How can you be sure that your business will succeed? A combination of hard work and good luck are both needed, but there is no surefire route to business success. All the same, there are mistakes many entrepreneurs make that you can be aware of and try to avoid.
Have Access to Funding
Cash flow can be a problem for many companies, especially in the early days. There are a number of solutions, but you need to have them in place beforehand so that you aren’t scrambling for them when the crunch happens. You could start lowering your monthly expenses now to give yourself more room in your personal budget to put toward the business as needed. For example, you could use a student loan refinance calculator to see if refinancing would save you money. Your credit won’t be impacted by checking. You could also keep your day job or at least work part-time, which would make you less dependent on your business for money. You might be able to take out a business loan. Invoice insurance can protect you if you are struggling to collect payments from clients or customers.
Know Your Market
Many people fail to sufficiently understand who their customers or clients are and how to reach them. You may like your idea, and your friends and family may think it’s a good idea, but have you looked at your competition and how potential customers might respond to the product or service you have to offer? This is an important step in getting a business up and running, and it’s one that shouldn’t be short-changed. Tools such as surveys and focus groups can be great ways to get a better sense of how to market your company.
Grow with Care
Growth is good, so more growth seems even better. Overexpansion has been the end of many a business in the past, so before you move to a larger space, hire more employees or open other locations, make sure that the time is right. Growth needs to happen in a careful, steady fashion.
Learn to Delegate
Trying to do everything is another big failure point. There are a few different ways this can give you problems. First, you may lack the necessary expertise to do some jobs. It might save you money in the long run if you hire an attorney to draw up contracts or an accountant to do your taxes. Second, you might just burn out. There may be too much for one person to do. Third, if you have employees, not delegating tasks appropriately can make you a bad manager. If you are going to hire employees, you need to have confidence that they can succeed in the roles you have for them.
Have a Plan
Before you open your doors—or launch a website, if your business is one that is largely conducted online—you need to make a careful plan that covers the points above and more. Above all, try to think in terms of contingency planning and problem solving. What issues do you anticipate arising, and how will you respond to them if they do?
