Everyone knows its true, most new entrepreneurs simple, but dumb mistakes that can derail your business before you even really start.
These issues are often based on experience rather than lack of intelligence or motivation or drive. New entrepreneurs often don’t see the issues and let it either build or spiral out of control. There are numerous issues that affect most entrepreneurs, but we’re focusing on the top three, according to our own research and feedback from our community.
Lack of focus
Whenever you start a business, many founders are surrounded by what we affectionately term as the ‘Bermuda Triangle of Opportunity’. They often come up with multiple ideas, and new opportunities spring up at every corner, which makes them want to pursue every single one.
We spoke to an entrepreneur on the condition of anonymity, because the company he is referring to is currently fundraising and spreading itself thin without having the proper infrastructure to handle all the leads they are chasing.
He shared that this healthcare startup he used to work at tried to expand into multiple markets and verticals without first securing a strong foothold in a single one, which led to cashflow issues, no focus and constant delays and changes to the product. Currently, they are trying to rebuild the company, but it doesn’t look good.
What you need as a new entrepreneur is to build a credible reputation, which will then lead to more real opportunities and cash flow. So focus on the following:
- Keep your focus narrow on your single product or service
- Work on creating a product or service that really works well
- Build a portfolio of success, and a strong foothold in your core market before branching out
Being superficial
Entrepreneurs are often seduced by the glitz and glamour of Silicon Valley and the money that goes with it. This means that they often focus on getting to market quickly, just so that they can say they have a product or service available. This can often be at the expense of proper testing and quality assurance.
I blame Twitter with its short updates, to be honest…
They often refuse to sharpen their skills and ignore crucial aspects of any business like customer service and internal communication. That’s often the reason why these companies never make it to market in any significant way.
Here’s what you can do to solve these issues.
- Obsess over your customers, so you know everything you need to know about them.
- Be detailed orientated, so you keep the focus on quality and don’t rush to production or market with an inferior product
- Never stop the learning journey. Too often, entrepreneurs feel they are too busy to learn, but while you can learn on the job, you should also spend time trying to improve your knowledge at all times.
Removing the superficiality habit requires a change in mindset, which you can get rid of with constant practice and obsession with quality. That means focusing on getting good at one thing, before moving on to something else.
Glossing over small problems
If you’ve ever obsessed over small issues, you must have heard people say things like ‘”Oh, it’s just a small thing, don’t worry about it.” or “You can’t get upset over something you can’t fix right now.” This drives me up the wall if I was being honest.
As a new entrepreneur, you need to be obsessive and track everything that goes wrong with your business to make sure it doesn’t escalate. From a broken link on your website to a negative review, look a way to solve these issues quickly and efficiently, so it doesn’t snowball.
With Tech Collective, we often have broken links and faulty SEO on our articles. So every single day, at least one of us on the team is going through the content to make sure it is in 100% working order.
Here’s what you can do on your side:
- Focus on problem-solving issues quickly and efficiently, even if you think it is a small issue
- Making mistakes are fine, but not solving them is a big issue
- Use that obsessive mindset we spoke about to apply it to problem-solving