Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Avoid These Entrepreneur Mistakes - Someone Else Has Already Made Them!

It would be totally unrealistic to expect every entrepreneurial endeavour to have a completely happy ending. However if we learn from the mistakes of others we will be able to prevent some rather unhappy experiences of our own.

One of my favourite blogs is "The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur". I found this wonderful article entitled 31 Of The Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistakes That You Must Avoid At All Cost on the blog and wanted to share it with you.

Here are the top 10 biggest entrepreneurial mistakes according to the article :

1. Too Much Office Space


I made the mistake of getting more office space than I really needed.
It cost me too much money, which of course came from my pocket. I was way too caught up in the ego of having a nice space. These days, I am into virtual businesses and telecommuting–why waste money on rent?
Kathryn Korostoff, President, Sage Research

2. Not Knowing Costs Before Doing


When creating a direct response ad campaign in various national women’s magazines,
I failed to factor in the cost of producing and mailing catalogs to the thousands of respondents.
Gerhard Kramer, Marketing Director, Laura K Designs, Inc. www.Psalm23Jewelry.com

3. Hired The Wrong Bookeeper


Years ago, I made a couple of HUGE mistakes when I hired my first bookkeeper…Although I was referred to her by someone I knew, I didn’t really do my due diligence. And since I didn’t know my way around QuickBooks I also didn’t check very closely to see if she was doing her job as promised. After about 9 months I discovered she wasn’t. It took me two more bookkeepers, two years of time (a bunch of gray hairs) and about $3500 to get it reasonably straightened out so I could actually track revenues vs. expenses. Arrrgh!!
Stacy Karacostas Founder SuccessStream Sales & Marketing Solution

4. Moved Business Too Soon


I moved my business too soon… I loved the new location and space but it put more of a crunch on my cash flow than anticipated so I had a tough road for awhile.
Teajai ‘T J’ Kimsey, Internet Marketing Strategist, www.IdeasThatWork.net

5. Cutting It Close For Commitments

Initially gave all clients 24 hour turnaround on my virtual assistant services. That was great when I had one or two clients, but as I grew I couldn’t keep up. Plus, I didn’t limit how much work that would involve. Transcribing one tape takes a lot less time than transcribing three. And yes, some clients expected that 24 hour turnarond on everything!
Diana Ennen, President, Virtual Word Publishing

6. Not Knowing Local Building and Permit Codes


During the build out of our first children’s gym in Severna Park, MD, my business partner, Joe Dondero and I worked 3 straight weeks on building a giant foam pit to hold over 6000 foam blocks. We drew up our plans, loaded 20 pieces of plywood and other materials into a minivan and moved them into our gym to assemble. 3 weeks later after assembling, installing and wrapping the plywood with carpet our project was successfully completed in our eyes. Needless to say, the first inspector walked in and asked if the carpet met the vertical burn rates in commercial buildings, plus he asked if the plywood was fire retardant. It took us less than 3 hours to disassemble a project that took over 3 weeks to complete and not to mention the back breaking weight of moving the pieces around. A giant lesson was learned the hard way!
John Mann, President, Rolly Pollies International, Inc.

7. A Direct Mail Blunder


I bought a direct mail list for $5k without doing major research on the company, also purchased 10,000 postcards, and paid for bulk mail postage. Mailed out the first 5000 postcards and did not receive any inquiries, ouch.
Jenny Ford, President, Monkey-Toes

8. Paying Payroll Out Of Personal Account


I had the wrong bank account set up and paid an employee out of my personal account instead of the business account.
Janine Joi, Partner, Blue Sage Naturals, LLC

9. Not Getting Money Up Front


The biggest mistake I made as an entrepreneur is not to get money up front. I become a bill-collector, not a businessperson as a result and spend needless amounts of time following up on money owed. Dr. Linda Seger, Script Consultant (since 1981), Seminar Leader, Author

10. Not Researching Your PR Firm BEFORE Making A Commitment


Hired a PR firm based on their glowing pitch and promises without checking out their track record helping businesses like mine. $15k later, piddlling results.
Mike Van Horn, President, The Business Group http://www.businessownerstoolbox.com

For the remaining 21 you will have to check out the original post here.

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