Starting a business is a grand task, but rewarding when executed well. However not all businesses are created equal and not all business owners are as savvy as others. Did you know that if a business is going to fail it’s going to be within the first 5 years? This is due to many business owners making some of the common mistakes when starting up their new enterprise. This expert article will give you the run down on the top killer mistakes that start-ups can make in the early stages. Let’s take a look.
Mistakes To Avoid When Starting Up Your Business
- Not Researching Your Market
Researching your target market is essential to surviving when you’re starting a new business enterprise. Without researching your target audience, you run the risk of losing sales and actually finding out whether you could profit from a business in your industry niche. When researching your audience, you need to ask yourself a few questions such as:
- Who would benefit more from your products/services? Example: parents, children, tradesmen, doctors, etc.?
- Is there a specific gender or age group that would best use your product and/or services?
- What income estimate would your target audience have? $50,000/year, $70,000/year, or $100,000/year etc.
- What persona/behaviours would they consist of? Outgoing, shy, confident, spontaneous.
- Are they likely to visit your store or buy from you online?
Taking all these key areas into consideration will help you to determine who your targeted customer is so you can market your business more successfully to them.
- Not Creating A Powerful Business Plan
For any business creating and executing a business plan is essential to the success of your business. A business plan should consist of:
- Your goals and what you want to achieve when starting up your business.
- Your finances, possible income, and expenses that you may encounter.
- The steps you need to take in order for you to reach your goals.
- The steps you need to take to maintain a high level of customer service and operation.
- Key marketing trends at your current stage of setup.
- Your marketing strategy and how you will execute your strategy to your audience.
- Your employment strategy and who is going to be selling your items to your customers.
These are just some of the main points that your business plan should cover when you’re developing one. Don’t make the mistake of not generating a powerful business plan as it can make you fall short of your goals.
- Setting Up In A Bad Location
Setting up in a bad location is another mistake that many people make when setting up their business. Some aspects of a bad location include:
- Little or hard to access parking for visitors/customers.
- Located away from the main hub where your competitors are. If visitors have to drive the extra time to visit you, they may turn to your competitors instead.
- Choosing a business premise that’s too small or that doesn’t cater for what your business is all about.
If you’re choosing a brick and mortar location always make sure:
- Your visitors will have sufficient parking spaces and easy access from the main road.
- It’s well within your budget and it’s in close proximity to your local town or industry area.
- It’s easy to find for your visitors who want to come to your store.
Don’t be afraid to search for a while. Take note of where you competitors are and what they do to make themselves appear as an authority figure in your industry. It’s a good idea to research different buildings and take a look what’s on offer so you can compare each location for the best fit.
- Creating A Poor Website Design
With the advantages of the internet, businesses now have the ability to be marketed to a wider audience for the prospect of more customers. The problem is that many business owners don’t put the effort into creating a powerful website that rivals their competitors. Instead they have a mediocre website design which can impact their reputation and how they are seen by their consumers. When building a website you need to ensure it’s designed well. Some aspects to remember include:
- Make sure the website features a responsive, mobile friendly design.
- Ensure all content created is well written and doesn’t have any grammar or spelling mistakes.
- Choose colours that match or contrast one another for the best affect but keep colours to a minimum of 2 to 3. Any more than this and it will become overwhelming for your audience.
- Make sure the layout of the navigation points are all well positioned. Generally across the mid-top of the screen is the best position. When creating tiers for category navigation work on only going three tiers deep as this will avoid your visitors becoming frustrated when finding something.
- Make sure your company logo is positioned at the top left of the screen and that it is made a navigation point to bring your visitors back to the home page of your website.
It’s a good idea to take a look at your competitors’ websites before building your website. Do they have something that you can build better on? In creating a powerful and aesthetically appealing website you have a higher chance of grabbing your visitor’s attention and keeping them as a regular customer.
- Not Putting The Hard Work In
Last but not least, many business owners think that when they start their business, everything will fall into place. This isn’t true. You need to put the hard work in to get the results you desire. When starting your business, you need to work on:
- Marketing your business appropriately.
- Hiring and/or training staff members that offer good customer service.
- Manage your employees to ensure they’re working to their full potential.
- Managing feedback and customer complaints.
- Determining good potential investments that would help drive your business to success.
As the saying goes, ‘hard work pays off’ and when starting a business, there’s a lot of hard work involved in order to really push your business towards the success that you’re hoping to achieve.
Conclusion
When it comes to starting your business enterprise, it’s a good idea to look out for the most common mistakes that many business owners make when they begin. If you take these mistakes suggested above and use them as a teaching tool, you’ll be able to improve you chance of being a successful business enterprise in the future. Are you ready to start your new business journey.
