Owning and running a company is one of the most difficult tasks you can undertake in life. Besides stumbling and falling along the way, usually due to a range of factors beyond your control, there is one aspect that can ensure the company fails: you.
Firstly, you will never get everything right the first time, and that needs to be taken into account. Secondly, by not listening to others and only relying on yourself, you can very well doom the company. This isn’t the case for each and every business person, but it’s still a large possibility.
Below are a few points you should consider when starting your company, and if you’re already incorporating them, into how your business is run.
Not listening to your customers
Your product may be the greatest invention ever, with the perfect price-point, and enough functionality to keep any user satisfied. Well, that’s what you may think. In truth, customers have a range of individual needs when it comes to products. It’s true that consumers don’t always know what they want out of a product, though listening to them will help.
If customers are happy or unsatisfied with a product, they will often speak up about it. Though this may not be directly to your company and you may need to comb social media channels. Regardless, taking note of concerns and praises will help to develop your product and improve its overall quality, such as including additional features, or streamlining the way it is developed.
Doing everything on your own
Starting a business can be an expensive endeavour, whether you’re looking at asset finance solutions, or raising the money yourself. This means you’ll want to run a company that is as lean as possible, which in turn means you’ll be doing a lot of, if not all of, the work yourself. You may think this is the right way, but it’s not, and will lead to a range of problems.
Besides leading to fatigue and sickness from being overworked, running the business on your own is not an ideal solution. When you can, begin employing staff even if it’s at a slower than ideal rate. These employees will be able to handle menial tasks that take up too much of your time, which enables you to focus on the core of the business. Companies that have staff also give off a better image than a one-man/woman operation as it shows the entity is successful
Being too tight with cash
In following on from the previous point, while bootstrapping and running a lean startup can lead to a better business, being too cautious with money can lead to its own set of problems. Certain business assets, such as staff and machinery, are expensive, but not having the tools you need will slow down your business venture.
For example, you won’t need to have a full-time on-site accountant to manage the business finances, but at least outsource that function to another company. Doing it yourself when you’re too busy will lead to costly mistakes. The same goes for having a personal assistant, when virtual assistants will also suffice, depending on your needs.
If you have a delivery company and the vehicles need to be serviced, make sure it’s done. In doing so, you will not put your staff of vehicles at risk of breakdowns.
Pretending to know everything
There’s no harm in asking for help, whether you’re picking the brain of an employee or a third party for your company. You’re not going to know each and every detail of any business or the industry you are in and that’s okay. There are those who will pretend to know everything about every decision in order to not seem foolish, which follows along the “fake it until you break it” mentality.
In reality, faking knowledge can be very dangerous for your company. This could lead to hiring the wrong person for a position, taking on the wrong partners, investing in a marketing campaign that isn’t ideal for you, as well as the mismanagement of money. You could soon see the company around you crumble away.
One way around this is to hold regular brainstorming meetings with staff and people who you trust. While they may not be part of the company or have deep knowledge of your day-to-day tasks, they can bring some much needed outside voices and suggestions.
To sum everything up, don’t keep to yourself. Make sure that the company has room to grow and that you’re not limiting it with your decisions, otherwise the business may just fail.
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4 mistakes to avoid when starting a business
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