While there have certainly been tougher times to start a business and get it turning a profit, this is far from easy. With all the different factors to think about and decisions to make, the overbearing pressure can easily cause you to make a costly blunder, and destroy your start-up from one day to the next. There’s no such thing as a fool-proof business plan, but you can still help your chances by avoiding these common and costly errors…
Brushing Over the Planning Phase
Drawing up a good business plan can be a tedious process, but without a solid plan for your start-up backed up by dependable research, you’re going to be operating blind. Without solid road map of the future of your operation, you’re leaving a lot of room for error. Have another look at your business plan, financial projections, and marketing plan, and make sure you haven’t left any gaps that could come back to bite you.
Undervaluing your Products
In a lot of instances, particularly in the ecommerce website niche, promising CEOs who have a crippling fear of failure, or a lack of confidence in their abilities, will end up under-pricing their products. This is an extremely dangerous path to go down, as it will undermine the unique value your brand brings to the market, and leave more possibility for frustration or resentment in your customer base. If you’re already undervaluing your goods, then there’s a long road to recovery ahead of you. From the outset of your business, you should be conducting thorough market research, and identifying competitive prices for whatever products you’re selling.
Ignoring New Technology
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When you’re a small business owner, technology can open up a wide range of opportunities, help your operation to run with greater efficiency, and thereby achieve a healthier profit margin. Understandably, you might find new, unfamiliar technology that you’ve never used before a little intimidating. Sure, it’s going to take some time to learn about new interfaces and get used to the way they work, but if you’re unwilling to adapt to the tech advances that are hitting your niche, it’s sure to hurt your business.
Not Getting Close to your Customer
A fundamental part of any marketing campaign is knowing who your customer is. If you set aside a marketing budget and try a little bit of everything, hoping that it will work, you’re never going to get the kind of results you need. It’s integral for you to conduct thorough market research to identify the kind of people you’re trying to reach, and the kind of materials they’ll react positively to.
Underspending
Overspending can be a critical mistake when you’re running a business, but you don’t want to fall on the other side of the fence either. Yes, it’s possible to start and develop a business with limited funds, but if you’re not investing in the areas that matter most, your operation is quickly going to run out of steam. Business loans are more accessible today than they’ve ever been before, so take advantage of this fact!
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