10 stupid mistakes aspiring entrepreneurs

For 14 years, as I work for myself and have done on this road many stupid mistakes. In addition, I have taught people the art of doing business and saw that many of them make the same mistakes. These tips are written to help small business owners and especially first-time entrepreneurs.

1. Selling the wrong peopleAlthough sale – based survival of any business, you should not try to sell indiscriminately to all the people around you, including friends and relatives. Moreover, it is a waste of time to try to sell to people is absolutely not interested in your offer.

For sale the wrong people, also included an attempt to sell to everyone. To sell to the same customers is much easier than others. My wife does consulting for small business, and she says to his disciples, that there are easy customers and tough. If your potential customer shaking over every penny spent, if he wants a website, but does not know why he or not at all familiar with the Internet, it is likely that in the long run it will not be the easiest client. Feel free to say "no" to clients more problems than benefits. Let them go to your competitors. You will save yourself from headaches and free up time for productive work with the best clients.

 





 

What people want to do business with you, does not mean that you should accept his offer. In the first year of his business I said "Yes" to more than 50% of the people speaking unto me with offer of cooperation. I spent a lot of time wasted on projects that were doomed from the start. I have agreed to discuss over dinner suggestions complete strangers who were just curious to know, "could we work together to come up with something worthwhile".

None of them in the end did not bring me a cent. If you have a suspicion that the meeting does not make sense, most likely, it will be so. Do not rush to cooperate with random people just for the sake of cooperation. Now I take no more than one such proposal out of 10. If the idea captured me from the first words, I usually refuse or just ignore the offer. Most of the meetings does not justify the time spent on them. Learn to reject mediocre suggestions, and then you will have the power to see and not to miss the delicious options.

 

2. The tendency to spend too much

Until you have built a stable incoming cash flow, don't waste invaluable start-up capital without emergency necessity. I started in the business of development of computer games, with around 20,000 dollars of personal savings, which quickly ended and I got into debt. Unfortunately, the original idea didn't work, and I spent five long years before the business became profitable. Then I learned that every dollar invested in the business, must be returned through sales.

In 2004 I started a business aimed at personal development, giving it only 9 (nine) dollars, although he had the opportunity to invest much more. I went without an attractive logo, without the chic design of your website, without business cards and stationery. My only spending was the registration of the domain name. I'm not going to spend more until the business begins to pay off. All further investments were already out of profits.

Your business is bound to bring you profit. Before you "invest" in it, make sure you clearly understand how to get the money back.

Of course, some businesses require huge amounts to start, but in this age of Internet Commerce, you can easily start a profitable business, giving him only pocket change.

 

3. The tendency to spend too littleto Be too stingy either. Don't let frugality degrade your effectiveness. Hire qualified contractors, the efficiency of which is above your own. Buy decent equipment, if its quality depends on your income. Of course, it is not necessary to overspend and buy fancy office furniture. The furniture should be convenient and help you work productively. Do not use old computers with old programs, if you can afford something more modern.

Only with time you come to the wisdom to accurately determine when to spend more and when less. Do not hesitate to seek advice from more experienced entrepreneurs. Frequently, the error becomes obvious during your attempt to explain to someone their expenses. And of course, some costs are simply necessary.

 

4. Impersonation of anotherMany novice businessmen when referring to themselves they say "we." It is very common, although the sense in this. In our days there is nothing wrong if the company consists of one person. About my business of computer games I always say "we", but about the business of self-development, saying "I do." The business of my wife's VegFamily Magazine – that "we" as in her company hired employees and engaged in consulting, it is represented as "I".

If you are the only person working in your company – feel free to say "I do". To pretend that this is a "we" where in fact "me" is pretty stupid. It does not add to your respect. Position yourself as "I", even more profitable nowadays, because customers will know that you are the business owner and will personally fulfill all his promises. Pledges from the person in the abstract "we" often sound less convincing.

If you're new in business, don't try to hide it. Based on the level of your skills, hoping to price your products and services. Some budding entrepreneurs think that should behave like actors. They come up with non-existent services for yourself and your business. Any attempt to fool their customers sooner or later will turn against them.If your business can not exist without lies, I would not advise you to start such a business. If you are not able to give people a valuable product or service for an adequate price, you should not do business. Instead, engage in the development of their skills.

 

5. A revaluation of the significance of the signed contractI've stepped on this rake countless times. In my hands, contracts were signed with major companies, but they turned into dust, if the Director-General for some unknown reason, I changed my mind. Of course, I was right, and any court would be on my side. But is it worth to switch from your business in a lawsuit? I decided that doing things you love, I'll make more.

