Online Entrepreneurial ventures are fraught with missteps, mishaps, and mistakes. No matter how steeped you are in business-ownership experience, you are bound to run into problems at some point.
The key to your success is to quickly identify your mistakes, learn from them, and prevent the same mistakes from happening again.
Most business owners fall into the same traps. It’s those mistakes which could make the difference between owning a successful and viable small business, or owning a money pit that could leave you in financial pain for years to come.
So, what are the biggest mistakes owners make when starting and managing their small businesses?
Trying to Get Rich Quick
“Overnight success” usually takes 15 to 20 years to achieve. If you go in expecting to be rich overnight, you may become discouraged early on and give up your dream prematurely. Know that success takes time, perseverance, and a little bit of luck. Give your business the time to grow. Only if your company is stagnant for a long time should you take it as an indication that you need to try something new. It takes time to create the momentum needed to become recognized and trusted. This is one of the key reasons why over 90% of online entrepreneurs quit.
Assuming You Have No Competition
Even if you have the latest, greatest, never-been-done-before approach to something, don’t assume that you have no competition. Competition is more than just the direct, obvious competitors. Competition is also all the available alternatives. What else could the consumer do instead of using your product or service? Could they do nothing? The customer almost always has the option of walking away. That alone is a serious competitive threat.
Having the right Profile Picture
This is the most common mistake that people make. Your Profile Picture must be of YOU, not your incredible children or your fabulous pet or even your house, car, motorbike or boat.
Branding
This is absolutely essential as many things can happen with the current company that you are with. They could go out of business or you could change companies? Do you want to be the “go too” spammy pitchy pain in the butt salesperson? We all love and admire our present companies and we are taught to plaster the company all over the place. This is one of the biggest most common mistakes in our online industry. The reason being, is that for starters companies come and go falling by the wayside. Secondly you may very well decide that the company that you are presently in is not sitting right for you and you may choose to join a different or even join another company. What happens if you are associated with a brand that you no longer represent because you have names, logos and dialogue branding your whole social media portal? Creating you as your own brand is essential in the success of your stay at home business.
Sending Links
Sending links of your current primary company is another mistake that we all have made. It is so easy to send a link to a person who claims to be interested. Once they have the link they go to Professor Google and read something negative about that Service that you are offering and they run a wide mile, never to be seen again. It shouts ‘desperation’ from the rooftops and that is never a good place to be in.
Promoting your company name
There are a number of reasons why this is really not a good Idea. Firstly, companies come and go like the ebb and flow of the ocean. There is so much competition that often the company that we first become involved with is never the one that we end up with. Leaders in the industry have all moved around to find their fit that they are comfortable with. How then, do we get out of a company if all we are doing is posting the company name all over our social media sites?
Secondly, If you give your prospect or interested client the information and they go and search it on the search engines, they more often than not will be channeled into reading negative morose stories that aren’t quite true thereby losing the hook that you can have if you drip feed the information to show the benefits of this industry.
Not offering value
Everyone is looking to learn and what the industry influencers do is offer value. Your competition is offering fantastic amazing value at every corner that we turn to online and to stand out we have to really give people something that is not out there. Guess what that is? The answer is pretty simple…………..YOU!
By Offering what you have learned with the intention of service you will see a dramatic shift in your business and this creates a steam train of momentum of likability and trust.
Having No Clear Marketing Strategy
You never know where, when, or how a new prospect is going to hear of your business. If you have a mix of messages out there, the prospects will have an unclear expectation of what your business can offer. Your company must present a consistent, clear message on all fronts. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make sure every new prospect who sees your business for the first time receives the same, consistent message.
Trying to Do It All
The greatest mistake entrepreneurs make is to believe they can do it all by themselves. While an entrepreneur can do almost everything, they do almost everything poorly. Just like any other person, an entrepreneur has one or two natural talents. As an entrepreneur, it is your job to identify those talents and focus on them to your fullest. Surround yourself with people who are strong where your talents are weakest. Great companies are built on the foundation of exploiting a few strengths, not on trying to be masters of everything.
Not being taught the really aspect of marketing
Most companies teach you what is good for them. What we really need to be looking at is ways aside from the company. Take a look to the influencers in our industry and really see how they brand their businesses. I can guarantee that you will not be able to tell what company they are with.
Are you married to the outcome?
Wrong expectations and your energy should be focused on the “falling in love” phase and embrace the process. Mindset is key. Look for people who are looking for you. Changing your energy is so important to attract the right people for you.
Doing what you know Vs. Learning how to do it
“You know what you know, You know what you don’t know but you don’t know what you don’t know” – Diane Hochman
Focus on your strengths and leave the weaknesses to slowly learn everyday. Doing what you know will give you instant credibility – learning how to do it takes time.
