The Biggest Mistake Emerging Entrepreneurs Make When They Start
Every year there are hundreds of thousands of people breaking away from their jobs to become entrepreneurs. But what causes 4 out of 10 businesses to fail within the first five years? In this article, we’ll uncover the biggest mistake emerging entrepreneurs make when they start and how to avoid it to be successful.
A lot of entrepreneurs, when they first start out, focus on creating their product and finding creative ways to promote it, with no real plan in place. They want to do all the fun stuff first, and then do the business stuff later, after they make some money.
These entrepreneurs don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan, and that’s why they fail. If you want to be successful in business, then you need to realistically determine where you are, where you want to go and how you are going to get there. You need to have a plan!
Why do People Avoid Planning?
People avoid planning for many different reasons. Here are some of the reasons people choose to dive straight in rather than start planning first.
Planning takes time.
It’s difficult work.
May not know how.
Don’t understand the reason for doing it.
Don’t think it will make a difference.
Requires too much reworking and writin.
Not enough people or resources.
If you want to keep your business from failing, then you should strive to overcome these obstacles in the interest of making your business sensational and profitable.
The biggest mistake emerging entrepreneurs make when they start is the lack of planning. When you make that mistake, it’s difficult to succeed at anything. Why is that? Well, if you don’t know where you’re going, where will you end up? Usually in the same place: nowhere and that usually leads to a failing business. Is that what you want?
When you start your planning process in the beginning stages of your business, you’ll spend less time planning or making critical corrections in the process of operating your business.
What would you think about a person who starts a large building development process without blue prints? Crazy, right? The same is in building your business, you need a written plan. Can you build a business without a plan? Yes, but what do you think that would look like? Don’t become a failed business statistic!
What Is Planning?
Planning is a process by which an entrepreneur can become what they are destined to become. When you make a plan, you are identifying opportunities and the allocation of resources. Planning is a bridge to get you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future. Planning is mapping your steps to making your vision a reality.
Just as a mason lays the bricks for a path, you need to lay down the steps toward your goal. Lay them in an orderly fashion so that they may be followed. They should lead you to your destination. Planning accelerates your business toward rapid change and productive outcomes.
Developing a Strategic Plan
Strategic planning is the process of establishing an overall course of action. It begins by looking into the future, deciding where you want to end up, and then working backwards to formulate your plan of how to get there. Before you begin the planning process, there are three things you must know: your starting point, ending point and your purpose.
Your starting point (where you are right now) What is your starting point? Formulating the idea of what your business is about is a good start, but it’s only a start. Planning for it is putting that idea into action.
Your ending point (the vision). Vision is having a clear mental image of what your business should look like in the future. It will give your business the focus it needs to stay on the right course.
Your purpose (why do you want to go from start to end?). Purpose answers why you do what you do. It is the organization’s reason for being. It doesn’t just describe the organization’s output or target customers; it sums up the heart of the organization. Purpose goes beyond just making money and grasps the core emotional reasons for your business’ existence.
Once your company’s purpose has been established, you can continue the rest of the steps in the strategic-planning process:
Write a mission statement that explains what your business must do day-to-day to make your vision statement a reality.
Identify your core values or beliefs. Values influence the way you do business, day-to-day. They impact the way your employees work together, the way you interact with customers. Your values are the oil that keep the mechanisms of your business moving.
Discover your “Inner Wow Factor.” This is where you identify and define that special gift inside of you that makes your business different, that makes your business unique. In order to establish your brand as a leader in your industry, you have to understand what sets you apart.
Build your envisioned future by establishing an audacious goal and vivid descriptions of what it will be like to achieve the goal.
So, before you dive straight in and start doing all the things you feel are the fun stuff, you need to put your plan in place first! Find out why you avoid planning and strive to overcome those obstacles.
Realistically determine where you are, where you want to go and how you are going to get there. Planning accelerates your business toward rapid change and productive outcomes. It begins by looking into the future, deciding where you want to end up, and then working backwards to formulate your plan of how to get there. This is how you avoid the biggest mistake emerging entrepreneurs make when they start their business.
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