Mistakes are important when growing your business. It’s one of the ways you learn and develop a solid growth strategy. However, these mistakes should be specific to your business and ideally have minimal fallout. When every solopreneur or small business owner is making the same mistakes over and over again…you have to wonder if it’s down to a lack of research. Even if your business is still in its infancy, it’s important to find out the common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Fortunately for you, you’ve come across this article.
These are common mistakes solopreneurs and small business owners make (and the ones you should avoid).
Putting plans on a shelf
Starting your own business is scary, let’s not sugarcoat it. Even the most steel-nerved solopreneur will have moments of doubt. This isn’t the problem. The problem is allowing this fear to turn into hesitancy. You want to wait until everything’s “perfect” before launch or you have an idea to push your already established business forward but it’s being buried by day-to-day tasks. More often than not, these tasks will just be an excuse.
Scheduling things to happen at the optimal times is an important part of any business strategy, but you have to evaluate why certain plans are being executed when. Is it really because it’s the right time, or because your fear of failure is putting it off? A successful business is equal parts planning and implementation. A plan will never be useful if it’s not put into play.
Running before you walk
Aside from being scary, there’s another feeling that comes with starting and running your own business: excitement. Both fear and excitement can easily lead to mistakes because they cloud your thinking one way or another. Either can cause you to rush ahead before the right plans have been properly integrated. Or, you might be overcomplicating your plans and therefore making them seem impossible.
It’s hard but you need to take your time as and when you can. Of course, prioritise tasks or actions that are on a shorter timeframe but don’t tick something off the list or push something out before it’s ready. Even if it feels like your competitors are miles ahead, you’ll never catch up by taking shortcuts – you’ll just get lost.
Great plan, poor execution
Everything looks great on paper because a plan is merely a projected outcome, it’s not reality. However, you can create realistic plans that contain contingencies and alternative routes should things start to go off-road. The issue is that no one wants to plan for things to go wrong, it’s practically setting yourself up to fail, right? Completely wrong.
Too often solopreneurs and business owners will only plan for the good things that could happen. But, the truth is, growing your business is going to involve a lot of ups and downs. If you want the ups to outweigh the downs then you need to plan how to combat them.
Shiny object syndrome
Being a solopreneur or small business owner means you’re an idea person, you’ve usually got a million things running through your head at any given time. This can be extremely beneficial when you know how to focus it, channel this energy into innovative ideas and solutions. If not then you are likely to be distracted by or divide your energy between multiple projects.
This divided focus won’t necessarily prevent your business from moving forward but it will do so at a snail’s pace in comparison to the acceleration you could experience. This is why outlining your goals is vital. It’s not just about giving your business direction but giving you direction, allowing you to understand why certain tasks need your focus even when a fresh new idea is tugging on your subconscious.
Be the best by learning from the rest
These mistakes are not a rite of passage for solopreneurs and small business owners, they are cautionary tales for you to follow. As I said at the beginning of this article, you will make mistakes but they shouldn’t be the same mistakes that have been made time and time again. Take heed of these common mistakes so any you do make in the future contributes to your business growth, not hold it back.