A signed contract is just a piece of paper. Valued only relationship behind these signatures. If the relationship discord, then no contracts will not save you. The purpose of the agreement is to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each partner. But ensures compliance with the Treaty is the relationships, not paper printing. When I realized this, I began to spend more time exploring relationships and could care less about what is written on paper. My transactions have to pass much calmer.

As soon as the settlement business process you have to go to paper, your transaction is already in danger. Business in a creative, highly lucrative areas, virtually always deviates from the terms of the contract written on paper. One of my attorneys, have signed dozens of deals to develop computer games, said that in his entire practice he never had to face the fact that the work went well under the contract. Some of them even remotely resembled the contract is signed. Most of these deals bring big money. The business relation is similar to the personal – they are impossible to register on paper.

Of course, written contracts are still important, especially when working with large corporations, where there is a turnover. But nevertheless, they are inferior in importance to the relationship. Just don't make the mistake of assuming that signing the contract is the basis of the transaction. The conclusion of the contract, it is only a shadow of all work on the project. Building relationships is the basis of the transaction. If your relationship with your customer, you need not worry what is written on paper.

Sad, but business is full of scams. Many of them occupy positions of the General and financial Directors or CEOs. There are people who are not interested in anything but money, and for the sake of profit, they will lie and cheat. Some of them have already caught the foul deeds and sent to jail. But there's still a huge number of businessmen, leading a dishonest business.

For example, in the computer games industry are not rare cases of fraud developers, even major publishers. They "feed" the developers promise a speedy review of the project, and other empty promises. In fact, they deliberately delay the timing of the game, not to put on the market another competitor of their similar games. Their goal is to spend the Christmas sales with fewer competitors. Or are they waiting for, when the developer runs out of money, he will sell them your project for next to nothing. It happens sometimes. Business, especially in the entertainment industry, not for the timid.

 

6. Ignoring your intuition

Intuition in business plays a lesser role than in other cases. You'll be surprised how many multi million dollar deals was signed or on the contrary rejected, based on "the sixth sense" one of the Directors. Although it is considered that the business obeys the laws of logic, the reality is quite different. If you making decisions, you neglect intuition and be guided only by logic, then very soon you will get yourself into serious trouble.

People initially are not very logical. Sometimes we lack the original data to make logical conclusions. In addition, the result of the transaction depends on the people, and we have a system that enables more or less accurately predict the behavior of the parties to the transaction. The inability to predict the behavior of the people, nullifying our entire logic. And only intuition can fill the gap. Usually the result of transactions depends on the actions of a few key people and assume that everything will go exactly according to your predictions, the height of arrogance. No deal is not on the prescribed scenario.

It is difficult to abandon the project, with a tempting budget, but when my gut tells me, "you'll regret this", in most cases, after some time I see that I was right. Sometimes, refusing to cooperate with a person relying on intuition, I have been through many years of hearing from colleagues that they worked with this man and was cheated by him.

Intuition is an essential part of the decision-making process in business. Because the business is tied to the relationship between people, it is very important to know the opinion of other people involved in the project. If several people are negative, it is better to withdraw from the transaction. If all expressed positively, it is possible with care to move on.

 

7. Excessive formalismagain. Business is about relationships. In some cases, a certain degree of formalism is appropriate, but in most cases it just interfere. Business relationships work best when they are backed by good relationships between people.

I think excessive formalism is not necessary even in the formation of new business relationships. When I receive an e-mail beginning with "Dear Mr. Pavlina...", and then long-winded explanation of the nature of the alleged cooperation, I usually send a letter in the basket. Especially if the person referring to himself, says "we". Much better to begin a letter with "hi, Steve!" and then briefly and concretely, without unnecessary formalities, to ask me questions. This saves time and opens doors to human relationships. Real people don't want to build a relationship with soulless corporations. It is much nicer to interact with the same real people... or, at least, animals. J

Treat your business relationships like friendships (or friendly relations). Excessive formality creates walls, but they do not contribute to the improvement of any relationship. Nobody likes to communicate through the wall... except the Chinese, of course.

The formalities boring and tedious. People want to enjoy their work. If someone communicates with me, as a computer, I answered without thinking press the Delete key (delete). But if a person demonstrates that he is a living person, with sense of humor, our cooperation much more likely.

 

8. The loss of individuality.In the first years of my gaming business, I treated it too seriously, suggesting that it should act as a "business man", whatever that meant. To be head of the company – a very serious matter, and the staff I was hoping for. Sink or swim!

