The Most Common Start-up Blunders And How To Avoid Them!
Congratulations! You are all set to start your very own business. Lets have a look at the some of the common start up blunders that all businesses make and how to avoid them.
Starting a business might be the best decision you have taken. The euphoria of being in control, making all the decisions, creating what you want without having to take orders. The thrill of playing boss and not having to compromise your creativity for someone else’s goals may just be the best feeling ever!
Ready, Set, Go…
but…
In the enthusiasm, don’t forget to avoid these common blunders:-
Start Up Blunder No. 1 To Avoid:- Selecting the wrong name
“What’s in a name?” you may ask. This is probably the only way your product is recognized and set at par against your competitors. Make it more relatable to what you are actually offering, easy to identify with your customers. It would be an added advantage, if it could be as unique as possible to catch a potential customer’s attention! Overlooking this can often lead to major confusion and an onset to huge blunders.
Example of a common error in a name especially for businesses on Instagram
A similar name to a competitor might get the customer easily confused. It can also be led to believe that it’s an imitation of an existing brand. This may be a major drawback, especially for new ventures. Try and avoid the underscores or unnecessary symbols, if possible, they just make it harder to find and remember.
Start Up Blunder No. 2 To Avoid:- Not Researching your target market well
Find out about your potential customers, find their needs and try and balance it with what you have to offer. Know where to find them.
For example, If it’s an online business, target through the readily available social media platforms at home easily with the touch of a button. Information is readily available and accessible on the internet. Read and adapt wisely.
Remedies to rectify the blunder of not researching well before starting
Try and address their constraints if possible to attract them. For instance, by providing additional services such as delivery services through reliable delivery agents on the internet could be a good way of attracting and retaining customers.
Start Up Blunder No. 3 To Avoid:- Investing too much
This can be simply in the form of too much time, energy or even the most obvious, capital. You have all heard the saying, “time is money!”
Just analyse it through the below given examples,
You launch a website way before your actual start date.
Capital Wasted!You put in too much time creating an advert for your product and create a campaign for it. You could have paid an expert to launch your product is probably a quarter of the time
Time Wasted!
Start Up Blunder No. 4 To Avoid:- Not separating personal from professional
For optimal results, maintain different accounts, not just the money but social media accounts, communication devices, if possible! Try and separate personal and professional as much as possible to avoid affecting family life. And don’t forget the most important account – time!
Tips to separating personal from professional
Maintain a journal or planner to set out priorities to plan and account for time and money spent just as you would on the home front.
Start Up Blunder No. 5 To Avoid:- Not having a budget or realistic goals
A budget is the most user friendly tool that you could have asked for in the business world. They assist you in planning, setting goals and measuring your actual results. Just as you use them in your daily family finances, you should draw up one for the business to measure your progress and compare the reality to find out if you are actually meeting your goals.
Once again, do factor in time and effort in addition to capital.
Start Up Blunder No. 6 To Avoid:- Not outsourcing
Simple things we tend to overlook as well as doing everything ourselves. Not knowing when to ask for help, struggling, getting bogged down and sometimes giving up in the process are the major drawbacks of women starting out their own businesses.
We are excellent multitaskers! However, the fear of losing control or simply an obsession of doing everything ourselves to ensure maximum output, could be detrimental especially if we already have multiple responsibilities!
For Example,
If you are a mum and venturing out in the business field, ensure that you have ensured help in at least one front. Hire a nanny or house help or someone to assist you in setting up the business and assisting you thereafter. There is no point in multitasking and stretching out yourself too thin that you end up failing in both. Here again, balance is critical and this can be achieved by using the remedy for the final error listed below.
Start Up Blunder No. 7 To Avoid:- Last but not least, facing your inner demons and coming out of your comfort zone
A mental SWOT analysis is not the way to go about or starting a business. Prepare those detailed analyses and be realistic, for example, if you don’t have the expertise in advertising or setting up websites or photography, don’t go about learning 100 per cent of that particular skill and digressing from your original goal and wasting time!!!
Remember to:-
Engulf and multiply your Strengths
Work on and diminish your Weaknesses
Look for and seize Opportunities
Challenge those Threatening Obstacles.
Follow the below steps to ensure the most common start up blunders are avoided
To Summarize:-
- Set An Appropriate Name.
- Research well and create supplementary services.
- Invest that time wisely.
- Invest your capital wisely.
- Budget set realistic goals and journal them.
- Outsource, outsource, outsource!!!
- Assess your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats realistically!
This will not only enable you to move forward but help you in achieving a more realistic plan and timeline. Only then can you go about starting your business with realistic goals!!!
Wishing you all the very best in your endeavors.
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