Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

If you are a business owner, chances are that you’re familiar with some of these common mistakes that entrepreneurs make. While you may have an idea of where you’d like to be financially, you need a plan. Additionally, if you design your website without your customers in mind, you will likely incur lower conversion rates.

Flip the Cards to See Mistakes and their Effects

Shiv Nanda gives us the 7 most common mistakes that business owners and entrepreneurs make.

Starting without a Solid Financial Plan

There’s no way to sugar coat it: raising money for a business is difficult. Further, borrowing money from friends or family or using your own assets are an option, but you might not want to. Given these points, a personal line of credit is ideal.

Lacking a Customer-Centric Approach

A lot of people think that putting what they are offering first should come before the customer. However, satisfied customers will bring repeat business.

Disregarding Business Advice from the Experienced

If an experienced businessperson offers to give you advice, take it. They might be a bit out-of-date in terms of technical knowledge, but can provide valuable insights into what works to help .

Not Spending Enough Time Getting to Know Your Niche

It is imperative that you know your industry inside-out. Even with a business degree, assuming that you know enough is a big pitfall. Avoiding it, and learning from others in the field is your best path forward.

Not Waiting for the Best Time to Start the Business

Another mistake you can make is waiting too long for the right time to start your business. Ideally, if you can start working part-time, it will allow you to assess the financial and social resources along with your skillset needed to succeed.

Failing to Make the RIght Hiring Decisions

Like the old saying goes, any company is only as good or bad as its employees. But, that doesn’t have to be your business. Skimping on the cost of your team can end up costing you much more down the road.

Learning from Entrepreneur Mistakes

A phrase I used to hear at my old MMA gym, “you win or your learn,” comes to mind here. In business, it is important to keep your end goal in mind. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be open to improvement. Keep these points in mind if and when you make mistakes.

Ways to Learn from Your Mistakes

Next, Neil Patel gives us 7 ways to learn from your mistakes as a an entrepreneur.

Leave Your Ego at the Door

If you go through the startup world with your ego eclipsing everything, you won’t learn from your mistakes. Keep in mind that unlike confidence, having an ego is thinking you’re the best.

Don't be Afraid to Fail

It is somewhat of a sad statistic, but 9 out of 10 tech startups will fail. Don’t let this discourage you, though, as failure doesn’t have to mean the failure of the entire business.

Keep Track of Your Mistakes

Keeping a list of mistakes is a good way to have a point of reference for the future. Additionally, it increases the likelihood you’ll learn the lesson after writing it down.

Investigate Your Mistakes

Believe it or not, a project post mortem is the term for evaluating how the project went and where it could be improved. Some questions to consider are:

What did I want to achieve?
How will I handle this next time?
How might this situation have been avoided?

Be Optimistic

Being optimistic and having faith in yourself can make or break your success. Further, optimistic people take action more often than their negative counterparts.

Celebrate Your Successes

Keeping an eye on your mistakes is good, but you should also take time to celebrate your wins. In fact, achieving a goal and celebrates it causes a feedback loop of joy. Thus, celebrating positives in business should be prioritized.

Take Action on Your Ideas

This one is pretty self-explanatory: take action. If you have an idea, take action on it immediately. Procrastinating can cause a decrease in your motivation, and the lack of action could mean limiting your future career.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, there are a lot of pitfalls to avoid as an entrepreneur. However, now that you have learned some of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make, you know exactly what to look out for. With this recipe, you’re bound to succeed. Questions, comments? Let us know.

Resources & Further Reading

Patel, N. (2020, January 23). 7 ways to learn from your mistakes as an entrepreneur. Retrieved February 03, 2021, from https://neilpatel.com/blog/learn-mistakes-entrepreneur/
Nanda, S. (2020, May 16). 7 common mistakes that lead new entrepreneurs to failure. Retrieved February 03, 2021, from https://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com/entrepreneur-mistakes-failure/
Schooley, S. (2020, May 22). 20 startup mistakes every entrepreneur should avoid. Retrieved February 03, 2021, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7398-startup-mistakes-to-avoid.html

The Success Series: Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make