I started this business 20 years, and 20-year-old boys usually have their own quirks. But I assumed that the owner of the company, the presence of eccentricities is unacceptable. So most of my business letters and emails according to the dry style like the license agreement from Microsoft. I acted not as a man but as a "company President". I have learned to suppress their personality and their individuality.

Many years passed before I realized the importance of self. Now that I'm a blogger, my quirks and my personality, on the contrary have become my strengths. My personal oddities fill this blog quirky, unique flavor. If I was too serious and wrote more formally, my blog would be boring and dull and probably would have lost the majority of its readers.

Perfectly normal to have their own quirks and transfer them to your business, especially if you are young and perky. Don't be afraid to be more like Steve jobs (Steve Jobs)... and less on Steve Ballmer (Steve Ballmer). Don't pretend someone you are not. In the end, you will enjoy your work much more if you attract the clients and partners who accept you for who you really are. People who want to work with robots, feel free to send your overly serious competitors. They will appreciate each other. J

If people do not understand your impairment, the worse for them. Focus your energy on the people who are close to you in spirit.

 

9. Loss of focus on the creation of valuesis Very easy to fall into the trap of feeling that the goal of business – making money. The real purpose of business is to create value. And although at first you can make money, without paying attention to value creation in the long term is impossible. Even criminal business creates for someone of some value. When you know that your business only sucks money from consumers without giving anything worthwhile in return, this will undermine your self-esteem, and the business will not be able to develop.

What is your business? It exists to ensure the values you and your customers. The better you understand the value of their work, the better the focus. The main value of my game business was the production of quality entertainment for the brain. The main value of the project StevePavlina.com lies in the ideas of personal growth. But often business owners don't understand what value to give them business. They just resell stuff and hope for the best. It's a lousy business model. The world does not need an increase in the number of sales or goods. The world is interested in obtaining a true benefit and that its provision you should direct your efforts.

Now this free site has more than 400 articles. It is quite valuable materials. Thousands of people daily visit this blog to get this value. To help people to grow – the main purpose of my business.

 

10. The lack of attention to business developmentThough value creation is the basic condition for a successful business, it is naive to assume that you can focus all efforts on value creation, and everything else will happen. You might get a business that creates value, but does not bring money. As a business owner you need to find the most effective way to convey your value to consumers. Most likely, your first attempts will not be optimal. You will waste a lot of time and effort trying to create value and engage in its promotion. Do not worry – this is normal. Most companies go through. Most importantly, don't stop and move forward.

Once you have a working business process, divide it into parts and try to optimize each of them. Constantly looking for ways to increase efficiency. Is it possible to do the same in less time? And at a lower cost? You can do this operation less? Or entrust it to someone? And to delegate the whole process completely?

At the beginning of his gaming business, I handled all the orders manually. My business started in 1994. In that time I have received the order by e-mail or through the website and used some software to return the letter to send the order. At the end of each month, I manually counted the number of sales. This method worked well when orders were few, but became burdensome when the number of sales increased. A few years ago I upgraded this process.

Now online orders are processed automatically, including instant submitting an order, after payment by the client. All orders recorded in the database, and I can in real time to see how they sell each product. It took some effort to set up this system, but it was worth it. Only one, this optimization allowed me to free up a lot of time and effort. Besides, I don't need to pay for the labour of employees employed in the processing of orders.

Do not use outdated methods for routine tasks, which has long been possible to automate. Warehouse management, invoicing, accounting, orders, etc. — easy automation. If you month after month doing the same repetitive work, it's time to explore the possibility of their optimization. Otherwise, you will be the wasteful spending of our resources. And time and money is usually easier to save than to zero.

Internet business has a huge opportunity for optimization. Constantly try new methods and measure the results. In the first year of launching this site I experimented a little with Google Adsense. Many people do not like the current location of ad units, but this is the most effective location. I placed them there because they work. Another optimization was the addition of pages of donations. Some people click on the ads, some donate, and some do both. Despite the fact that value creation is the main goal of my business is commercial project which is required to generate income. I can't write if I'm hungry. The more money, the more time I can devote to the new articles. Therefore, the value creation and optimization go hand in hand.

Building a successful business requires great effort, but at the same time, gives invaluable experience. I know many people who left their jobs and started their own business. Had intended, but I don't know anyone who would regret this step. If you take control of your destiny in your own hands, you need and private business. published

© Steve Pavlina

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! © Join us at Facebook , Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki

Source: allstevepavlina.ru/10-stupid-mistakes-made-by-the-newly-self-employed