Top 5 Biggest Mistakes I Made in Business

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hould be paid. Let your skills, knowledge experience and results that you deliver be the factors that determine what you get paid.</li><li>Trying to please everyone. Unfortunately, it is impossible to please everyone and, sometimes, no matter what you do, there will be people who are unhappy about it. You could offer the best service in the world and someone will still complain because you said the wrong thing, asked the wrong thing, or charged too much or stood your ground when asked to make an exception. While it’s OK to do favours for certain customers because you value that relationship, you should not bend the rules too much for everyone else. Therefore, focus on pleasing the customers with whom you have the best relationship and who are the most valuable to your business. Otherwise, people will walk all over you and some will always take more than they give.</li><li>Trying to serve too many different demographic groups at once. A business coach once told me “if you try to be everything to everyone, you will end up nothing to no one.” When I started, I tried to help weightlifters, runners, folks who want to lose weight and people of all ages. I should have focused on one demographic that I’m super passionate about helping, which is “beginner runners.” Yes, this may lead to some potential clients not wanting to work with you, but if you don’t enjoy working with that particular group of clients, then the money is not worth it. Therefore, decide what group you want to serve and focus all your marketing and educational resources on them.</li><li>Overbooking myself. Wh

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ile that may sound like a good problem to have, it really wasn’t (at least not in my case). Unfortunately, the way I overbooked myself is through some deeply discounted sessions. I discounted the sessions because I wanted to do people favour or because I felt bad when they told me they couldn’t afford my regular price. Unfortunately, this made my schedule full and I had very little time for myself. Looking back, I should have just booked fewer sessions at a more fair rate. Therefore, you should be careful of burning yourself out at the start.</li><li>Trying to do everything myself in my business. Honestly, I don’t enjoy accounting, trying to figure out how to effectively run Facebook ads or building websites. However, I was trying to do everything myself because I didn’t invest enough in technology nor help from those who can do the things that I don’t enjoy doing. Truthfully, it’s because I couldn’t always afford to hire extra help, particularly when I was just starting. Perhaps I could have come up with a creative solution to this particular challenge (and I can already think of many). However, it’s only looking back that I realized that I needed help. Eventually, I did end up getting more help, but it took a while. A few words of caution though: when it comes to investing in people and technology for your business, it’s important to invest wisely and weigh the pros and cons, particularly if your resources are limited.</li></ol>If you’ve ever started a business before, even if it’s your “side hustle”, what are some of the mistakes that you’ve made?</article></body>

So that you can avoid making them

Although I started my personal training business after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, I still had to figure out how things work in “the real world”. Studying business is one thing but actually attempting to start a business and then successfully running it is a different ball game.

Chasing Goals by James Patrick

Therefore, my post-university entrepreneurship journey has had a lot of challenges, some of which were the result of my own mistakes.

Let’s take a close look at my 5 biggest mistakes:

Not charging enough from the start. The truth is, you will always encounter customers who are bargain hunters and who will jump ship the moment you decide to raise your prices. At the same time, the customers who value the service you offer will be happy to pay a few extra bucks. Part of the reason I often allowed some people to negotiate a lower rate is due to fear. I was afraid of losing a potential customer. However, what ended up happening, at one point, was that I was overbooked and underpaid. Therefore, it is best that you charge what you believe you are worth based on your education, experience and the value of the service/product you offer. Don’t let fear dictate your rate. Be confident in your ability to get paid exactly what you feel you should be paid. Let your skills, knowledge experience and results that you deliver be the factors that determine what you get paid.

Trying to please everyone. Unfortunately, it is impossible to please everyone and, sometimes, no matter what you do, there will be people who are unhappy about it. You could offer the best service in the world and someone will still complain because you said the wrong thing, asked the wrong thing, or charged too much or stood your ground when asked to make an exception. While it’s OK to do favours for certain customers because you value that relationship, you should not bend the rules too much for everyone else. Therefore, focus on pleasing the customers with whom you have the best relationship and who are the most valuable to your business. Otherwise, people will walk all over you and some will always take more than they give.

Trying to serve too many different demographic groups at once. A business coach once told me “if you try to be everything to everyone, you will end up nothing to no one.” When I started, I tried to help weightlifters, runners, folks who want to lose weight and people of all ages. I should have focused on one demographic that I’m super passionate about helping, which is “beginner runners.” Yes, this may lead to some potential clients not wanting to work with you, but if you don’t enjoy working with that particular group of clients, then the money is not worth it. Therefore, decide what group you want to serve and focus all your marketing and educational resources on them.

Overbooking myself. While that may sound like a good problem to have, it really wasn’t (at least not in my case). Unfortunately, the way I overbooked myself is through some deeply discounted sessions. I discounted the sessions because I wanted to do people favour or because I felt bad when they told me they couldn’t afford my regular price. Unfortunately, this made my schedule full and I had very little time for myself. Looking back, I should have just booked fewer sessions at a more fair rate. Therefore, you should be careful of burning yourself out at the start.

Trying to do everything myself in my business. Honestly, I don’t enjoy accounting, trying to figure out how to effectively run Facebook ads or building websites. However, I was trying to do everything myself because I didn’t invest enough in technology nor help from those who can do the things that I don’t enjoy doing. Truthfully, it’s because I couldn’t always afford to hire extra help, particularly when I was just starting. Perhaps I could have come up with a creative solution to this particular challenge (and I can already think of many). However, it’s only looking back that I realized that I needed help. Eventually, I did end up getting more help, but it took a while. A few words of caution though: when it comes to investing in people and technology for your business, it’s important to invest wisely and weigh the pros and cons, particularly if your resources are limited.

If you’ve ever started a business before, even if it’s your “side hustle”, what are some of the mistakes that you’ve made?