The sad fact is that a huge percentage of small businesses are not going to make it through that first year, and many more will fail within the first five. A big part of this is down to the fact that small business owners are prone to making a lot of the same mistakes time and time again. By having a better understanding and appreciation of these errors, it is more likely that you are going to be able to sidestep them, which will put you on a route that is more likely to have success at the end of it. With this in mind, here are a few of the most common small business mistakes.
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Not Having a Clear Business Strategy
While you may have a fantastic business idea, this is simply not enough to necessarily guarantee you success in the entrepreneurial world. Instead, you need to have a clear strategy for how you are going to launch, grow, and market your enterprise. Think about your priorities and how you are going to spend your time, as well as how you are going to generate new business, and your measurement of success. Get your business practices right from day one and you are more likely to achieve the results that you are looking for long into the future.
Trying to Do Everything Yourself
When you start a small business, it is likely your baby. As such, you are likely to want to do everything yourself and not pass over any responsibility. However, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day and you are much more likely to burn yourself out with this approach. There are a couple of solutions to this particular problem. The first is to hire some employees and get help and support from them. Alternatively, you could outsource areas like IT support, marketing or sales to an external organization.
Not Having a Long-Term Plan
Following on from the idea of a clear business strategy, you should also create a long-term plan that maps out how you are going to proceed in the future. Sure, you are likely to need to change and adapt this plan over time as new challenges arise, but if you don’t have any roadmap at all, you are much more likely to lose your core focus as a business.
Slashing Your Prices Too Much
While slashing your prices may seem to be an appealing way of attracting new customers, if you overuse this strategy, you are inevitably going to experience diminishing returns. This means that your profit levels will not be enough to continue your business as you would like. Sure, you can have sales and discount codes, but don’t try and simply undercut your rivals unless you have the clear figures to back this up as an effective strategy.
By avoiding these common small business mistakes, you will be in the best position to create a company that is built on firm foundations and more likely to achieve success.
