As an Ethical Blogger, it is my responsibility to share my learning experiences (from Aha to Oh Shit!) in a most transparent manner possible. In this post I am going to share my Top 5 Business Decision Making Mistakes that you should not make again.
The mistakes of my decision making I am going to share today are most tempting for new bloggers and entrepreneurs having:
- no prior business experience.
- no big capital.
- continuous family pressure for a job.
- fear of failure.
- no proper planning and
and the list is practically endless.
Once upon a time I was such a person having all such sure to fail business attributes mixed with a burning desire for success.
And honestly, I am living with some of those failure formulae today even after 6 years of my composite entrepreneurship journey.
However, I am working more than 100 hours a week to get rid of those in order to achieve my goals.
Now have a look on my mistakes (and be sure to put each of them into your Don’t Do List).
Mistake – 1: Zero Debt Policy:
This one is the 1st mistake among my Business Decision Making Mistakes.
I didn’t like loans.
I liked to arrange my required business capital all by myself by utilizing my skills and talents at their most.
No. This is not a wrong way of thinking.
However, I have “wasted” so many years to compile capital for my businesses by walking this way.
Because it really takes time.
And you probably know:
So I recommend you not to hesitate in taking business loans or borrowing some capital from your relatives and family members to raise your business fund.
Once you will be getting success by utilising those borrowed money, you will be certainly able to pay all the debts back with proper interests and compensations, whatever it takes.
Mistake – 2: No Written Business Plan:
This one is the 2nd mistake among my Business Decision Making Mistakes.
When I started business 6 years ago, I knew nothing about Business Planning and all.
If I had a written business plan, I also had the answers of various critical questions even before they come into the work.
Without a written business plan, I have wasted my time, energy, effort and money madly – without having any proper direction.
Now I have realized that:
I recommend you to make a Written Business Plan before starting anything.
Mistake – 3: Procrastination for Perfection:
This one is the 3rd mistake among my Business Decision Making Mistakes.
I am a little bit Perfection Savvy.
While it is not so harmful in the personal life, but it is seriously harmful for a business.
Because it often tends to lead people towards “Procrastination” – one of the most “to be avoided” words for us, the entrepreneurs like you and me.
I have lost too many opportunities, gave myself last minute stress, lost more money and you name more.
I am still struggling to get rid of this bad habit.
So I recommend you not to allow “Procrastination” to get around you and your beloved one.
Mistake – 4: Desire to Please Everyone (Inability to Say “No”):
This one is the 4th mistake among my Business Decision Making Mistakes.
This is one of most mysterious mistakes I often make since my childhood.
And I have come to know over time that I am not alone.
Even so called “Successful People” do this mistake often.
Yes. Customer Support and Keeping them happy is a Must for each and every business regardless of its size and annual revenue.
Because:
There is only one Boss. The Customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from chairman on down. Simply by spending his money somewhere else. – Sam Walton.
But everything is good (even great) upto a certain limit.
And I often cross that limit to say “Yes” in order to make people (who matter a little) happy.
As a consequence, I often ending in saying “No” to even the smallest requests from my Friends, Family Members, Beloved Ones and even Myself.
This results in the Ultimate Bad Feelings from both ends that matter most in spite of putting more than sufficient efforts to make things right.
So in this stage I recommend you to:
If possible, change your mentality.
Make it your habit to say “No” first to any not so nice requests from time-wasting people unless they are in a Live or Death Situation.
Mistake – 5: Unnecessary Employments:
This one is the 5th mistake among my Business Decision Making Mistakes.
One of my biggest motivations behind starting my own business is to do something good (as much as I can) to resolve the emerging unemployment issue.
I have found that Entrepreneurship is the only way to do this.
However, I have over-employed people without testing their skills, etc.
As a result, I couldn’t retain them for long in my organization.
And most of salaries paid to them are now buried deep within my “Books of Sunk Costs“.
The Sub-Mistakes I have made in this regards can be well summarized as:
- no proper work-load distribution planning
- higher and fixed salary than the then market
- no proper skill-tests before giving the employment
All I am sharing these typical information just to make sure that you can avoid those mistakes before hiring your employees.
In other words,
Conclusion:
I have shared my top 5 business decision making mistakes in the last 6 years of my entrepreneurship journey.
You should avoid making that kind of mistakes (those I have made) at any cost in order to be successful in your business and your life as well.
Now leave me a quick comment below sharing your experience regarding this topic. Did you ever make any of the above listed mistakes throughout your entrepreneurship journey? Share with me and all the other aspiring Ethical Bloggers.
See you in the next post.
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