Are you aware that if you don’t watch your mistakes they can sabotage your business for months or even years? Startup companies often make small mistakes that end up being gigantic. Often, running businesses are “successful” solely because of their persistence, even when they have lost money and/or wasted a lot of time along the way.
These errors fit almost any type of business, although some of them fit more with service companies.
1. Inaccurate estimates of service/project time:
This problem affects service companies and companies that sell products. Service is the bread and butter of the business. The only thing you can do after getting burned is learned from it. Do not underestimate your time when performing each and every one of the services in your repertoire. The best way to estimate time is for you to do it once or see the task performed by one of your best employees. Logistics becomes an issue for product companies when it comes to time.
2. Putting the wrong prices on your products/not knowing your company numbers:
One of the most common pricing mistakes is using a competitor’s numbers without knowing why they are being used. Think of the nightmare you will face if you take a competitor’s price, reduce it by 10%, and then try to sell it. The competition may have a poor pricing structure and barely make any money, or even lose money. Are your costs higher? Competitors can serve as a starting point, but you can’t base your entire strategy on them.
3. Mistakes of others, not charging for your time and costs:
Most business owners have given away too much. To show you care, it’s okay to give a little extra here and there. The worrying thing is when they put a lot of quality into their work and give it away. Let’s say you run a service business and your competitors don’t offer the same standard services as you. You cannot lower your price, you must include that rate and advertise it as a sign of quality. A store is undermined when it puts more employees on the floor for customer service but doesn’t charge for it. You spend and your competitors spend less when they don’t do what you do.
4. Pay too slowly:
The old mistakes with cash flow. The problem can be solved when you have enough income to pay the bills. Is that how it works:
Customers must be billed promptly. The problem of generating invoices and sending them on time is very common among small businesses. The fact that we do the work to get paid would seem to make this unlikely. However, it’s easy for those responsible for bringing this information to the billing department to be too busy or unorganized to do so.
To slow down or stop a regular cash flow, make payments to customers as quickly as possible and to vendors and employees as slowly as possible. Employers must be paid twice a month. Contractors always complain about this.
5. Lack of well-defined systems and procedures
Bureaucracy makes it difficult to start your own business. It is not possible to implement any procedure at all. Business owners must find a happy medium depending on the type of industry or chaos and the unknown will ensue. Examples of core systems include billing, collections, payroll, human resources (interviewing, hiring, vacation, benefits, employee responsibilities, etc.), manufacturing, machine operation, machine maintenance, inventory, sales calls/visits, and more. logistics, among others. .
6. Lack of organic advertising among clients and lack of follow-up of the results
You can’t measure if a marketing campaign is working if you don’t implement the things that will allow you to do it. Wasteful marketing practice is not to follow up on previous successes. It is impossible for a $400 per month ad to work automatically every year after running once during a peak season.
7. The classic mistakes of every entrepreneur: overextending
Do you wear too many hats? Seek help when you find yourself there. In this case, the solution lies in knowing your strengths and recognizing when you are not performing tasks that require these skills. You can’t get caught up in day-to-day operations when you’re the best salesperson in the company. You will lose sales and eventually you will not be able to operate your business. Did you really set up your own business to work 80 hours a week?
8. You don’t get help early
Set goals for when to hire someone to fill in the areas where you lack knowledge. Waiting too long or not getting help can kill a business. Businesses are usually started by people who are good at technical or sales. Put your time and energy into production if you know the best way to make a widget. Outsource sales and marketing to an outside firm or consultant. Hire internally when you can afford someone full-time. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not, it never works.
Did you learn any of the most common small business mistakes? Read on with us:
