Running a business is one of the biggest responsibilities anybody can take on. There’s so much involved in making sure the business is solid and built to last. As a business owner, there are a plethora of things you have to think about, and in many cases, businesses are more likely to make entrepreneur mistakes.
When the right systems aren’t in place, it’s easy for even the most innovative business run by a really smart person to fall apart. As a leader, there are a few key things you have to pay attention to, and if you don’t you risk the very survival of your business.
Some of these things seem simple and obvious on the surface but pose big roadblocks to growth and success. Even if you’re just working for yourself, you ensure long-term success when you avoid the things that get many business owners in trouble. Here are the most common areas entrepreneurs get tripped up, why they are bad for business, and how to avoid them.
Wasting Time on the Wrong Tasks
As a business owner, the most important roles are focusing on the strategy and the vision of the business to give the company a larger runway and bigger space to expand. The number one reason entrepreneurs make is taking too long to start building a structure that allows them to focus on the areas in the business that matter most.
Every single task in a business has a monetary value, and often business owners are distracted by the low-value tasks that could be done by someone else more effectively and for less money.
As the leader of a company, the work you need to be doing can be worth anything from $500 per hour and up, but if you’re doing $20 per hour work in your business, you’re actually limiting the profitability of your business.
Focus on the most effective and profitable use of your time, hire a team around you to take over other tasks, and free yourself up to be the visionary at the helm of a solid business.
You don’t even have to hire full-time workers these days – from freelance writers and social media managers to bookkeeping services for small businesses, you can lean into people and companies who can take tasks off your plate at an affordable price.
Neglecting Personal Development
We all know that it’s important to be adept at carrying out the mechanical part of running a business after entrepreneur mistakes – like the systems and tasks involved in the company, but that’s not all there is to success as an entrepreneur.
Your business will only grow to the extent that you also grow as a person. A lot of the time, the things that limit our growth are our own internal roadblocks, limitations, and behavioral weaknesses.
We often need to clear up those things if we want to get to the next level of our careers. Personal development comes in many forms, from reading books that expand your horizons, to mindset coaching and therapy and masterminding with other business leaders. Or, you can take a business trip to a conference.
This is an investment you get to make in yourself and the continued growth of your company. Many people only see the expense of something like coaching, but that way of thinking is the barrier that stops them from earning more in their business.
Not Having a Marketing Strategy
Marketing is one of the biggest things business owners overlook, and that immediately puts a ceiling on growth and profits. Even if you’re the best at what you do, your excellence is meaningless if people actually don’t know about it.
If you want to be seen as an expert and for your business to be a relevant solution to the problems your customers are having, marketing is non-negotiable.
There are so many channels you can use to spread the word about your brand and connect with potential clients and customers. Here are a few ideas on entrepreneur mistakes.
- You can have a regular blog which you post to LinkedIn.
- You can start a podcast where you showcase your expertise and connect with influential people in your industry. You can even pitch yourself on industry. podcasts so you can get introduced to new audiences.
- Creating high-value video content for YouTube is another way for people to find you and know what you do.
- Take advantage of tools like Facebook Live and Instagram Live so people can see you as someone worth following and talking to.
If you want your company to go far, and for it to become a formidable brand in your industry or niche, it’s time to start thinking like a business owner. It’s time to focus on the systems that make success inevitable.
It starts with you and how much work you put into making yourself better and sharper, and then making sure all the activities you spend your time on are the best and highest use of your time. If you add a solid marketing strategy to that, you give the business everything it needs to succeed and overcome entrepreneur mistakes.