As the CEO, you need to keep up to date with every financial decision you make and how it will impact your company and its development.
Understand that nothing comes for free and that any business decision you make has a financial implication, whether immediate or delayed. As a business person, this means you should be well-versed in financial management.
You should also be able to group expenses according to needs for the business and ensure that you stick to your business plan. The idea is not to reduce your expenses to maximize your profits.
5. Taking on too many things at once
The beauty of business is that you now own your time. Yay! However, you need to be careful not to fill it up with too many things that will distract you from your business.
Success in business is cultivated through focus and dedication to helping your business succeed. Be wary of starting something else on the side or adding to your range of products or services. The growth of your business is very important, and it needs a lot more attention than you might think.
6. Not organizing your days
Being organized saves time. Keep a good diary and use different apps on your phone to ensure that you are on top of your tasks. As you grow as an entrepreneur, it does become demanding on your time. Keeping a solid list and commit yourself to complete tasks that grow your business daily.
A diary helps you to prioritize tasks as they come in and completing them in time to ensure that you are on track. If you are also working towards your degree, you can use the best essay writing service to assist you in completing coursework.
7. Not seeing the bigger picture
Along the way, there will be failures and mishaps; however, these should not determine your overall path. As an entrepreneur, you will encounter mistakes, and they should form as part of a lesson in the bigger scheme of things.
A lot of the time, certain mistakes lead to a decrease in confidence and losing hope to the point of no confidence in oneself. This is detrimental to the growth of your business, and you need to take a knock but not stay down for long. Pick yourself up and keep moving.
8. Having a DIY mentality
This is a great trait, but not always. As a business owner, delegation becomes more important with time. In reality, trying to do everything by yourself can lead to complete burnout.
Furthermore, as your business grows, you need more skilled labor to take on project management, financial management, and administration. Thus, you need to let go a little bit to make room for yourself to grow.
9. Cutting corners
At first, this may seem like a good idea to save time or make a quick buck, but it is not a good business practice. Cutting corners can lead to things like diminishing the quality of your product or selling your product at a loss, which is simply bad for business.
10. Not saving money
Yes, saving is difficult, but in business, it is vital to actively improve your trade and ensuring that if everything falls apart, there is a way out. If you have an emergency, you should be able to tackle it and resolve issues without having to compromise on your business.
Conclusion
In any business venture, mistakes are common, but they do not define the rest of your path. You need to be aware of your mistakes and correct them immediately. The best way to correct your mistakes is by preventing them from happening in the first place.
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Image Credit: Thomas Drouault
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