Business Mistakes That Will Haunt You This Halloween
Everyone makes mistakes in business. However, simple mistakes can have a high cost to business owners, regardless of the size of your company.
Nearly 50% of businesses fail after five years and 20% of businesses close during the first year of operations.
A mistake in your business doesn’t just affect you. They can often cause a chain reaction that impacts your employees, your opportunities in the future and your growth – to name a few!
That’s why we’ve put together this list of 6 business mistakes that will haunt you, so you can be vigilant about the evils that may encroach upon your organisation.
Having no plan for the future
Planning ahead seems like a simple concept that no one should ignore – but they do!
Whether it’s financial, workload or delegation planning, failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences on you and your company, such as missing payments, failure to meet deadlines and bad customer service. All of which will give your business a bad reputation, which impacts sales, income and growth.
Many business owners are very busy and therefore struggle to find the time to make a comprehensive plan. However, a full plan isn’t always required; even just the basics are better than nothing. Start with your main objectives, then break them down into bitesize, easily manageable tasks – you’ll soon start to see progress.
Being indiscriminate with your target audience
Some new businesses make the mistake of failing to specify their target audience and trying to connect with everyone at once. This is an impossible task that is likely to result in untold stress, a lot of half-finished tasks and a lack of momentum in the sales department.
Choosing a target audience allows you to drill into the mindset of your potential customers. This then helps you to meet their needs better and communicate more effectively, which leads to more sales.
Hiring the wrong people
If you only have a small team, then it is more essential than ever that you hire people who have skills and values that align with your business. Choosing the wrong person at this stage can result in a lot of bother, so avoid this by taking the time to get to know your candidates properly before you offer them the role – that way you know who you’re really dealing with and how well they will work with your business.
We advise that you take some time to focus on what you’re really looking for in a new member of staff as far as the following is concerned:
- Skills
- Functionality
- Personality
- Values
- Short and long-term objectives
If you find that you have already hired the wrong person, then there’s no shame in starting again and letting them go before any damage is caused. It’s a better option than allowing your business to suffer because of your mistake – think about it!
An informal chat can be a great way to get to know people, so why not schedule in a cup of tea outside of the office to take the pressure off and get to know your candidate more?
Trying to do it all
Too many businesses go into their chosen market with the objective of doing it all. This is a big business mistake, as you can quickly get a reputation as a jack of all trades and master of none.
Avoid the possibility of this by focusing your efforts on an area that you are strong in, then expand from there. For example, if you want to set up a construction company and you are a plasterer by trade, it makes sense to aim to get plastering jobs. As time moves forward, you can then evolve your business into different areas like electronics and plumbing, where your existing plastering skills are relevant but not the main focus of the work.
Being emotional
Business isn’t personal. Even though our work is very close to our hearts, you need to be able to separate emotions from facts so that you can make informed decisions and stay focused.
We’re not saying that things shouldn’t annoy you or that you shouldn’t care about your business. We’re just saying stay on the ball by thinking with your head, not your heart.
Choosing the wrong suppliers
Choosing the wrong suppliers for your business can be a costly error that results in time loss and hindrances in progress. Some suppliers can be incredibly unreliable, which is just bad news for business – especially when you’re on a schedule.
For example, if you’re a construction company who is waiting for a fuel delivery so that you can use a crane and that delivery is late, it will cost your business money in man-hours and possibly plant rental as well as other things. That’s why it pays to choose a reliable supplier from the start.
If you need fuel or lubricants for your business, choose Nationwide. We are an experienced UK fuel supplier with over 60 years’ experience, so we know what a quality delivery service should be. Also, if you’re in a rush and require a last-minute delivery, take advantage of our 24/7 emergency fuel service.
Call Nationwide Fuels and place your order today: 03300 244 577.
How to overcome business mistakes
First of all, it’s important to remember that your mistakes do not define you, or make you a bad person or business owner. They are a necessary evil that everyone encounters. Besides, it’s not the mistake that you make, but what you do after that counts.
As long as you learn from your mistakes and identify them before they get too out of hand, you can often find a resolution. In order to do this, you also need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I need to take a breather for five minutes before dealing with this?
- What was my mistake?
- Who and what did it affect?
- What are my other options?
- How much will different options or developments cost my business financially and otherwise?
- What am I going to do next?
- Am I confident that the same mistake will not happen again?
By the time you’ve finished answering these questions, you should have a couple of decent options regarding what to do next and can hopefully move on and away from a potentially nightmarish situation.
