It’s important to avoid the common business mistakes which can destroy your business. I have worked with many people throughout the years, and have noticed they tend to make some very common mistakes that destroy their business going forward. Every time I have a client I’ll always ask them about their common business practices to get a better understanding of how they conduct business. It’s so funny that I see many of them making the same mistake over and over again. Today I’ve decided to take some time out to go over the common mistakes they have made which is destroying their productivity.
You have to keep in mind that with mistakes you are hurting growth, and profits. Continuing to make mistakes will destroy your bottom-line and ultimately your business. With that said,
Let’s jump right in, and your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Being Cheap
You want to grow your business offering the best, however you’ll penny pitch wherever you get an opportunity. I’m here to tell you this will destroy your business going forward so you have to pay to get quality products and employees on your team. Steve Jobs from Apple believed you need A+ people always on your team, and you should settle for nothing less. When you have these types of people working together, they’ll produce some of the best products within the industry. Here’s something else – He believed in paying big bucks for top notch people because the ROI will be massive down the line. Next,
You have to know where to look for the right type of people, and give them an offer they won’t refuse. Steve Jobs believed in approaching people at fortune 500 companies offering them a salary and job which they’ll find hard to refuse. These same minds were responsible for developing some of the MOST popular products we have in the market these days.
Lesson: Never be cheap when investing in your company. Be willing to pay for the best employees, and developing the best products within the industry. It’s that simple!
Keep Distance from Employees
There has to be a thin line between you and your employees, and you can’t let it interfere with work. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in the past is becoming too close with many of my employees. This caused three things to happen which caused my productivity to suffer.
First, they felt as though they can start putting less effort into whatever work they were doing. This is because they thought our friendship would stop me from coming down on them very hard. It actually did stop me from coming down on them in the beginning. Secondly, the quality of their work suffered because they no longer felt threaten that their work can be on the line if they don’t complete assignments. Third, it was much harder for me to let go of them knowing we had been friends for a long period of time. As a matter of fact,
This is why I avoid hiring friends to work for my company because I don’t want to be put in a position to have to let them go or feel as though they aren’t working to full potential.
Lesson: Keep a distant between you and your employees. Keep in mind they have been hired to do a job, and separate work from friends.
Only Reward Exceptional Work
Here’s another huge mistake I see business owners making all the time, and I tell them to be very careful. My clients start rewards everyone in their workplace for no apparent reason. They bring in things for them, and are very generous with bonuses, etc. I believe you should only reward them for exceptional work because then they always start to expect things. When they don’t receive something going forward, the quality of their work starts to offer, and this can be a major problem for your business.
Here’s what you should do going forward:
You’ve probably noticed how many businesses now have a quota model within their business. It works very simple and rewards those who met a certain sales mark, or job expectation. This model works so well because gives employees something to work towards knowing when they reach that point that they’ll receive a bonus. Now for you, as a business owner it’s perfect because each quota they meet is increasing customers, revenue, and other factors important for growth.
Lesson: Don’t be too generous, and if you feel like rewarding your workers then have a model in place where they get bonuses after meeting certain quota’s established by your company.
Networking Is Very Important
This is one of the biggest mistakes I made when starting out, and stagnated my growth for months after starting out. When blogging I didn’t realize the importance of outreach until years later, and this hurt my business because it took much longer to build momentum. This is the mistake I’m asking all of you to avoid going forward, and start doing your research on who you can reach out to when getting started. Before I continue,
I know many of you avoid networking because you have a misconception that many of them won’t help going forward…right? However, I’m here to tell you this is definitely NOT the case, and here’s why…
Many of the world successful people have had help within their business so now give back by helping others, but you have to know how to ask. If you think they won’t help, and refuse to ask than it can be an opportunity which you’ll miss out on. For example, this caused me to delay momentum to my business for months simply because I didn’t think other bloggers would help me out. I was very wrong!
Start by doing a quick search online looking for people within your niche who have been around for years. Write out a genuine email letting them know about your business, and how you guys can come up with a way to help each other. You can even ask them for their feedback on working together, and see what they have to say…right?
Lesson: Always try and find ways to network with others within your niche. This will help grow your business, and even build momentum quicker then WITHOUT the right team by your side. You’ll be surprised how many people are willing to help new businesses out for free, but with some sort of mutual benefit. You will not know unless you don’t reach out to others within your industry.
Not Understanding Marketing
Another huge mistake I’ve seen people make in the industry especially when starting out. They then get lazy when they are unable to drive massive traffic to their business. This applies to everyone with a business no matter if you are online or a physical business because you have to market your products. Keep in mind, the less time you spend marketing, the more edge your competition will get over you. This in the long-term is NOT good because it kills motivation because you see NO or low sales flowing through your business. Whenever, your bottom-line is effected it will destroy your motivation. It’s that simple! However,
This doesn’t have to be the case because you have several different marketing channels available to you.
First, it all starts with trial and error because you have to test out what channels will work for you. This is one of the biggest things I learned about business i.e. you have to split test marketing channels, and promotions. However, once you find out what works, you can begin to optimize those channels. Next,
You have to have a way to track your results because the last thing you want to do is put marketing channels into place, and not have a decisive way to find out which one of them is working…right? If your online, then this can be done by installing a simple code behind the page. However, offline means you have to keep track over the months, and ask customers where or how they found your business. Your trying to establish what is the right marketing channels for you which not only grow your business, but retain customers.
Lesson: You have to understand marketing, and how to apply different concepts to your business. If you don’t try different avenues, then you’ll become stagnant with very little growth. This will slow growth, and you’ll become de-motivated to continue. Growth is the ultimate motivator.
Know When to Pull Plug
You’ve worked so hard to make your business work, however your still losing money…right? You have to know when to pull the plug. With my first business I held on too long, and lost everything I had saved trying to keep it going when I knew it was time to let go. Not only did I lose everything I had invested, but I still owe money till today. You have to avoid having an emotional connection with your business because this will make it hard for you to let go when it is time.
If you have tried everything, and you find yourself up against the wall, it’s time to remove that emotional connection, and pull the plug. This way you don’t keep burning money trying to keep something alive which has very little potential left. As long as you have a clear cut plan on what to expect from your business, then you won’t have a problem knowing when it’s becoming hard to achieve these objectives. This will help you determine when you should finally let go!
Lesson: Know when it’s time to let go, and don’t hold on too long because you’ll burn all your bridges trying to keep something alive with no juice. Have a clear cut exit plan, and save whatever investment is left so you’ll be able to invest it somewhere else or sustain yourself afterwards.
Wrapping It Up
I hope you enjoyed this content, and could pull some value out of it to apply to your business. Go through each one, and find ways to avoid these business mistakes so you’ll be able to prosper in the long run. Please provide your feedback, and opinion below in the comment box.