A lot of people are alarmed and even outright confused by the fact that 9 out of 10 businesses don’t make it past the first five years, with the vast majority of them falling off within the first six months. However, when you start analyzing all the mistakes that these businesses consistently make, as well when you further analyze the gravity and the effect of these mistakes, you’ll come to the natural conclusion that it’s a wonder that anyone ever makes it.
Fortunately, with the right mindset and determination to figure out what is it that they do wrong, you can easily overcome these challenges once you finally encounter them. With that in mind, here are the top seven things you should avoid if you want your small business to succeed.
- Not having proper goals
The first thing we need to discuss when it comes to making a successful business is how you define the success itself. You see, in order to know whether your efforts were successful or not, you need to set proper measurable goals. First of all, your goals need to be realistic. Trying to outcompete a major company within your industry is something that just has to result in a disaster. On the other hand, if you decide to go for a goal that’s too modest, achieving it may not be that meaningful.
The most important thing about your goals is that they are SMART. What this acronym stands for is – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. This way you get to measure them over the course of years and even note down some milestones along the way. Without these milestones, you would have to wait for a prolonged period of time in order to see whether your business is actually moving in the right direction.
- Not doing the proper research
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The reason why as many as 42 per cents of all businesses fail is that there’s no market need for their services. When stacked against these odds, even the most innovative business plan and the most exact and efficient execution can’t do much. By merely checking the target market, you can already avoid one of the biggest pitfalls of the business world.
- Leadership problems
Another massive problem that you will encounter on your way to success is of the managerial nature. Namely, as a leader, you need to possess an in-depth knowledge of the capacities of your business and your team. This will help you understand what you can and cannot promise to your clients. Second, it will help you set realistic expectations for your staff and avoid overworking them. For this to work, you also need to gain the trust and respect of your employees, which is far from simple under any circumstances. Fortunately, where there’s a will there’s always a way. Enlisting on a leadership course might just be the thing you need.
- Burning out
As an entrepreneur, you’ll be the person in charge of all the most important administrative tasks regarding your business. Add to this the mandatory networking, strategy and decision-making and you’ll already have too much on your platter. This is why you need to start delegating tasks. First, you need to pick all those tasks that require a particularly high level of skill and outsource them. For instance, when it comes down to your finances, especially your taxes, you might want to look for professional tax agents to help you out. Other tasks can be entrusted to your team members. For this to work, you must ensure that they have enough skill, as well as that they’re reliable enough.
- Not being different enough
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Put yourself in the position of an average customer and you’ll quickly realize that one of the biggest problems that your business is facing is not being different enough from the competition. Keep in mind that with the surplus of the offers on the market, being different in price alone might not cut it. After all, while they are doing some research, your audience definitely isn’t focused on the price exclusively. Think about it, if that was the case, there would only be one business per industry. Instead, you need to find another way to differentiate yourself and stand out amongst the crowd.
- Be user-centric
The most important thing you need to focus on is becoming more user-centric. This doesn’t mean that you have to live by the outdated “customer is always right” rule but it does mean that you need to go the extra mile to make your customer feel special. Everyone appreciates the preferential treatment and in order to get there you need to A) optimize your business and B) improve your staff’s training. A perfect example of the first lies in making your business website more intuitive. This way, you’ll significantly improve customer satisfaction. As for the latter, you might want to start an efficient mentor program.
- Ignoring the feedback
The biggest problem with reacting to feedback lies in the idea that you have to maintain your composure if things don’t seem to be going your way. What this means is that it’s quite easy to make a mistake of interpreting a piece of criticism as nothing more than a personal assault of an internet troll, when, in reality, it might be a realistic concern. Keep in mind that the majority of businesses are passion projects by the entrepreneurs behind them, which means that insulting them usually gets taken as a personal insult. You need to keep your head above the water and avoid online arguments even if they are extremely rude or obnoxious.
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In conclusion
The most important piece of advice you need to take on this topic is the fact that you’re in it for the long-run. What this means is that doing everything right during the first year might be completely pointless if you let things go later on. Running a business is a constant struggle, seeing as how the business world evolves over the course of years and the target audience tends to change with years, as well. Therefore, consistency is the only factor that can provide you with much-needed success.
