STOP making these 10 mistakes in business: the most common mistakes founders make

I became an entrepreneur over a year ago. I didn’t know how much I’d have to learn quickly and how integral making “mistakes” would be to my personal development as a founder. As entrepreneurs, we tend to be stubborn and have an ideal vision of how the world should be. This pushes us to work on our companies and use our innovation to make the world even 1% better.?

This stubbornness can also lead to an inability to learn from our mistakes or even let go of conventional wisdom in the quest to build something impactful. The experts aren’t always experts, and conventional wisdom doesn’t apply to every situation. Founding my business has humbled me and illuminated many of my blindspots in business. Even with business education, theory is quite different from practice. Here are the mistakes (10) I’ve made in business and those I see other founders making.?

Visual / Branding:?

Instead of obsessing over fonts and color schemes, we can consider how to best reach and add value to our customers. Branding is far more than our color scheme, name, and logo. Branding is in the relationship.

Over-Focusing on Visuals and Branding

When building a business, we often see a beautiful website as necessary. With website builders such as Squarespace and Wix , creating a website in the nick of time has become more accessible. However, it’s essential to consider the functionality of a website in the early stages. Especially if you are pre-launch, your website should give people a “sneak peek,” just enough to get them to sign up and be on your waiting list. A landing page is sufficient for this stage.

We tend to obsess over colors, fonts, etc., when we really need one landing page that is beautiful enough to grab attention, awe-inspiring sufficient to hold attention, and functional enough to get their contact information before we start selling. Have you ever made this mistake? It’s so easy to compare ourselves to the larger companies and behemoths in our industries and aim for a digital presence that rivals theirs, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. It helps to start practically and up the ante as time goes on.?

Neglecting User Experience Design

I learned this one the hard way. With the growth of digital footprint businesses (e-commerce), we must ensure that our websites are accessible and user-friendly. While a landing page is a great start to generate interest and early sales, building on that with a UX (user-experienced), custom website can set you apart and help create the best user experience. If you rely on your website for sales, a website with a poor user experience creates friction for the buyer.

You want the desired action from each customer segment to be clear, and you want to use your website to guide the user to that goal. This makes buying frictionless. Taking the time to invest in good UX design is an investment for your growth moving forward. Better yet, it doesn’t have to be costly. You can take a couple of courses on UX design from Udemy or Google, or you could solicit volunteers through UX Rescue . User experience is essential; don’t neglect it as you scale.?

Over-Indexing on Branding Instead of Customer-Centric Marketing

As early-stage founders, we can obsess over branding and the big picture. However, branding is different from the value you provide to customers. Instead of obsessing over fonts and color schemes, we can consider how to best reach and add value to our customers. Branding is far more than our color scheme, name, and logo. Branding is in the relationship.

Through the relationships we build with our customer base, we will begin to gain a reputation. That reputation, in turn, becomes our brand. What does this look like practically? Having a good understanding of your marketing funnel , customer lifecycle , and the value you aim to provide at each stage and each level. Each stage of the funnel represents a critical stage in the relationship between a seller and buyer. It is an opportunity for you to solidify the brand’s presence in their lives.?

Marketing

One thing I’ve noticed about entrepreneurs is that we tend to “geek out” over what we are building or creating. We love our business, we assume everyone will love it too. However, the reality is that people will not know or understand how fantastic our business is until we make it relevant to them.

Underestimating Lead Generation and Nurturing Systems

Speaking about marketing, many of us have underestimated the importance of lead generation and lead nurturing . One of my favorite sayings is “trust before funds.” As founders, we often try to “sell” or get our intended outcome from the target market far too early. A good understanding of buyer and user personas will allow you to build a relationship over time, rooted in the value you provide them based on their needs, desires, or pain points.

A sound lead generation system helps you to get those contacts (whether by email, text, etc.), and the lead nurturing system helps to convert those contacts into customers. Critical to this system is the power of referrals. Make sure to integrate a referral pipeline for your customers can help convert other leads into customers through Word of Mouth (WOM). The first step to building these systems is to invest in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and build automation that continuously “talks” to customers and keeps your business top of mind for them.?

Making Marketing All About the Company

One thing I’ve noticed about entrepreneurs is that we tend to “geek out” over what we are building or creating. We love our business, so we assume everyone will love it too. However, the reality is that people will not know or understand how fantastic our business is until we make it relevant to them. To consider relevance, ask yourself the following: What value do we provide? What desire do we satisfy? What pain point are we the cure for?

Traditional entrepreneurship literature overemphasizes relieving the pain point over other types of value. For example, do you buy a chocolate bar to ease a pain point? Maybe (some would say the pain point is hunger), but ultimately - you buy a chocolate bar because you desire it. The most important thing is to tap into what human needs your business will fulfill and to market to each customer segment based on their specific fundamental human need (i.e., Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ).?

