You have an idea, you’ve written a business plan, and you’re ready to start a business. What’s next? Well in all my business ventures, I’ve learned more from what I shouldn’t do than what I should! Most people fail to talk about the mistakes entrepreneurs can easily fall into, but I wanted to touch on some of them today.

Mistakes Every Entrepreneur Should Avoid

Mistake 1: Lack of focus

One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is trying to do too much at one time. Don’t jump at every “opportunity” or tackle multiple ventures. Focus on developing one thing well, not five mediocre things. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

Mistake 2: Starting Ventures Half-heartedly

This is similar to mistake #1. Instead of jumping on board a random idea or project, you should invest your time, resources, and talents into something you love and will work hard for. Consider that one thing that truly sets your heart on fire. What problem do you want to help solve? If you can develop a bigger “why” for your business, you will be more successful. 

Mistake 3: No Clear Business Goal or Purpose

Have you ever heard of the “elevator pitch?” That’s when you can give a quick pitch for your venture in the time it takes to ride an elevator. To do this, outline your goals and services so that you’re prepared to concisely pitch your venture to investors and customers at a moment’s notice. In order to be able to pitch to investors or customers, you need a clear business goal and purpose!

Mistake 4: Failing to Maintain a Low Overhead

Crucial to the successful entrepreneur mindset is the ability to be frugal. Monitor and check expenses, forego needless and flashy items and work at bringing down overhead. When you are starting a new venture, revenue may be few and far between. Many businesses fail in the first year because they can’t get their venture up and off the ground. If you are able to keep your costs low when you start, then you can increase them as you grow! Make sure you’re not tripping over dollars to pick up pennies!

Mistake 5: Requiring too Much Money Up-front

Don’t doom your project by being dependent solely on investor capital. Scale down and simplify your idea to a manageable, early-stage venture. Create value before seeking investment! If you are able to create value for your customers, they will pay for your good or your service and you will begin to make revenue. 

Mistake 6: Refusing to Get Out

Not every venture will succeed; the danger is ignoring when it’s time to walk away. Treat every failure as an education and become a better, more successful entrepreneur! Begin evaluating what works, avoiding what doesn’t, and applying setbacks as a hard-life lesson!

I’ve made a lot of money but I’ve also lost a lot of money; I’m successful today because I used all the mistakes I made as a learning tool and allowed them to take me to the next level.

If you want to learn more about building successful businesses, then you need to be at my business mastery workshop in September! You can find all the information here, and be sure to use the code “EB2019” to get a discount!