5 Biggest Business Mistakes Most Small Businesses Make… and What to Do About Them
- Not Thinking BIG!!
- NOT Staying Focus on a Continual Marketing and Advertising Plan
- YOU STOP Learning
- Failure to create business systems and processes
- YOU GO IT ALONE
Too much emphasis is placed on the daily tasks of running the business. Small business owners perform several tasks that can take up an enormous amount of time in their daily schedule. There’s always a struggle to balance a schedule that includes sales and marketing activities; accounts receivable collections to meet payroll and immediate operating expenses; business development, and the lists goes on.
THE ANSWER: If you have employees, review these daily tasks and delegate as much as possible, leave room in each day’s schedule to work on your business. If there is no one to delegate to, work daily on ‘time management.’ Prepare your top 3 lists of ‘must accomplish tasks’ and really focus to get them done. Do schedule time to work on your business’ long-term strategy and then plan smaller tasks in between that will help you get there.
Marketing and advertising are an important way for any business to reach new clients, and with a limited marketing budget, it can be a struggle for a small business to reach its target audience. Advertising can be expensive, but it’s necessary.
THE ANSWER: There are many forms of free marketing available on the Internet (social networking websites, blogs, company websites), it is still difficult to reach a target audience without investing in other forms of marketing such as online pay per click advertising, television and print.
Before you pull out your wallet to pay for advertising, the very first step is knowing the marketplace, define your primary and secondary target market… then figure out why you and your company are different and what can you offer that offers cannot.
THE ANSWER: Carving out time to continue the learning process will ensure that you stay current, but more importantly, you’re able to take advantage of new innovations in your market, which will make your job and business run smoother. Nothing is sacred. Everything is up for reconsideration. It’s impossible to be a competitive business without taking advantage of today’s technology.
If you want to create a business that’s organized, repeatable, and profitable, you need systems and processes.
THE ANSWER: Develop systems that will allow you to increase customer service, reduce time in getting work done and training your team, improve productivity, and provide consistency. Great systems are the backbone to every successful business.
This is a death trap for business owners. You don’t know, what you don’t know.
THE ANSWER: Find experts, mentors in your industry that can help you.
Find or start a Mastermind group. This is a group of like-minded businessmen and/or women, who are driven to win—just like you!