Several Mistakes Business owners Make is something that can be avoided if appropriate measures were taken. It has to do with what you do to grow your business or what do to make it go down the lane. As an entrepreneur who owns a business, you need to take your business as your own life, if you starve it, it suffers and eventually collapses.
If you’re about starting a new business of your own, in this post; you’ll learn the top 10 mistakes business owners make and the measures to apply that will help you avoid them
Every year, a lot of businesses emerge. While some remain after 3rd, 5th, 10th, 20th, 30th years and so on others collapse after the 1st and 2nd year. For your business to survive the test of time, you need to understand that it has to be built on a solid foundation.
Every business owner is the sole force controlling the business operations and how it affects the customers and the business itself. So, as a business owner, any mistake you make has effect not only on your business but also on your customers as well.
Reasons Why Business Owners Make Mistakes
Some of major reasons why business owners make mistakes include:
- Lack of information/knowledge – Most business owners has little or no information about running a business. Some dive into a business without the full knowledge of financial requirement and couldn’t make any headway because there is no financial backup. Some others never had access to information like the one you are reading now and fall the victim of ignorance.
- Too Conservative – Most business owners are too conservative. I discussed more about this point below.
- Greed – Wanting to succeed no matter the cost is greed. Business owners who are greedy make reckless decisions without concern for how the consequences of those decisions affect their customers. All these are in the name of making money.
- Lack of Passion – Passion is a driving force in the face of tough times. Most business owners who lack passion for their business are easily phase out in times of trial. Rekindle the passion for business always if you’re losing zeal by trying your hands in many things.
Let’s look at the 10 mistakes business owners make you need to avoid. Whether you’re about to start an online business or a brick and mortar business, you have to watch out for these mistakes and avoid them
10 Mistakes Business Owners Make and How to Avoid Them
Some of mistakes business owners make that you need to avoid include:
1. Not Accepting Change
This is one of the biggest mistake business owners make. Change, you know is something that is permanent. A lot of business owner finds it difficult to adjust when new innovation hit the market space. When you refuse to accept change, those who embrace it before you take over the market and before you know it, your business begins to crumble.
For example, if you have a business and your customers start asking you if you use a point of sales (POS) to receive money. This should tell you, you need to adjust to a new method of receiving payment which is the use of POS. Failing to start using POS may result in losing your customer once another person doing the same line of business start receiving payment with POS.
One big change that came as a surprise to most business owners is the internet. A lot of businesses are still struggling to understand how to manage the change that the internet brought. From owning a website to social media marketing. This is new to many business owners.
So, you have to always be ready to embrace a change when it come if you want to succeed in business
Poor Customer Service
Customers are the key to every successful business. They are life-blood of any business. That sounds cliché, right? Your customers are the reason why you’re still in business. Not taking your customer as your number one priority is a costly mistake that you can ever make in business.
A typical example is when you leave your customer’s complaint unattended. Then, even if you respond, how fast do you respond? That also matters. Do you know what will happen if another person in the same line of business does respond to her customers better than you do?
You’ll see a big shift in demand and huge loss on your side.
What you need to know is this; it is easier for customers to complain about your poor service than to praise your business. So, make sure you provide a world class customer service to your customers.
Not Registering Your Business
A common mistake many small businesses make is not registering their businesses. You need to understand that your business will gain more authority and recognition when you get it registered.
When you don’t register your business, getting loans and easy access to some business networks might become a challenge. Also, doing business with other businesses outside your country may be difficult.
If you are running your business from Nigeria, you can register it with Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC). If you register your business, it will be quite clear you’re set to do business.
Not Acquiring necessary managerial Skills
When you don’t have the necessary managerial skills to run your business effectively, you’ll likely face a lot of challenges.
Most businesses remain stagnant because their owners lack adequate managerial skills needed for expansion. Your business growth will be determined by the level of your managerial skills. Your business can only survive as long as your managerial skills can take it.
You are the driver of your business. Failure to manage it properly will result in the down fall of your business. So, attend seminars and workshop to build your management skills.
Not Having a Website
Even with the high rate of technological advancement and innovations taking over the business world, you’ll still see a lot of business owners making the mistake of not having a well-designed website for their business.
This is a big mistake because most customers are tech savvy and would prefer surfing the internet with mobile phones buy one item or the other. We live in the information age; if you are not informing people about your business then you are misinforming them. Ultimately, you are losing out of a channel that will help your business brand to stand out when compared to your competitors.
Not Using Social Media Channels
The easiest and cheapest way to market your business today is through the various social media network like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Forums, and many other channels. Imagine if your competitor is well known across the region through their social media marketing campaign and you are not. Do you think people will know you better than that competitor?
Most times, small business owners think their business is too small for social media marketing. You should understand that the social media platform is an open space for any kind of business to display their marketing skills.
You should run a periodic social media marketing campaign for your business, it will keep your business brand active and help you to gain more customers and increase wider awareness for your business.
Hire someone to run your social media marketing for your business if you don’t have the skills and time to do that. It will help your business to succeed.
Not Measuring Your Business Growth
How do you measure your business growth? Most small business owners measure their growth by the amount of money they make. While this is an indicator that your business is growing. It should not be the only way you measure your business growth. This is because the money makes is the last end of the result of other areas that you can measure.
The other areas that most business owners have neglected could be found in their customer’s satisfaction, innovation, partnership with networks like social media that will boost their brands, etc.
You should use the right metric to measure your business growth and you will be sure that the money will keep flowing in without much challenge.
Having Unhappy Workers
Another serious mistake business owners make is making their staff unhappy. Your workers are the engine of your business. In as much as you want to make money and succeed as a business owner; when your staffs are unhappy, they might stop you from achieving your goal. I know it is difficult to always keep your employee happy because of the occasional higher demands that come from them.
Ensuring your workers are happy is a sure way of making your business grow faster than you think. The reason you need to consider this point very seriously is that you can’t run your business all by yourself. Your workers are closer to your customers than you. If you want success, make your workers happy.
Not Having a Lawyer
If you have never faced a legal problem, you may not understand why you need a lawyer as a business owner. Though, it may come at a cost, you need to understand that your business security can be lost by a lawsuit. When you hire the services of a lawyer or a law firm. You will easily gain knowledge in areas that could affect your business and you will get to know the various ways that you can secure your business.
Not Planning to Handover to Another person
No matter how much you feel you can run your business, a time will come that you need to pass it on to another person. The earlier you start preparing for these later days, the better. There are businesses today that have spanned over 100 years because they understand the importance of grooming someone that will take over from the current business owner.
Who is going to take over from you when you feel it is time to retire or go into something that you are interested in doing outside your business? Finding the answer is your key to establishing your business.
Conclusion
To avoid these mistakes, you should find out more about the points in this post and apply what you have learned from your new knowledge. It will help you to succeed in your business.
Your business success or failure is in your hands. If you apply the measures listed above, you’ll definitely avoid some of these mistakes business owners make. That’s boom to your success.
If you want your business to outlive you, then you have to set a good foundation that will remain when the challenges that face businesses come against it.
I believe you’ve grab the top 10 mistakes business owners make and measures you can take to avoid them. What do you have to say about this? You can add you’re thought to the box below.