No matter the size of the business, every entrepreneur seeks to build a foundation that will allow growth to happen. All entrepreneurs dream of success for themselves and their families, and hope to attract employees who will help them grow.
However, there are three common mistakes entrepreneurs make with their businesses. Certainly, all three can be corrected — if you know what those mistakes are. And the entrepreneur who understands these common mistakes will be ahead of the game — hopefully she or he will not make them in the first place!
First Mistake: Not building a solid foundation for growth
All entrepreneurs start small businesses and frequently use their personal credit cards and bank accounts to finance their operations in the beginning. But when capital begins to run low, the entrepreneur either must figure out how to raise more money — or cut back on their growth plans. Often, cash flow challenges are the entrepreneur’s worst nightmare.
Desperation is never something you want your customers or employees to perceive about your business. Businesses that are not capitalized correctly do not grow past the entrepreneur’s four walls. An entrepreneur who does not build a solid foundation early on is doomed to stay small — and often they merely hope to remain afloat.
Second Mistake: The entrepreneur’s attention is divided
When too many responsibilities are given to one person, there is no longer an entrepreneur at all! The entrepreneur can and should make the primary decisions. However, there are only so many hours in a day and only so much attention one entrepreneur can give to their business.
The entrepreneur must develop a team of professionals with strengths that complement his or her weaknesses. This doesn’t mean you must have a cadre of full-time employees!
Acquire people for your team who are better at the aspects where you need help. For some, that means you hire a part-time or freelance bookkeeper. For others, you may need accomplished sales professionals. Whatever it is for your individual situation, your business gets better when your team gets better. You cannot do it all.
Third Mistake: The entrepreneur is too isolated
Many times, entrepreneurs are guilty of not doing sufficient market research. This mistake often results in the entrepreneur starting a business with little or no customer interest — resulting in wasted time, money, and effort.
It is extremely important for entrepreneurs to have knowledge of their potential customers before they put substantial work into making their product or service available for purchase. It means you put people (customers and team members) ahead of products and services — and you listen to those who work for you and purchase from you.
It is vital to be flexible. There are few things more frustrating for consumers than the entrepreneur who refuses to adapt the product or service after receiving valid customer input. This may mean temporarily shelving a pet project that isn’t moving forward, or adjusting your business model so it better fits your customers’ needs. And remember, what people say matters to you and your business.
However, a word of warning here: the entrepreneur must be careful not to let a customer’s suggestion change a product or service into something it was never intended to be!
It is vital that entrepreneurs stay focused on what they are trying to accomplish, while also considering what their customers are saying. You should embrace constructive criticism from customers and employees.
However, be careful not to let it take the place of your original vision. There’s likely a compelling reason you chose to do what you’re doing. Most often, feedback helps us make mid-course corrections — but it usually shouldn’t move us to change our destination.
When you take care of these three mistakes, you are well on your way to entrepreneurial success — and creating distinction in a hyper-competitive marketplace!
We discuss this entrepreneurial success in detail – and provide specific strategies for you to enhance your ability to obtain and retain customers – in our Iconic Inner Circle.
No one would suggest that innovation isn’t important. Yet we often get so busy doing that we spend little time thinking. Here are six quick ideas on how to become more creative.
– Read a nonfiction book outside your usual genre.
It’s remarkable how a biography or autobiography of a successful person can not only provide examples, but also inspire creative and critical thinking. If all you’re reading is the latest business book, you might miss some insights of extraordinary value. Don’t get me wrong, you should be reading important business books — however, just as your diet should not consist of only one food, your reading consumption shouldn’t be exclusive to a single genre.
– Get out of your comfort zone.
One way to do this is to take a new route home from work that you’re not familiar with, or trying out a restaurant in an area where you wouldn’t normally go for lunch. This will expand your geographic horizons and improve your creative thinking skills.
– Take an improv class or go to the theater more often.
The paramount aspect of an improv class is that you are put on the spot and forced to do something creative in the moment. It’s superb training to learn how to think differently.
Being around creative people will inspire you to be more creative, too. It’s a natural phenomenon that happens when we are around people who have different ideas than us and take an interest in what they do.
– Meditate or practice mindfulness daily.
Studies show a strong correlation between creativity and meditation, because the process of mediation allows for greater focus, which eliminates the noise and distractions that surround us.
– Place a random object on your desk to see what connections you can make.
This is an idea from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who said one way to use creativity is by deliberately seeking new connections and making unexpected combinations of objects–what he called “convergent thinking.” This helps because it forces us to create unique associations — something that can generate highly profitable ideas.
When I was a high school student preparing for a contest in impromptu speaking, I would stand in my bedroom, pick out an object (like a keychain or coat hanger) and discipline myself to deliver a five-minute speech on how that object was a metaphor for leadership. It was perhaps the greatest training for “convergent thinking” I could have practiced.
