Chariz
It’s not an easy thing to start a business. About 90% of all startups fail and only half of them make it to the fifth year. This is very difficult but also highly rewarding. You can’t just master one skill and start a business. You have to work day and night and master several skills to ensure the success of your business.
All those businesses that failed also did their best. They were also skilled people. You should know that failure of a startup does not mean the leader went to a loss. It just means that they couldn’t survive for long in the same niche. If you want to keep making profits from your startup for a long time, you must learn from the mistakes of others.
Here I have discussed some of the most common mistakes a small business can make. You might be able to somehow survive through one or two problems, but it will take only one to deliver that fatal blow. That’s why you have to be fully prepared for any challenge and take it on with confidence.
Not Planning Correctly
This is a rookie mistake. Every man and woman with a business background knows that you must start with a detailed business plan. If you are going forward without thinking about it, you will end up with a failed business.
You have to think about what you are doing, what your goals are, and how you are doing to achieve them. It is not very difficult; you just need to learn how to create a business plan. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that will teach about the business plan.
It discussed how much money you need and where you are going to invest it. Even before that, you will study your target audience and the market. You should know if the supply and demand are in your favor. Furthermore, you would define how your business will make money and set some milestones.
This might sound like something you would already know, but it makes all the difference in the world when you write it down in a step-by-step approach. Don’t answer these questions with your gut or experience. Make sure you do thorough research on the internet and with other people. Each answer will be used as a guideline that will lead your business.
Not Paying Attention to Marketing
You will probably already have one or two clients when starting a business. Most new businesses rely on their customers to bring them new customers. While a referral program should be one of your strategies, you should not solely rely just on that.
If you lose one customer, your entire business will suffer. You must keep building the list of your clientele. For that, you will have to invest in marketing. Some people think that a small business does not need marketing. However, this notion is incorrect and has caused the demise of many startups.
Not Investing in SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s the practice of indexing a website with search engines such as Google and ensuring your website appears in the result pages when someone searches a relevant query.
That relevant query could be about information or for a product or service. If you offer a solution to that query, you must appear in the search results. For that, SEO is crucial.
Many businesses, even the ones who understand digital marketing, don’t pay attention to SEO in the beginning. It takes at least six months before it starts showing results, and small businesses tend to avoid long-term investments.
They believe it’s better to get short-term results. This is where they are wrong. You might have customers today and you are making good money, but you need an organic source of sales that doesn’t require you to invest in paid advertisements.
You should take the help of a trusted SEO agency to create a plan for you. It would not require a lot of investment, and you will be building an asset that will benefit your business in the long run, even when you are in a tough spot.
Not Building the Right Team
Your business, product, and service are only as good as your team. The leader has an important role to play, but it’s the employees that do the main work. You focus on the long-term growth of the business. Your employees have to ensure that your plans are executed efficiently.
This is where you need to pay attention. You might think that you are monitoring the performance of your employees, but it’s impossible. You can set targets and see that everyone meets them. However, it’s too difficult to ensure quality work. You would not know if the done work was the best version of itself or if there was room for improvement.
That’s why you should take and invest in finding the right people. If you know someone is going to the best for a job, you should pay him higher if you have to.
Not Setting the Right Goals
You have to set goals, and you have to set SMART goals.
SMART goals mean they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Many fail to set goals and many sets unrealistic goals that they can’t achieve.
If you set too difficult goals, you won’t be able to achieve them and get demotivated. It’s better to set easier goals that you are sure you can achieve so you are, at the very least, motivated.
Not Focusing on Quality Service
Don’t be hasty about earning higher profits. You should first focus on providing the best service. Make sure no one else in the marketing can offer the quality you offer.
You should not underprice your product or service, but you should not charge higher either. Your goals should be to impress and retain customers. This will get a good word about you in the market and develop a relationship of trust with all current and potential customers.
