Do you have work-related stress all the time? Do you think you don’t belong in the workplace? Have you been subjected to verbal abuse at work? In that case, you may be prepared to move on. I
Since entrepreneurs are people, mistakes will inevitably happen to them. According to a proverb, “no one is above mistake.” However, you also need to understand that not all errors are the same. In the corporate world, in particular, certain errors are more fatal than others.
So, in this odd post, I hope to make you aware of some of the fatal errors that entrepreneurs make when trying to make a difference in the world and make money doing what they love. As always, I invite you to participate in this discussion by adding a personal story from your own experience to the article’s comment box.
In essence, these are not the only deadly mistakes entrepreneurs make in business, so I’m counting on you to help make this discussion rich through your comments. See you in the comments section!
7 Deadly Entrepreneurial Mistakes
The following are common deadly mistakes entrepreneurs often make in business. If you have been in business for a while, you should be able to relate with some of them. These are the seven deadly mistakes I will be discussing in this article. I have personally experienced these mistakes as an entrepreneur. I have also closely observed other entrepreneurs I have coached and consulted for.
1. Incompetent Execution: The most fatal error made by entrepreneurs is incompetent execution. Throughout my experience as a business consultant, I have witnessed numerous entrepreneurs make this specific error in their life. It’s astounding how many people enter the corporate world with no prior experience in management or entrepreneurship. Many people who start their own businesses simply have the fundamental technical skills required to carry out a service or produce a good.
Equipped with this one skill, a lot of people jump right into business, hoping to make up for their lack of other essential business abilities with their common sense. Regular readers of naijapreneur know how much I stress this point: having technological know-how in addition to common sense is insufficient to manage a business successfully. It’s not common sense in business! Like any other human endeavor, business requires certain basic abilities to be successfully undertaken. ‘Successfully embark on’ is the essential word here because, despite how odd it may sound, a lot of people just go out and start their own businesses without the intention of being successful pipe.
Because they never really prepared for the journey in the first place, their eventual failure is not surprising. To succeed in business, you need much more than just common sense; incompetent execution is the result of operating your company with common sense. What are the essential business skills? Take a look at this peculiar article.
2. Profit over People: For a business to stay in operation, it needs to turn a profit. However, companies exist for the benefit of their customers, not for financial gain. The world’s most profitable companies prioritize its customers! The second fatal error that entrepreneurs make in company is prioritizing profit. Even if a business depends on profit to stay in operation, this does not mean that you should prioritize profits over people. This fatal error frequently results in entrepreneurs losing their firm earlier than they had planned. Why? People make profit since it doesn’t create itself!
It is impossible to run a business without people. As I made abundantly evident in The Golden Rule of Business, “If you overlook the basic truth that business is an extension of life rather than a separate entity, you will never succeed in business.” What would life be like without people? You see, your firm will eventually suffer and die as a natural you operate, death, if your decisions and actions as an entrepreneur start to negatively influence people, whether they be your customers, workers, partners, suppliers, or even members of the society.
Why? People purchase items because people produce them. Services are needed by people, and people also provide these services. Furthermore, people sell themselves—neither goods nor services can do so. Therefore, it follows that you cannot separate people from business in the same way that you cannot separate life from business. All of them are intricately connected. In the end, businesses need to serve people in order to prosper, as revenue is a direct result of how well a firm serves its clientele!
3. Marketing without Strategy: Entrepreneurs are well aware that a fantastic product or service almost never sells itself. They consciously choose to use company advertising, which is the most visible type of marketing. And therein resides the third fatal error that business owners make: marketing without a plan. You see, the issue isn’t with advertising—or even with its lack thereof.
The lack of a strategy is the issue. Doing any kind of marketing without a plan is just plain stupid. The invisible thread that connects all of your marketing efforts is your strategy. The secret ingredient that gives every aspect of your advertising meaning is strategy. Your marketing is propelled by your strategy. Your marketing is guided by your strategy. Your entire marketing campaign would be ineffective without a plan.
What then is a strategy? Your game plan for succeeding in the market is your strategy. It is the central notion or collection of concepts that you have painstakingly developed following a thorough analysis of the market, including the demands of your target audience and all current rivals. Your strategy is your own special route into the market; it’s how you want to win over your target audience’s hearts.
Your marketing will not work until this plan is defined. Because of the noise your marketing creates, all you will accomplish is confuse your target audience. However, if you have a well-thought-out plan, your marketing will be laser-focused, forcing your target audience to pay attention.
Why? Because strategy is your blueprint for carving out a market niche for yourself. If done correctly, it is how you want to differentiate yourself from the competition and will be seen right away by your target audience. You may declare with confidence that your marketing is successful only when your target audience is able to distinguish you from the competition. Creating a brand is defined as making a product or service stand out in the eyes of the consumer.
