Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Starting A Business And How To Avoid Them
BySarah Harris
Sarah Harris takes care of the customer support requests at Workast. She is also an avid writer.
Sarah Harris takes care of the customer support requests at Workast. She is also an avid writer.
The very word "entrepreneur" means a person who constantly undertakes, creates, and acts. And these are the avant-garde entrepreneurs, carriers of personal development but also of the development of the whole society.
Every beginning in the field of entrepreneurship implies encountering challenges and dilemmas, which in itself requires determination and perseverance. First of all, the beginning suggests a clear vision of the business and how it can be realized and shaped into a successful and profitable venture. In addition to perseverance, the key to success is good organization, which entrepreneurs will achieve by gradually approaching their business plan and keeping in mind that each segment of business management certainly has its impact on the results of work processes.
In the text that follows, we will provide essential advice regarding the business organization and various success factors, i.e., steps that will ultimately lead to the desired goal and later further progress.
For business processes to be organized in the best possible way, it is first of all necessary to establish their final goal. Your business idea should be based on market research as well as your real possibilities; that is, the answer to the question of whether your possibilities are in accordance with the requirements of the given market in which you want to be involved.
Only after you have established that there are opportunities to respond to the needs of business maintenance in the current market conditions and prevailing atmosphere can you start designing the organization of early processes and elements that will affect the achievement of your goals.
When starting your own business, it is very important to lay the foundation by choosing and preparing a business space that will be organized in a way that makes it possible and facilitates the performance of all work tasks. The space in which work processes are carried out should be adapted primarily to the use of work equipment, as well as be equipped with the necessary office supplies.
Computers and computer peripherals represent the necessity of almost every modern business today, as well as the accompanying consumables that support the finalization of the process, such as printing paper, toners, and writing equipment. Depending on the type of activity you are engaged in, a certain part of the space needs to be adapted to the use of special devices as well as the reception of external collaborators, i.e., clients.
When you organize the work premises, you should have a clear picture of all the business steps and ensure adequate conditions for their execution. You will contribute to the good image of the company first of all in this way, and only then with the details that belong to the domain of aesthetics. So, at the very beginning, do not get carried away with the appearance of the space, but make sure that it is functional. If your budget does not match your idea and you do not want to give it up, then you can use some type of startup loan, which is a category of debt instrument aimed at entrepreneurs starting a business or young small businesses just starting to grow. Typically, a startup loan is a term loan—this means the company gets a lump sum of money and repays it with interest once the term is over.
When creating a business plan, it is very important to keep in mind the number of employees whose contributions are necessary for the realization of goals and all steps of the process. This is closely related to finances and adaptation of business space, and the foundation of the organization in itself.
It is necessary to make a plan for the interconnection of various duties in order to achieve the final goal, that is, to organize individuals into a single and functional apparatus. As a rule, it is necessary to start from the most basic and later possibly increase the number of employees because certain segments of the business process will require more engagement. Although at the beginning this means reduced income, i.e. more expenses, hiring individuals specializing in a certain field of work at the very beginning will, in the long run, lead to much greater success, and in some cases, ignoring the need to create jobs could call into question the survival of the business itself.
The organization of time is closely related to the determination of priorities, so it is very important that when organizing each working day, you draw a clear line between priorities and marginality.
The theory that instead of organizing time, it is necessary to focus on the organization of energy makes sense if we consider that the goal is productivity. That is, we cannot have the same attitude towards the distribution of time during different parts of the working day and in relation to different work tasks, since the speed of performance work varies in relation to the energy that we naturally have for it during the morning or evening hours, and also in relation to the more complex or routine character of certain work steps.
Don't rely on the initial enthusiasm you have for starting your business, but rationally evaluate how to balance and plan your obligations, taking into account these not exactly specific but significant factors.
Write everything down. Drafting contracts, acts, regulations, and similar documents may seem like unnecessary administration. However, it is important to understand that a contract, in addition to being a written agreement between two or more parties, is also a way to protect yourself legally.
Check what your legal obligations are. Keep a record of everything, in writing and with as much detail as possible. Define the expectations of all parties in advance. In the contract, be sure to specify the payment terms, method of payment, service prices, standards, and method of realization of work. In addition to protecting yourself, you will also gain a lot of credibility and trust with your clients.
If you have decided to enter the waters of entrepreneurship, even though there is a chance that they will be stormy at times, be encouraged by the fact that perseverance and commitment to the idea, as well as consistency in the organization, are actually key success factors. Your success, therefore, depends primarily on yourself, so believe in yourself and thus lay the foundation for your business progress.