– Take a break.
I know how hard it can be to do this when you have deadlines and responsibilities but taking short breaks throughout the day is important for your creativity. I find that if I give myself an hour or two of downtime in the middle of my workday, things are so much easier to think through later!
While these ideas might not make you into Picasso overnight, they can help boost creativity and broaden your perspective in a rapidly changing world.
The former CEO of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, made a recent comment that everyone in business should heed:
“Status quo is not an option.”
As reported by Fortune, Joly said the pandemic presented all businesses with, “a health crisis, an economic crisis, a societal crisis, a racial crisis, an environmental crisis.” This means that none of us – from those selling electronics from big box stores to one-person entrepreneurial start-ups – can justify “we’ve always done it that way” anymore.
My friend, Joe Calloway, has what I think is the all-time best definition of “success.” It means, he says: “You know what used to work.”
You may have read in one of my previous books that I question an entire generation of management training and thinking. Right now, you can graduate from a prestigious institution with a Masters in Business Administration– yet not have completed a single course on customers (for example, how to deliver a customer experience, the value of customer retention, steps to leading higher levels of customer service, etc.) – much less be thoroughly educated on customer lifetime value’s impact on the bottom line.
Joly echoes my concern when he said, “So much of what I learned in business school is either wrong, dated, or at best incomplete.”
Some people are calling it the “new normal.” My pal, Randy Pennington, has a better terminology: “The New Next.” Whatever you decide to name it, we are in a different marketplace than ever before.
Stop trying to circle the wagons around the way you’ve always done it. The status quo is no longer an option.
If you’d like to create distinction and break free from the status quo, consider membership in our Iconic Inner Circle. There’s no risk – your first month is free and you can cancel at any time. Check out all the benefits at: https://IconicInnerCircle.com
Somewhere along the way, we seem to have lost the perspective that what we do impacts the lives of others.
It seems we live in a time of character assassination for mere sport. Anonymous online haters who don’t know the facts – or don’t care – irresponsibly attack others to draw attention to themselves. They connect imaginary “dots” that exist only in their own minds, without concern about the consequences to the victims of their venom.
And, it becomes so common that many of us just shrug our shoulders and say, “Haters gonna hate!” and move on – never imagining that we could someday be an unfortunate target.
Maybe we would all be better off if we remember the wisdom that my grandmother used to share with me:
“It doesn’t make you a bigger person to make someone else smaller. It just makes certain you stay less than they are.”
It’s impossible for me to describe how popular my father was back home. Suffice it to say that if I were elected President, my hometown news would proclaim, “Dallas McKain’s Son Wins!”
Our family owned a grocery in Crothersville, Indiana. The way my Dad treated people and served customers not only helped us survive when a supermarket came to town – we thrived to the point that the larger retailer closed.
The McKain’s had a country music band — Dad sang and played lead guitar, with brothers on bass and rhythm. (And, for several years in my teens – me on drums!) We played just about every local dance, wedding, and event you could imagine. We opened concerts for Hall of Fame performers – and in some of the worst clubs you could imagine.
Regardless of the size of the venue, status of the audience, or condition of the crowd, I saw Dad engage every person with respect, giving attention to anyone who wanted his time.
When Dad passed, his obituary was the front page of the local newspaper.
Dallas McKain’s best advice was that his life taught me that the highest calling is to serve – and demonstrate that you care about – others.
I was playing drums in a family band that opened for the country star at a concert at the little high school I attended.
After the first of two shows, Jim Ed approached me and said, “I’m looking for a new drummer — and I’d like it to be you!”
I couldn’t believe it — a country star and Grand Ole Opry member wanted me in his band? Jim Ed — even though he probably didn’t realize it — forced me to make a decision: I had to choose if I wanted to be a drummer…or if I wanted something else in my life.
I was hit with the thought that it’s one thing to PLAY drums…it’s another to BE a drummer. One is participation…the other iscommitment.
After I had thought about it for a while, I was literally shaking from anxiety as I told him that I was sorry, but I couldn’t accept his generous offer.
He smiled and said, “Whatever you do in life…do it as well as you play those drums.”
I only talked to him a couple of times after that…but, I’ll never forget the wonderful opportunity he provided, or his sincere kindness. I often think of how different my life would have turned out if I had taken him up on the job. And, I always thank him that he moved me to prioritize what was REALLY important in my life…even in my teens.
Jim Ed passed away from lung cancer at the age of 81. My friends, the Oak Ridge Boys, sang at his service. All reflected on this gentle man’s elegance and legacy.
You may never know the impact that you have on someone else’s life.
What can you do today to make someone’s life better?
