8 Business Mistakes to Avoid as You Venture Into Entrepreneurship for the First Time

I left the corporate nine-to-five world sometime in 2013. And although it has its own challenges, I have not looked back since then. Don’t let anyone fool you, being an entrepreneur is not so easy and straightforward especially when you are coming in from the corporate sector.

Reports like these show that 90% of most businesses fail within the first five years. This means that most of the successful entrepreneurs we see today have experienced failure at certain points.

If you are like I was and you are about venturing into the world of entrepreneurship, you need to prepare yourself. The points below are majorly what I learned from my own experience. They are mistakes you should avoid while starting out if you don’t want your business to be part of that failure statistics.

Mistake 1. Not Placing Yourself on a Salary

You know how it works. You make sales, and at the end of the day, you decide to take yourself to a well-deserved dinner. Or let’s say you occasionally dip your hand into the cash box and take a few notes to fix your car.

Don’t do that. The first rule you need to abide by is to place yourself on an owner’s salary. Always remember that you are different from your business. And although you are the founder, the CEO is an employee, just as much as the sales executive.

Mistake 2. Not Delegating and Outsourcing Enough

I understand you don’t have all the money in the world to hire staff, but that doesn’t mean you can’t outsource some jobs to other people. But you must learn not to burn yourself out while trying to do everything by yourself.

One of the things that make for success in entrepreneurship is the ability to be creative and innovative. And to do that, you need to be mentally alert. This means you must make it a habit to outsource and delegate responsibilities as much as you can so you don’t break down.

Mistake 3. Hiring Immediately (And unnecessarily)

This is an offshoot of the second point. Here is what I mean. Your focus at this stage should not be to hire permanent staff, instead, focus more on outsourcing jobs.

For instance, if you need the service of a graphics designer, outsource a job to the person and let them get paid once the job gets delivered. This will serve you better than hiring a permanent graphic designer and placing them on your payroll.

Mistake 4. Not getting your hands dirty.

One of the reasons a lot of people want to become entrepreneurs is simply because they want to be their own bosses. These people have this fantasy of entrepreneurship as an opportunity to sit down, cross your legs on top of an executive swivel chair and bark out orders.

Unfortunately, that cannot be you, especially since you are starting out. One of your major goals at this inception stage is to cut down as many expenses as you can. That means you must get ready to do a lot of the work.

For example, instead of hiring a Consultant to get feedback from your customers, do it yourself and find out how to serve them better.

Mistake 5. Not having a mentor.

Of course, I understand you need to make a mark for yourself. But make sure you find someone you can ask questions. Someone who has the experience you lack that can advise you adequately on the necessary steps to take in your entrepreneurship journey. One of the saving graces I had starting out was the gift of mentorship. This was a successful businessman I could throw my ideas at and receive guidance. He helped me in no immense way.

Mistake 6. Not Registering Your Business.

The trick is that you think the business is too small to get registered. And this includes both offline and online domain registration. However, the problem is that by the time you would agree that your business has grown big enough to get registered, the name may no longer be available for you. Don’t make that mistake. So, register your business as soon as possible.

Mistake 7. Not Developing a Marketing Strategy and Budget Early Enough.

Let’s face it, you will only remain in business as much as you make sales. And since you are new, most people don’t really know you. It is tempting to save money and say no to any form of content marketing or digital marketing. But that would be shooting yourself in the leg. In the business world, you have to spend money to make money. So, if you plan to grow and be profitable, then you must make out a marketing budget and develop a winning marketing strategy.

Mistake 8. Mixing Sentiments With Business

I had to learn this the hard way. But at that point, it had already cost me a lot of thousands of dollars. If you are going into entrepreneurship, understand that your business is different from you. So, if your sister makes an order for your product, they have to pay. And if your best friend asks for your service, give them an invoice too.

In the end, mistakes are inevitable with your first business. But those mistakes must not be disastrous. The points above will help you navigate better. And even when you do make your own mistakes, always make sure you learn from them, and keep moving forward