Business mistakes I’ve made (and how to cure them) - Part Two
In part one of this series, I explored 3 business mistakes I’ve made over my years as a student entrepreneur. They include the following:
- Forgetting about client satisfaction.
- Letting personal life affect business.
- Not setting a time limit for goals.
You don’t think I only made 3 mistakes, right? Of course there’s more.
Let’s move on to the rest.
4. Handling everything myself.
Accounting, product creation, client relations - you think you can do it all.
In some cases, you can. However, watch your sanity shred itself to pieces when the flood of clients come in. You won’t find the time or energy todo everything yourself, trust me.
Quality control is one thing, micro managing is another. One of my biggest obstacles for hiring other people was the idea that “But they won’t do it as well as I do!” The solution is to find and hire those who can do tasks as well as you do, or better than you. Or, at the very least, find someone whose output quality is close enough and train that person.
Also, I had to keep in mind that I wasn’t the expert in everything. My accounting was horrible. Thank goodness I came to my sense and found a business partner I could trust who could do perfect accounting (with detailed Excel files and graphs!).
The point is, if you’re not an expert, find people who are and hire them. Most of the time, it’s worth it. You’ll get to focus on the aspects of the business that are the most important to you.
5. No regular evaluation.
I did not evaluate myself for the most part of my early student entrepreneur days. The effect? I didn’t know where my weaknesses were, what things I could improve on, and what things to capitalize on.
Now, I have weekly meetings, reports tracking progress, and measurement of the hours I work, the cost of each working hour, the profits, etc. I measure all the business metrics I can possibly measure.
Why? So that I don’t remain stagnant like I did for the most part of my student entrepreneurship.
6. Not reinvesting in the business.
What did I do with most of my income? I put it in my pocket or paid for business expenses. What did I know about business savings?
The thing is, there wasn’t any room for my business to grow until I saved up for expanding it. If you keep spending all you earn, even if it’s for the basic needs of your business such as hosting, advertising etc., it’ll be hard to save up for some ‘extras’ such as:
- The purchase of new, more profitable ventures.
- New equipment.
- Unforseen emergencies.
- Etc.
Because saving up for “unforseen emergencies” is now one of my priorities, when some clients have their own payment troubles or there’s a lesser amount of orders, I don’t panic. I have enough to keep the company afloat. This feeling of security will help you focus on finding solutions rather than panicking.
Also, when making a purchase, consider the helpful tips in Ryan’s post about making your purchases earn their keep. His advice is important if you want to make the most out of your extra money.
Do you have other solutions for these business mistakes? Feel free to share them in the comments.
Related Articles:
- Business mistakes I’ve made (and how to cure them) - Part One
- My Biggest Business Mistake So Far
- 4 Figures Per Day Is Possible
- Does Your Blog Make Your Business Look Stupid?
- 3 Common Mistakes Business Owners Make
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These are some good ones. I’ve made them myself. It’s kind of funny, but even after you learn from these and the money starts flowing again there is a whole nother set of mistakes that can be made. Such is business…