7 Common Business Mistakes You Must Avoid When Starting A New Business

Finally, you’ve settled on a business idea you’d like to venture into. Suppose you’re a new entrepreneur; in that case, it’s not uncommon to have self-doubts, questioning whether you’re on the right track. Here’s a list of common business mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting a new business and how to avoid them.

1. Starting a Business Without a Plan

A business plan is a roadmap explaining how a business intends to achieve its goals. Unfortunately, many new entrepreneurs often think they don’t need a business plan, especially for small-scale businesses. But on the contrary, a business plan increases your business’s chances of success by providing a blueprint to work with.

You don’t need to create a complicated plan; simply establish your business goals, purpose, and strategy. Then, you may break down these elements even further to include the roles each person plays in your business and the cost of executing such roles.

2. Not Investing Enough

One of the common business startup mistakes new business owners make is not investing enough capital. But this doesn’t mean that pumping lots of money into your new business guarantees success.

A successful business is not all about how much money you invest; failing to plan is planning to fail. As Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO, Warren Buffet, puts it, “rule number one: never lose money. rule number two: never forget rule number one.”

In short, invest wisely by ensuring the business has enough capital to sustain its beginning phase.

3. Being A Lone Ranger

As a business owner, you have to understand how everything works, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do everything yourself. Seeking professional help in some business management aspects reduces the costs of doing business and provides an opportunity for expansion. Bill Gates’ Microsoft startup story is a perfect example of how sharing ideas with a partner can grow a business beyond expectations.

4. Fear of the Unknown

Had Elon Musk let fear of the unknown take over his ideas, Tesla electric cars would never have made it to the market. In one of the most famous Elon Musk quotes, he says,

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”

Many new entrepreneurs often doubt their business mission at the beginning and end up not executing their ideas. To create a new successful business, you must develop a unique concept that solves people’s problems or makes their lives easier. In many cases, these ideas are uncertain, risky, or unexploited. However, you need to be courageous enough to take up such a challenge and make the best out of it.

5. No (Digital) Marketing Plan

Many established businesses today owe their success to their marketing strategies, both online and offline. But, unfortunately, marketing is one of the few aspects many upcoming entrepreneurs fail to plan for.

For example, the digital world presents many marketing opportunities because of the enormous number of potential customers online. In as much as it may take a longer time to grow your online presence, mostly on social media, it provides one of the cheapest and most effective ways of marketing a business when it matures.

6. Lacking Patience and Concentration

One of Andrew Carnegie famous quotes goes:

“One great cause of failure of young men in business is the lack of concentration.”- Andrew Carnegie

Many new entrepreneurs start their business as an employment income supplement without really thinking about how far they want their business to go. This limits the potential of the business becoming their real source of income and independence.

A new business, like a newborn, needs enough attention to grow, which also requires a lot of patience. As Andrew Carnegie puts it, your business’s success is almost guaranteed with patience, hard work, and concentration.

7. Lack of Proper Market Research

As mentioned earlier, solving customer’s problems is the core reason for opening a new business. For example, if you plan to start a restaurant business, you’ll not be the first to do so. But, your restaurant will only be different if it provides a unique solution to a specific problem, which is why you need to conduct extensive market research. One fascinating fact about many successful business people is that they started with very little investment but with so much drive and passion for what they believed in. Mistakes build experience, and experience leads to success in business. However, it is normal to doubt yourself or your business idea along the way. TurtleQuote.com will keep you motivated and inspired by quotes from various topics, including business quotes from renowned business people worldwide.