THE BIG ENTREPRENEUR MISTAKE BUSINESS HOW-TO How Many Small-Business Owners Shoot Themselves in the Foot and What to Do to Avoid It
LACK OF EDUCATION
I’ve been spending a ton of time studying success. Why do some succeed when others fail? What makes the successful people different or special? I’m getting a clearer picture as I begin to see patterns on both sides. Of course, success has many definitions, but while I was studying, I was just looking at business success. It’s easy to have it all and lose everything. It is also easy to use family as an excuse for lack of success or hard work. Here are the patterns I’ve recognized that are often associated with a lack of success. Hopefully, you and I can identify areas where we need to improve so we can go into 2019 with our eyes wide-open to any pitfalls. LACK OF HARD WORK Too many people get a taste of success and then think they can just coast. The time to work even harder is when success is at your doorstep. When you start to get the success, you need to seize the day — you need to reinvest. An investment I made at The Newsletter Pro when it started to take off was ensuring we had enough business, so I had backup employees in as many departments as possible. That way, if someone went on vacation, quit, or called out sick, I wasn’t the person who needed to step into that role for the day, week, or month.
mistakes, I’ll always bet on myself, my work ethic, and my ability to out-think and out-market the competition. When you started your business, you bet on yourself, and you’ve won numerous times. Don’t stop betting on yourself, because you’re the one who got you to where you are now. NO CLEAR GOALS WITH PLANS Everyone needs goals, and those goals need a plan in order to be reached. Your business is no different. If you want to reduce churn, what’s the plan? If you want more referrals, how are you going to do that? Whatever your goals are now, you need a plan to reach them. TOO FOCUSED ON ‘THE NEW’ because they wanted to try something new. WHAT!? That is insanity. You don’t cancel good, steady, effective marketing in the hopes that something new will work. You don’t rob another budget to invest in marketing that may or may not work because the guy selling it to you is good. Please stop this madness. REFUSING TO ASK FOR HELP This is kind of like the stereotype of men not asking for directions when they are lost. It’s totally okay to ask for help. I know I ask my friends for help when I need it. Sometimes I just want a second set of eyes, and sometimes I simply don’t know the subject matter as well as friends and mentors do. The above eight points aren’t all-inclusive. I’m sure that, as I continue to study success, I’ll find more clues as to how the most successful people operate, but this is a good start. My question for you is this: Are you not in line with any of these points? Pick up to three points you’re not doing as well as you want to be and make a plan to improve them. Doing so will ultimately improve your chances to achieve massive success. This one is crazy. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs across many businesses stop a marketing program
It always amazes me when I meet a business owner who doesn’t read or study business at all. I’m always in a mastermind group, reading books, and/ or buying courses on business. Educating yourself is key to being a successful entrepreneur. TOO MANY PROJECTS Around this time of year, too many entrepreneurs try to personally take on too much work, and in turn, all of the projects suffer. NO PLAN FOR CUSTOMER CHURN This is massive. It is hard to get ahead when customers are leaving as fast or faster than you can bring them in. You have to work on relationship- building and customer success to reduce customer churn. FEAR Fear of loss, failure, or looking bad … Fear sucks and can paralyze any entrepreneur. The reality is that you’re going to fail. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s okay. We all do. I screw up all the time in business — but never personally. To be clear, I’m the perfect dad and husband. (I’m kidding, of course.) Even though I’m going to make
–Shaun
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