Entrepreneurship is no joke. Even though the world is full of businesses, it’s surprisingly hard to make them successful. Moreover, it is a skill that needs a certain level of experience. Did you know that data shows that entrepreneurs under the age of 30, are more likely to fail?
A lack of experience and business wisdom is partly the reason for this. Mistakes go beyond miscalculations and wrong decisions. Even something as simple as missing out on business check printing can land you in a problem. As a result, it makes sense to put some effort into finding out the most common entrepreneurial mistakes. Let’s look at three of them today.
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Mistake #1: Not Making Efforts to Understand ALL the Customers
These days, there’s a trend where business owners follow progressive technology until it ends up alienating those who don’t keep up. For example, those companies that try to implement visitor management systems suddenly. It just ends up being more of a hassle than a convenience.
This is why you try to ensure that when you choose to go one direction, you offer solutions to retain your customers. Another common situation we see businesses failing to keep in mind is payment methods. As it turns out, a lot of people still prefer using checks.
Rather than forcing customers or clients to adopt other options, try to be flexible. In this context, one could argue that business check printing is something that more entrepreneurs need to be looking into. Of course, it might need a little investment from your side.
As SmartPlayables states, you can’t simply use regular printing paper with a regular printer. This naturally implies some investment is needed in terms of equipment. This is where people get annoyed and feel like it’s a waste of resources. However, in the long run, such extra effort gets noticed by customers.
They see how all your competitors have taken the easy way out, but you took a different path. One that is pro-consumer and client. Sometimes, that’s all you need to outdo your competition.
Mistake #2: Trying to Pounce on Every Opportunity
If you sit down with experienced business leaders who have made it far in life, you will notice a common trend. They are always aware of the dangers of impulsiveness in decision-making. Unfortunately, many young entrepreneurs act with the belief that they need to make use of every opportunity.
The reality is that, on many occasions, these new avenues might lead to something you regret. On the one hand, this is to be expected; until a business achieves a certain level of success, opportunities are tough to come by. This builds up the mindset that you need to make use of every situation because the fear of losing out is great.
This is a mindset that entrepreneurs need to learn how to get out of once they are out of the beginner stage. So, the next time you get offered some type of business deal that seems to be vaguely positive, don’t jump at it instantly. Keep calm and carefully assess how it benefits not just you, but also the other party. You can learn a lot by pausing for a bit before committing to anything.
Mistake #3: Not Skilling Up in Basic Communication and Etiquette
Sometimes, young entrepreneurs look down upon the old way of doing things. They look at the old guard and feel like they waste a lot of time on pleasantries and unnecessary gestures. They want to get down to business and make good deals; isn’t that what business is all about?
Sadly, they overlook one of the most important aspects every good entrepreneur should know: basic communication and etiquette. So much of the world runs on the impressions you make on others, which is why simple gestures and good communication go a long way.
It may seem weird to remember the birthdays of a client’s wife or the names of their kids. It may seem odd to spend more than a few minutes on small talk and banter, but that’s where the mistake is made.
Every salesman with some experience remembers that scene from The Office when Michael Scott and Jan Levinson try to close a deal with a big client. Jan, from corporate, tries to talk only about business but finds no success.
However, Michael engages in casual banter, focuses on the food, cracks jokes, and it seems like he’s wasting a lot of time. In reality, he’s doing something Jan didn’t—building rapport.
The good rapport he built, ended up closing the deal for them. Not a barrage of data points and rational arguments for why the deal was good for everyone.
In conclusion, most of the mistakes that young entrepreneurs make in business involve failing to adapt. They fail to change the mindset they developed during their initial business experience, and it ends up throwing a spanner in the works.
High-level business, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t keep scaling in complexity. Instead, it often goes back down to extremely basic minutiae that new entrepreneurs overlook.