5 Things NOT To Do When Starting A Small Business

We are so often given advice on all the things to do to guarantee the success of a business but rarely advised on how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls that all new businesses face. With the excitement of starting a new business, it may be hard to keep your drive under control, which has the potential to lead you to operational and financial ruins. To ensure your business gets off the ground, make sure to take note of these 5 things NOT to do when starting a small business.

Pick the wrong business

Nearly 80% of companies fail in just 5 years, and a lot of those failures are the result of picking the wrong business. If you create a business to just make money, then you are not going to be successful. If you look at any of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, they got started because they wanted to have a positive impact, or they wanted to change the way something was done, not to solely make money. As a result, their businesses thrived. So, when starting a business make sure to choose something you are passionate about.

Make the perfect plan

So many entrepreneurs, before they get started, want to have the perfect plan. Everything has to be perfectly laid out, and you need to know exactly what you are going to do before you launch. Too many entrepreneurs get focused on making the perfect plan that they don’t even start building their business. The best thing you can do is plan a little and start. When you get feedback from customers telling you what they like and don’t like, you will have to adapt anyway, so get that feedback as soon as possible. So many people wait so long that they don’t take any action at all. They give up on it because they can’t figure out what their perfect plan is. You will never have the perfect plan, so just start!

Going it alone

You can’t start a business alone. You will need people to help you. Whether that is having interns help out or having a mastermind group of people you can connect with to talk about your business, any form of help will greatly increase the success of your business. Trying to do everything yourself makes building and running a business a lot harder. It’s much more than one person can manage. If you want to do something big you need to be able to reach out to others for help.

Jump into the wrong partnership

A lot of entrepreneurs jump into the wrong business partnership too soon. A business partnership is much like a marriage. You’ll likely spend just a much time with your business partner as you would your own spouse. It’s important to have a strong, stable relationship with your business partner so that when things get tough, the partnership doesn’t start to crumble.

Your partner has to be somebody who has the same values as you, and the best way to determine if you’ll work well together is by working on small projects. See if you and your potential partner get along and work well together. Determine if you share the same vision, the same goals, and the same values. Only after working together should you consider a partnership.

Operate in a bubble

It is in our nature that we try to figure everything out ourselves. However, when it comes to starting a business, you can’t operate in a bubble. You have to bust through your comfort zone in order to become the most successful business person that you can be. That means modeling success by learning from others and stretching your comfort zone to become a better entrepreneur. Only once you burst that bubble and start to think differently about what it would mean to be successful and how to achieve that success will your business truly thrive and grow.

Starting a business is no small feat, and you are sure to run into many obstacles on your journey towards success. Your list of things not to do may continue to grow, but this will allow you to learn from your mistakes, only making your job as a business owner much easier over time.