Lots of people find themselves trapped doing mundane jobs they are unsatisfied with and yearn for independence and financial freedom. Pushed by this quest, many venture into the business world. Good as this may be, many have little experience in business and some find themselves making freshmen mistakes that may eventually cause them to fold up.
The common issue is once business is up and running and success experienced from the onset, the thrill of first sales/success can lead one to make costly mistakes especially in terms of scaling which is disastrous to the existence of the business.
Carried away by thrill? Stop! Watch out for Startup Blunders!
Though it is good to dream big, it is advisable to start on a small scale. This will enable you plan, launch and market your product adequately. By so doing, one has ample time to understand the market before mass producing. Do not let enthusiasm from first sales push you into unnecessary competition with already existing firms. This can result to exorbitant spending which might cripple your business.
Once sales double and customer base increases, this is the moment to get assistance to meet the needs of your growing customer base. While hiring, care should be taken to ensure that those suitable to handle such functions are hired rather than hiring friends and relatives who are unable to perform well based on sentiments.
More so, a detailed business plan is needed to act as a road map to achieve your main objective. Not setting an objective and periodical goals to gauge your growth rate is indirectly preparing to fail. Vital data and statistics such as sales, markup and costs need to be viewed periodically in order to make pertinent decisions pertaining to the success of your enterprise.
Furthermore, it is important for an entrepreneur to know his strengths and weaknesses and where he finds himself redundant, should be able to delegate these functions to those best suited to perform especially in issues such as auditing and taxation.
One of the most important startup blunders to avoid is outside influence. Relatives and friends are always full of ideas on how to improve your business. The issue here is if you cannot decipher those useful to your enterprise, you run the risk of doing everything and ruining everything.
At some point even with a plan at hand, you realize desirable growth is not forth coming; you have to develop a dynamic mind and embrace change. Thus, you need to re-strategize and develop new ideas to succeed. If it means going into partnership with others, do so but only partner with those you trust and share the same vision with you.
Finally, it is necessary to note that scaling also involves trimming down unnecessary activities and costs. Do these and watch your empire soar.