4. Managing before Leading: As they progress on their entrepreneurial path, entrepreneurs eventually come to the realization that they are not alone. At this point, they start enlisting further support. Although this is a wise decision, many entrepreneurs unfortunately fail to manage this change well.
They start managing these new inputs instead of spearheading them. And therein lays the fourth fatal error that business owners commit. Since people are not objects, managing them is neither appropriate nor possible. Individuals can only be guided. You are violating human rights the moment you start treating individuals like objects, and the outcome is compliance that is passed off as law.
Instead of expressing their opposition in public, many choose to keep it all inside and pretend to comply with your requests. And that’s when they start acting like zombies and quit using their initiative. The explanation is straightforward: people eventually become accustomed to being treated like objects and begin acting like things when you cease treating them like the actual human beings that they are.
They turn into mindless automata that simply follow instructions and behave in accordance with their programming. Lead your team instead of managing them if your goal is to have a dynamic group of individuals that use their God-given abilities, ideas, and personalities to expand your company. If you want to extract the best skills from people, you have to lead them; you can only manage processes.
People follow leaders who inspire them, win them over to their beliefs, and encourage them to pursue their dreams. They’ll come up with superior ideas on their own, free from orders or manipulation, to help you achieve your goals more quickly. This is how leadership has power. Instead of managers, people need leaders. Leaders motivate others by demonstrating vision, action, and character. People are forced to work through a manager’s position, authority, and instructions.
You need inspired employees as an entrepreneur, not submissive ones. Employee compliance stems from a fear of losing their jobs. However, motivated employees labor because they are proud of what they do. Ultimately, creative workers are the ones who develop novel goods and services. But for the obedient employees. All they do is keep things as they are.
You have the option to lead or manage, as usual. Do you wish to understand leadership better? Take a look at these strange articles.
5. Activity over Productivity: Unlike the normal worker, an entrepreneur does not have set working hours. There is no end to the amount of time that entrepreneurs can spend working—they labor day and night. Still, many entrepreneurs get caught up in the activity trap, judging their level of productivity by the amount of hours they labor. This is a fatal error! You should be motivated by results as an entrepreneur rather than by activities or efforts. This is how productivity is defined.
As I’ve said before, as an entrepreneur, your biggest advantage is your ability to produce outcomes. Customers pay you money based on the positive impact your products/services have on their life, not on the number of hours you spend in manufacturing. What modifications resulted from utilizing your service or product? What advantages did they experience when utilizing your service or product? How was the purchasing process with you? Did it differ from the tournaments? These are only a few of the measures used in business to account for outcomes.
You have failed as an entrepreneur if you have spent ten years developing a product or service and it doesn’t achieve any of the following. Therefore, stop boasting about how many hours you spend at work and allow your accomplishments do the talking. Stated differently, prioritize output quality [productivity] over output volume [activity]. Why? Your target market purchases completed goods rather than unfinished work because they don’t pay for it! Do you want to know how to become more productive as an entrepreneur? Take a look at this unusual article.
6. Learning without Doing: The first fatal error made by entrepreneurs is poor execution; as was previously said, this involves managing your company with basic business skills and common sense. The opposite of this fatal error is when entrepreneurs have a wealth of knowledge and abilities but fail to apply them; this is also a fatal mistake that they make in business.
The greatest business advice ever is this: take action. Learning alone will never be able to replace doing; in fact, the problem with learning alone and not doing is precisely what I discussed in the 5 deadly mistakes entrepreneurs make, activity over productivity. There is a saying that perfectly captures the essence of this deadly mistake: “he who does not know is an illiterate and he who knows but does not do what he knows, is a fool.” or, to put it another way, “he who knows but doesn’t do, is no different from he who knows not.”
In other words, while learning keeps you active, you won’t be productive until you put what you’ve learned into practice. In actuality, resolving issues by action is the ultimate indication of knowledge [learning]. Therefore, gather as much information and expertise in business as you require, but don’t merely hang your certificate of attendance on the wall of your office—use it to improve your company. Why? Since doing (results) increases your bottom line, learning [activity] does not!
7. Doing business instead of building a business: Few entrepreneurs are aware of the very thin line that separates a business from a company. It makes sense that so many of them make this fatal error and that so few of them go on to thrive in business. What then makes a difference?
BUSINESS: Your line of work
A business is anything you perform for clients in return for cash. The recipient of the result is the only distinction between a business and a job. In a work setting, the business owner benefits from the work you do for others in exchange for payment. However, when you run a business, you are the one who gains from the work you do for others in return for cash.