Investing Aimlessly in Social Media

The last marketing mistake I see is investing aimlessly in social media without tracking which types of social media are most effective for gaining customers or leads. In today’s digital age, we feel pressured to be active on all platforms. However, not all social media platforms are created equally. Especially when it comes to understanding your customers, you have to target your efforts on what will reach them the best.

Social media marketing can become expensive in terms of ads, boosted/promoted posts, etc. You want to take time to do two things: research each social media platform and its selling and advertising options and target using the types of media that most resonate with your customers. For example, some customers prefer video over static images, and others prefer carousel posts over blog posts. These are things we have to consider.

Sales and Business Development:

Customers with a higher CLV make your business more profitable, so you want to invest more money into targeting them (a higher CAC, alas). This allows you to maximize your total marketing spend and ensure you get the most bang for your marketing buck.

Ignoring CAC and CLV Ratios

The reality of business is that it costs money to acquire customers. This cost is called the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). From creating downloadable resources to search engine optimization (SEO) to influencer and sponsored content. We must pay a sum to get our names out there and reach those who need our offering the most. However, the amount you spend to acquire customers must be balanced by their estimated CLV (customer lifetime value).

I’m a marketing nerd, so let me explain this: your customer lifetime value is how much a customer spends with your company over their lifetime. Customers with a higher CLV make your business more profitable, so you want to invest more money into targeting them (a higher CAC, alas). This allows you to maximize your marketing spend and ensure you get the most bang for your marketing buck.

Overwhelming Customers with Options

This is a common misstep for those who run businesses in the social sector. We run various programs and services, and it can seem overwhelming for the “buyer” to understand precisely what we do. Some would say to simplify your business to one core offering, but that isn’t feasible for those who employ choice and variety as a means of innovation. I’ve learned that you must understand the customer segments you serve and target them to specific offerings based on their segment.

For example, if you run a program for high schoolers and one for college students, is it wise to list both programs in an email to all the students you serve? A more effective way to market each program would be to provide each customer (the high schooler and the college student) with a specific email on the program that suits their needs, age level, etc. - the program for them. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the power of segmentation. It can cut through the confusion through clarity of approach and offering.?

Pricing and Value Capture:?

Pricing based on competitors vs. pricing for positioning

One thing I’ve learned is that price is a function of value. When you price an item you sell, you position it in the market. One of my favorite books, Smart Pricing , goes into the psychology of pricing. People pay for what they value. Once the value is created, you want to capture that value through a solid pricing strategy. Far too many founders think about margins (revenue - cost) when pricing, which only leads to incremental revenue.

Instead of thinking solely about margins, consider what perception you want your customers to have based on the price. Even in categories such as grocery or commodity shopping, you can be a discount brand (Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, etc.) or premium option (Whole Foods). We have to think beyond just making a profit and where we want to position the brand regarding cost. Also, you can offer premium and discount options within the same brand. Pricing is a crucial area for experimentation to capture the maximum value.?

Crafting the same value proposition for each customer segment: value proposition vs. unique selling proposition (USP)?

The last mistake I see is crafting the same value position for each customer segment. While your business should have an overall value proposition (as in “this is why we exist”), you want to make sure that you tailor this value proposition to each customer segment you serve. Marketing is about speaking to customers in a language that they understand. If you create a meal-prep service, would busy college students respond to the same messaging a single mother would? They probably wouldn’t. College students are looking for fun and quick meals, while a single mother might be looking for something that suits her palette while still being palatable to her children.

That’s why it is essential to have different value propositions for each customer segment and use them to directly speak to their unique needs. Going beyond a value proposition, is a sales concept I learned about recently called USP (unique selling proposition). Your USP highlights how you are different from competitors. This is an integral element of your value proposition - and what often leads to a closed sale. Customers want to know what makes you different, faster, or better - show that off, and don’t be afraid to show why you stand out.

Conclusion:

Overall, entrepreneurship is a series of trial and error. These missteps, while painful, help us to emerge better and stronger as time goes on, increasing our understanding of this winding road called being a founder. Have you made any of these mistakes? Can you relate? What changes will you make in your business today? Let me know in the comments ??

Follow The Surayyaverse ??

To learn more about Surayya's story and her content creation efforts, visit

www.surayyaverse.com

She is on all major socials (Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) at @surayyaverse.

To follow Surayya's alternate newsletter where she goes in-depth into pop-culture and social commentary;? The Surayyaverse: Surayya vs. Culture, visit her Substack here:https://surayyawalters.substack.com/