It can be one of the most daunting times of your business career, and for this reason alone the chances of making basic mistakes immediately increases. Of course, due to the fact that so many startups fail in their first year of operation, this means that these mistakes can be more detrimental than they perhaps might usually be.
It’s for this reason that today’s article has been penned. We will now mull over some of the most common mistakes that impact startups, and how you avoid them to give yourself the best chance of success during those first, difficult months.
Mistake #1 – You limit yourself with payments
Once upon a time, this might have been a completely acceptable course of action a few years ago, but nowadays there are no excuses. While payment processing fees might once have been through the roof, now this isn’t the case in the slightest and there is no reason whatsoever why businesses cannot accept credit cards. The processing fees are low and while you might feel as though you are cutting crucial costs, in reality you are actually cutting profits.
Mistake #2 – You aren’t frugal enough
In some ways, this next mistake contradicts the first we looked at. However, we see it far too often; new businesses investing huge amounts of money on things that they really don’t need at this stage. It might be a phone system that has all the bells on whistles, or chairs that will give you a massage halfway through your day. In short, these expenses are unnecessary, and you only should invest on the things that are going to directly impact your profit line (such as the credit card suggestions) during the initial days.
Mistake #3 – Not hiring at the right time
Again, this links to everything we have spoken about so far. At the very start, you probably can’t employ anyone – the permanent costs (in relation to time and resources) are just too high. However, as time progresses, make sure that you don’t delay the inevitable. Let’s not forget that as soon as you hire someone, your productivity can effectively double. If you don’t do this soon enough, you can fall behind the competition. In short, timing is crucial here.
Mistake #4 – You become obsessed with your product
After a long time working on a product, it can be easy to develop an obsession with it. This is something that you need to be aware of, and make sure that you avoid.
If you are not careful, you can develop tunnel vision. You will think that your product satisfies all of your issues, but does it solve the problems of a typical consumer? Place yourself in their shoes and ask yourself this; just because it might help you, it doesn’t mean to say that it will have the same effect on everyone else. It’s for this reason that you need external feedback from the very start to keep you on track.
