Don’t Do It: Running A Business

Go on the internet and you’ll find an infinite amount of blogs, articles, video and photo galleries that all tell you things you should do to make your small business successful. Sure, they work. Most of them are generic and obvious, but they still work. Unfortunately, what these blogs, articles, videos and photo galleries don’t tell you are the things you should not do. Yes, there are certain things that can cause your small business more damage than good, which is why we have come up with some advice to help you avoid making the same mistakes as so many entrepreneurs that have gone before you.

Never Forget Why

It doesn’t matter who you are, what your background is, how much you had to start with or what sector you have gone into; there will always be times where you start to doubt yourself. You start to think, “why the hell did I do this?” Well, there will always be an answer, a good answer; it is just a matter of reminding yourself of why every so often. It could have been that you started a tee shirt company because your passion was fashion. Maybe you took the leap so that you could spend more time with your family and have a better work/life balance. Perhaps it was to have more control. Whatever it is, always keep that in the back of your mind, or have it framed and hanging in your office or above your desk.

Don’t Do It Alone

Yes, money will probably be tight. It always is with a startup company. As such, it is only natural for you to DIY everything, from marketing to customer service, to IT and insurance and everything in between. All of these things, from the big important pitches to the little admin tasks, take up time, come with resource costs and will be a learning curve. So always try and relieve the pressures on you when you can. This doesn’t mean hiring people, but it can mean outsourcing tasks that will then let you crack on with what you need to do. This could be hiring an SEO agency to ensure your website gets found, or a designer to pull together a new logo, or an IT services team to help you with your technical tasks. All of this will let you focus on your role of bringing in revenue.

Know Who To Partner Up With

It may be that you are thinking of going into business with someone because you trust them, because you have worked as colleagues at a company before, and that you are best friends, all of which are good qualities. However, this doesn’t ensure your partnership will work. The qualities you should be looking for in a partner are qualities you don’t possess. What’s more, you want someone who is the opposite to you. The worst thing you can do is partner up with someone who will just agree. You need to be challenged and to challenge them, that is how success is forged.

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