Starting a business is hard enough without making it even harder on yourself by making these common business startup mistakes. (See page 1 of this article for Startup Mistakes 1 through 5.)
Startup 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.
Startup 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.
Startup Mistake # 8: You stopped marketing. This is probably the biggest mistake for a business startup. 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.
Startup 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. When you’re starting a business, 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.
Startup 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 businesses should too. If you copy your competitor in every aspect, your prospects might as well flip a coin. Do you want 50 percent of the business you could be getting? No, you want it all!
The bottom line with a business startup is to stay motivated. Starting a business is one of the hardest things anyone can ever do because of 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.
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://www.novuslife.com/ or call 206-20-COACH to schedule a complimentary session and see just what Novus can do for you. We're like motivational business startup consultants on a sugar-rush.
