Starting your first business is exciting. It’s also risky and challenging and goes together with a lot of uncertainty. But as an aspiring entrepreneur, you know that not every business idea is profitable. Whatever you try, though, will teach you a lot that you’ll later apply in your next business venture.
But to avoid the mistakes most newbies make when just starting out and entering the business world, there are some things you should know.
- It’s better to choose a field you’re passionate about.
If you’re about to enter a certain niche, make sure you care about it. After all, you’re going to be dedicating all your energy and focus to it, you will need to learn its ins and outs and create products or offer services to people with specific problems. If you relate to all that, if you’re truly interested, if you’re passionate about the business you’re starting, you will succeed.
There’s no point in going through with the complexities of the company registration process in a niche that doesn’t excite you, you risk losing motivation which you’ll need in spades to get you through tough times.
So define what you’re good at and what fields you like and make sure you start a business related to one of these.
- Just start.
Most people never start a business because they are afraid they don’t have the knowledge or experience necessary to make it. But these are just mental barriers they haven’t removed.
We live in the digital era that’s full of opportunities for any newbie to enter any niche they like and create something big and profitable. All you need to do is take the decision to start. Once you’re in, you’ll slowly understand how the market works, what your customers want, how to build the solution to their problems, and how to present it to them in a way they can’t resist.
- Be careful not to partner with the wrong person.
It might look tempting to just partner with a friend from college or accept the offer of an investor you don’t know. But watch out for the consequences.
For a start, friendship shouldn’t really be mixed with business. Not everyone is born to become an entrepreneur and even if you’ve know that person since forever, they might surprise you, disappoint you and cause you many problems that you’ll end up fixing yourself.
Then, there’s the risk of growing big soon and not having the power to take decisions for your business anymore because you’ve allowed investors to take control.
- You’ll be a bad manager for some time.
Managing people is not easy. And it comes naturally only to a small percentage of people. So don’t be surprised when you end up making mistakes when trying to hire people, monitor their work or run a team.
There will be many challenges but you’ll learn as you go. Still, it’s key to start delegating your work as soon as you can afford it. Because the time you free up thanks to that can be dedicated to business growth activities such as networking, looking for new clients, building your brand, and more.
To make managing people a bit easier, start small. Hire just one contract worker for one project and see how it goes. There are many aspects of management and you’ll learn a lot from managing your initial experience. But after your first hire, you’ll be able to make a second one and soon find someone you want to work with full-time.
- There will be many distractions on the way.
One of the hardest things for everyone starting a business is to keep their focus. There are so many distractions around that it’s easy to keep yourself busy and pretend to work hard instead of smart. You might end up wasting hours on a weekly basis in unproductive activities such as social media, checking email too often, or thinking about what others might say. But too much of this means too little action. And if you stop taking action on a daily basis, you won’t move forward with your business goals.
That’s why you need to master time management and learn how to eliminate distractions early on. There will be dozens of potential distractions at any minute of the day. Identify and ignore these so you can keep your focus and invest it in the right things.
- Don’t forget what’s essential.
Some entrepreneurs tend to get obsessed with building the business but they work hard instead of smart. Meaning, they are always thinking about it and busy with tasks related to it. But that doesn’t usually increase their profit. Instead, it just makes them miss out on life in the present moment.
It is essential that you keep your family in mind, so prioritize spending time with them. Then come your friends, your hobbies and actually living life. You don’t want to build a business just to look back one day and have regrets for not doing all this. So save yourself the trouble by always keeping in mind what’s most important and making time for it.
- All great entrepreneurs are readers.
Reading is one of the most powerful practices. As someone entering the entrepreneurial world, you’ll need to constantly build new skills, learn things, get to know how your potential customers think and how best to market to them, and so much more. If you ever stop reading, you’ll be left behind.
Make sure you don’t just read business books, though. Go through the bestsellers in the self-help niche such as Think and Grow Rich. Check out the biographies of leaders you admire and learn from their mistakes. Make time for psychology and a bit of philosophy too. All these will open your eyes too many things and will be beneficial to your business growth too.
Reading is related to boosting creativity, stimulating our mind and keeping it sharp, improving our memory, helping us express ourselves better, boosting our thinking and analytical skills, and so much more.
- Early mornings are key to your success.
It’s not a coincidence that all hard workers and successful entrepreneurs rise up early. But it’s not just that. While leaving bed earlier than you have to itself is a way to kickstart the day and win it, what’s even more important is what follows. And that’s usually a well thought out morning routine.
In it, you can include positive and powerful practices such as meditating, working out, reading, journaling, visualizing, brainstorming, etc. We all have more focus and willpower in the morning and such healthy and productive habits right after you wake up will help you take more action throughout the whole day.
Start by making it a habit to get up an hour earlier. Then, fill that time with nice activities that will help you have a clear mind, healthy body, and peaceful soul.
This routine can be the reason why you handle stress better, solve problems creatively, think of new ideas, are more social, take more risks and – ultimately – become a better entrepreneur. So reclaim your morning starting tomorrow and enjoy the benefits.
- Others in your life might not support you.
Another thing you should be prepared for is the lack of support. Don’t get discouraged if friends and family don’t really encourage you to keep building a business. Most often, they just don’t want to see you fail or don’t even understand what it is that you’re doing.
You don’t need to share specific goals with them. Still, their presence in your life is important to you so keep them around.
When you need inspiration and support, look for it by finding a mentor, going to networking events and meeting like-minded entrepreneurs, and joining mastermind groups to discuss your challenges with other people facing the same.
Are you ready to start a business?
These are the main things you should know before starting a business. While most of these truths sound unpleasant and even scary, they are all necessary obstacles that will help you build discipline and be a better entrepreneur. You can’t learn how to manage a business, a lot of money and a whole team without handling all possible issues first. But if you watch out for everything mentioned above, you will be able to avoid some of the most common mistakes of new business owners.
Over to you now. Have you chosen your niche? Are you ready to do extensive research and write a business plan?