This is where the trap and the source of this fatal business error are located. Many entrepreneurs start their own businesses doing the same work for themselves instead of continuing in their previous positions where they were paid to do services for others in exchange for money. Because of this unique change in beneficiaries from your employer to yourself, a lot of business owners find it difficult to distinguish between running a business and growing one.
However, the truth is that if your company is centered around your abilities alone, you are not a business owner; rather, you are a businessman or businesswoman who engages in business [i.e., exchanges goods or services for money]. you.
BUSINESS: what you construct
You ‘build’ your business, not merely ‘do’ it, in order to become an owner. A company is what you create as a business. An organization engaged in a certain business or enterprises is referred to as a firm. indicating that the entrepreneur is not the only one who may provide goods or services in return for money. It indicates that, independent of you as the business owner, there is already a structure, method, or procedure in place that allows the company to offer goods or services to clients in exchange for payment.
For this reason, a company is always referred to as a distinct legal entity from the business owner. For this reason, businesses cannot always be bought or sold, only companies. It is the conscious act of removing yourself from managing the general operations of your company and putting in place systems based on straightforward procedures that are easy enough for others to do.
Why is your success as an entrepreneur dependent on this intentional entanglement? Since you are the company’s founder, your function is more strategic than operational. Your business will never expand or advance if you let yourself become overly consumed by the day-to-day operations of running it. This will keep you stuck in the here and now. You must be focused on the future in addition to the present if you want to grow. And as an entrepreneur, you alone are responsible for providing the future!
n fact, experts say that quitting can be the best course of action if your current position doesn’t provide you with recognition, job stability, financial happiness, or personal fulfillment.
Some people can see the cues that it’s time to quit their work, according to FlexJobs Chief Executive Officer and Founder Ms. Sara Sutton-Fell, while others are blind to these clues.
Mrs. Shoga Adeola, a human resource consultant, states: “Although everyone has days when they don’t look forward to going to work, if you find yourself getting sick every time the thought of going into the office occurs, it might be time to find another job. A persistent sense of dread when you consider going to work may indicate serious issues at your employment that are making you unhappy.”
Experts say there are telltale signals that your current employment isn’t a good fit for you and that you should think about how to resolve the problems or consider quitting.
You are not passionate.
When the excitement you felt upon starting work fades, you will no longer be able to look forward to all the opportunities and contributions that lie ahead. According to Shoga, if you’re not feeling enthusiastic about your work when you get up most mornings, then you’ve lost the spark. You won’t reach your full potential if you’re not doing what you love. It will simply remain a job, and soon every day will feel increasingly monotonous.”
You don’t like the people you work with.
You can try to resolve issues with your manager or coworkers, but sometimes there are no easy answers.
You’re constantly under stress.
Sutton Fell advises that if you experience anxiety or unhappiness by thinking about your job, it’s probably time to move on. It can also be time for you to relocate if the environment—that is, the people, the work—is toxic and negatively affects your physical and emotional well-being.
“When work starts affecting your health: physical, mental, or both, it’s time to get out,” Adeola states.
Your output at work is degrading.
If you’re no longer productive at work, even though you’re capable of performing the task, you might want to start looking for new work.
Your work-life balance is no longer healthy.
According to experts, another indication that you should look for another career is if you discover that you’re spending less time with your family due to work or that you are unable to dedicate the required amount of time to your work.
You’re not making use of your skills
You’ve been turned down for a promotion, your attempts to take on more difficult tasks have failed, or management doesn’t see that you have more to contribute than what you’ve been putting in for a long time.
Sutton-Fell states, “No one has voiced anything, but you are no longer receiving the prestigious assignments, being called to important meetings, or having your suggestions rejected or met with silence. These indicate that you ought to be searching for a different opportunity.”
The responsibilities of your employment have changed.
Sutton-Fell believes there’s usually a valid reason for this, but occasionally there’s also a clue that you should go.
“When downsizing has moved your team into double time, but certainly nowhere near double compensation, it may be time to move on, ” she says.
Your suggestions are not being taken into consideration.
Career experts advise looking for a new job if your ideas are no longer valued or heard, if you are unable to gain time with the “powers that be,” or if you are not acknowledged for your hard work.
You are being harassed sexually and verbally.
Adeola advises that regardless of the corrective actions you take, you should definitely keep an eye out for alternative positions if you’ve been the victim of bullying, sexual harassment, or other heinous behavior.
Experts advise setting goals for yourself that specify the duties, business culture, pay, and perks you are seeking for as soon as you decide it might be time to quit your current position.
Sutton-Fell advises you to think about your alternatives as well. “Can you quit and then find a new job, or do you need to look for a job while you’re still employed?” she asks. future, think about what makes your future work significant and what your “dream” or “better” employment might entail. Additionally, consider whether you would like to pursue a different line of work or remain in your current industry.
