Top Ten Mistakes
Entrepreneurs Make Before They Even Start
By Cherilyn
Lester
So you want to start a business. You have an idea.
Lets say you want to be a carpenter. You print some
brochures, some business cards, and take out an ad in
the Yellow Pages. You pay $600 for a website and a
domain name that tells everyone about your amazing
credentials and experience. You distribute your fliers
at a local grocery store. And then you wait. And wait.
And wait…
Nothing happens. But, that’s what everyone does,
isn’t it? Print out some brochures, tell everyone how
great you are, and wait for the money to roll in.
Stop right there. You have just made the top 10
mistakes entrepreneurs make.
Mistake # 1: First, being a “carpenter” is too
general. There are a million carpenters in the world,
but the only successful ones have something to
concentrate on. Wood carving, house renovation,
specialized pieces. Like the old saying goes, “Jack of
all trades, master of none.”
Mistake # 2: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
An idea is not a business plan, or a marketing plan, or
even just a goal. It is simply an idea. Although the
planning process may seem long and tedious now, it will
benefit you more than you could imagine in the future.
For example, when you are seeking funding, when you are
joining an association of professionals, when your goals
change, when your business changes, or if you take on a
partner or investor. Your plan should guide you, but not
constrain you. If something in your plan doesn’t fit
just right, change it. Your business plan will never
have a final draft.
Mistake # 3: Brochures and business cards are GARBAGE
to start-up businesses! You will spend far more
producing them than they will produce for you. Ignoring
the high cost of printing these materials, and the costs
associated in designing them if you aren’t proficient
yourself, most start-up businesses change too quickly
for these materials to be effective for more than a
short period, sometimes as little as days. If it costs
$1000 to print these the first time, and $1000 to design
them the first time, imagine how much you will pay if
your brochures beat statistics and last 2 months. If
alterations to design cost $500, it costs $1500 every
time your business changes. If your business changes
every 2 months, you can expect to spend at least $9000
that year on brochures and business cards. Yes, that is
NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS in lost revenue, over something
that is less effective than grafitti. Don’t waste your
time, or your money, on brochures and business cards
until you can keep your typical sales presentation the
same for at least 6 months. Otherwise, these things
aren’t worth the trouble.
Mistake # 4: Okay, the Yellow Pages. Lets take a look
in the Yellow Pages and see how many other trillions of
carpenters there are. Which ones stand out? Definitely
not the tiny ad in the corner. Probably not the
one-liner. And as a start-up, that is all you would be
able to afford. For the one or two clients per year this
would bring you, it is better to wait until your
marketing budget can afford to buy large, extravagant
and eye-catching ads.
Mistake # 5: $600 for a website and domain name? A
website and domain name before a marketing plan? This
scenario is already causing headaches for those of you
“in the know”. Best idea, design your own website for
free if you can. Second best, get a friend or relative
to design it for free. Third best, pay a minimal fee for
the complicated stuff and the rest can be done by
yourself and a relative. Only if no one in the world can
help you, do you want to hire a professional to do the
whole thing for you. And when you do, try and get it on
30 or 60 days post. That way, their new website will be
generating money for you before you pay. If you do pay
upfront, and can’t get around it, ask if they do free
updates. You are guaranteed to change a thing or two,
probably at least once a week as you test out your new
site. If you pay $600, it had better be a good website –
because your entire marketing budget just paid for it.
Mistake # 6: Wow! A carpenter who went to John B. Doe
Carpentry Academy! Is that what your customers say? Most
likely, they won’t even think that. Most customers think
“Wow! Look at his work. It is just what I need.” And
that is what you want your customers to think. Don’t
promote yourself, promote your solutions. Everyone who
comes to your website has a problem they need solved. If
you figure out that problem, and can tell them how to
solve it using your website, you have just hit a
marketing gold-mine.
Mistake # 7: What is a carpenter doing at a grocery
store? And why is he handing out fliers anyway? If you
do hand out fliers, do it where it counts. A carpenter
should hand out fliers at a lumber yard or furniture
store. Even a department store that sells nails would be
a better location for a carpenter when handing out
fliers. Think about it.
Mistake # 8: This is probably the biggest mistake.
You stopped marketing. Even if you do exactly the
opposite of everything you have read so far, if you keep
doing it you are bound to get at least minimal results.
If you stop when you run out of new ideas, you probably
won’t get much. The key to marketing is repetition. Make
sure people think of your name when they have a problem.
If they have only seen your name once, but your
competitor just sent them a third flier, your competitor
will get their business. We’ve all heard that it takes
more than once for a customer to buy, and it has never
been more true. With the information available to your
customers today, you want your name to be in front of
them as much as possible.
Mistake # 9: When nothing happened, you didn’t try
again. Nothing says failure like someone who quits.
Motivate yourself! Get up in the morning and say “I’m
going to get hits to my website.” Or “I’m going to get a
client this week!” If you build it, but nobody knows its
there, nobody is going to come. You have to try, make
mistakes, learn, and try again. If you try, make a
mistake, and give up, you will never be the success you
know you can be.
Mistake # 10: You assumed that what everyone else
does will work for you. WRONG! What everyone else does
took them a long time to figure out, and they have been
tweaking it all that time to make it work right for
them. If you copy part, but not all, of what they do,
you will never get the same results. People strive for
individuality, and business should too. If you copy your
competitor in every aspect, your prospects might as well
flip a coin. Do you want 50% of the business you could
be getting? No, you want it all!
The bottom line is to stay motivated. Starting a
business is one of the hardest things anyone can ever
do. The uncertainty, the lack of a support structure,
the complete and total disregard of your typical safety
zone. It is all part of starting a business. But the
rewards are far greater than the sacrifices. And in the
end, when you are financially secure, and independent
from the corporate world, it will be more gratifying
than you could have ever dreamed.
About the Author:
Cherilyn R. Lester is an entrepreneur in her own
right, and the proprietor of Novus Life & Career
Coaching. Novus specializes in coaching entrepreneurs,
helping them to grow their business without everything
else taking a back seat in the process. You can visit
her at
http://novuslife.cjb.net
or call 206-20-COACH to schedule a complimentary session
and see just what Novus can do for you.
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