Without a clear plan and a budget, you’re shooting at your entrepreneurial target blind and doomed to failure.
By Henry Brown
Failure. It is a part of life, but we fear it, especially when it comes to our entrepreneurial endeavors. Failure signifies loss of earnings, lack of profit, and every aspect of our business going down the tube. While this isn’t necessarily the case, we still have to isolate common ways in which entrepreneurs fail, so you can progress further than your peers. What are these?
Failing to prepare properly
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, and while it might sound like common sense, when it comes to an effective business with a good bottom line, preparation works in so many ways. If we work without a budget and lack financial preparation, it is going to bite us later on. We can easily go off course when we don’t have a budget. And this is why it’s always important to ensure you have the right resources available, from online accountancy firms to appropriate programs that show you, in black and white, exactly how your plans are coming to fruition. But if you don’t have a plan in the first place, this is one of the biggest entrepreneurial mistakes.
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You started your business with a plan, a vision. But the further we delve into our business, and its various components, we can begin to lose sight of our original vision. Other things have taken priority, from the employees to the marketing, to even our own personal needs. You should never lose sight of your original vision, because this is what prompted you to begin on this journey in the first place.
Gripping your business too tight
We can all be guilty of this because we have nurtured our baby, and so, naturally, we feel duty bound to protect it. But if we end up doing everything ourselves, and not learning the power of delegation or outsourcing certain aspects, we will feel the pressure, but we will also feel like we’re in it on our own, and not have the support of the people we should be delegating to. Strong teams – and thus strong companies – are not built by entrepreneurs who fail to learn how to delegate.
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A lot of us go into business for the green. But the fact is if this is your sole reason for going into any form of business, then you will find it to be a hollow endeavor. Passion is what will drive you as an entrepreneur, not money. If you have a reason for developing a certain product, then this is what will keep you going during tough times. Look at your heroes; why did they start their own businesses? Was it purely to earn money, or was it for something much deeper?
[amazon_link asins=’1118135016′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b80d3f2a-ba86-11e8-832c-8dbab9e1192a’]We can all make mistakes, and we can make catastrophic failures, but if we don’t learn from these mistakes, or we’ve got a skewed view of what our business should do for us in the first place, then these failures will compound and cause insurmountable issues for your company. Understanding your own weaknesses as soon as possible will give you the tools necessary, not just to right your wrongs, but to build on what you already know and don’t know.
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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.
