In school, we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes! Here’s a favourite quote of mine on the topic:
“We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”
– Robert Kiyosaki
With that in mind, it’s important to understand it’s OK to make mistakes – but at the same time… When it comes to starting and running your business, you don’t want to make them if you don’t have to.
It’s always better to learn from other’s mistakes! Here are a few mistakes that others often make that if you can avoid, will give you a step up on the competition!
1. Saying Yes to Everyone
As a business owner/entrepreneur, you’ve got to say “No” more than “Yes”.
If you overwhelmed, frustrated and struggled with your business, you’re probably saying yes to everyone and everything. Only say yes to things which excite you. Yes, to people who help you grow your business.
When it comes to running a successful business, it’s not so much what you do that’s important. It’s more of what you’re NOT doing that’s important. Think of your time as a very important commodity.
It can’t be wasted or spent on low-value tasks. Remember, time is money! If you waste time, you waste money.
Attend events only if it inspires you or helps you network and grow your business. Otherwise, say no! Better use of your time would be to Join business networking groups that give you the connections you need without all the time spent.
Hang around with likeminded people who encourage and help you to improve your business. And always say no to negative people.
Stop trying to please everyone. You’ll never be able to do it, even if you say yes. Saying no will help you stay focused and that’s when goals start getting reached instead of postponed!
Additionally, Say no to things you’re not good at. Why spend the time to learn a completely new skill when you can just pay someone to do it for you while you focus on what’s important.
Things that fall in this category might be:
- SEO
- Digital Marketing
- Web Design
- Copywriting
The important take away is to accept the fact that one man/woman show will never amount to much. If you want to grow as an entrepreneur, you have to delegate!
2. Focus on The Competitor Not the Customer
This is the common problem we see a lot of businesses doing. Instead of leading the way, you’re always chasing your competitor and trying to copy and paste their business model into your business.
Why not just focus on your customer and let them tell you what’s important?
When you do that, you can get feedback about services and products they want, and based on their feedback you can improve your products and services.
It works way better than trying to chase competitors, and customers like it better too. They find your products unique and different and are happy to spread the word and bring you new business.
So, stop wasting your time focusing on competitors.
3. Spending Too Much Time on Facebook
The world wants us to jump here and there.
Get on Facebook.
Get on Instagram.
Get on Twitter.
Get on this and Get on that.
We have been told that if you like, share and comment on your Facebook page and in your Facebook group, your business will grow! But, it can be a time trap too!
Many business owners are spending WAY too much time on Facebook.
Yes, it’s a great platform to connect with people, share things and connect with potential customers, but it’s not a very high converting marketing channel.
For example:
If you need a plumber in Christchurch, you’ll probably go to Google search engine and type plumber Christchurch. Google will then list the plumbers and their website and reviews, etc…
Customers then go to the website and make a decision from there. Facebook isn’t really in the picture. It’s important, but it’s far down the list.
Things like website optimization, marketing campaigns, good website copy, etc, are more important uses of your time.
4. Turning on All Notification
Focus is must if you want to grow your business. You might be subscribed to a lot of Newsletters and YouTube channels that don’t offer much value.
Then what happens?
You get constant email notification and texts and alerts while you’re trying to work!
So, turn cut out all the non-value-added groups and then turn off the notifications for the remaining groups, apps, email accounts, etc. This will help you focus and devote larger chunks of time to get things done without distractions!
5. Struggling With Your Website Conversion
A problem many entrepreneurs have is they don’t focus enough on building a highly converting website! Your website is the first salesman your clients meet.
If 10 people visit your site, at least one person should become your customers. If this isn’t happening, then there’s something wrong with your website and you need to fix it to become a conversion-focused website.
What does conversion mean? It means converting prospects into customers. The first question I ask my clients before designing any website is: Who are you building your website for?
Do you know what most of them say??
“I need a website for my business, so I can display my services and products.”
That’s the mistake!
A website is not for you, it’s for your customers! They are the one with the problem. They are the ones looking for a solution on your site. They are coming there to solve their problem, and you have to walk them to the solution.
Your homepage is the most important key to this! It’s the most visited page and has to immediately connect with the reader emotionally and show them how you are the solution to their problem, AND how to get started working with you!
Wrapping it up…
If you learn from others mistakes and work on avoiding common pitfalls, your business will thrive and continue to grow!
What are some common mistakes you see entrepreneurs and start-ups making? Let me know in the comments below and I will be sure to follow up with you.
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