Do You Make These Mistakes In Your Business?

Here are three crucial mistakes that can cost your business thousands of dollars or may even send you broke! Are you making these costly mistakes?

How Passionate Are You?

That doesn’t mean you have to love every aspect of your work. You might love being a Vet, you like working with animals and helping families with their sick pets. However, you don’t like taking the dogs temperature. It is passion that gets you through, dare I say it, the crappy times.

Sure some people just do it for the money, and there are times when may have to do it just for this reason. However, every day is going to be a long day if you just do it for the money and are not excited about work.

If you are not passionate, then you are in the wrong job. If you love what you are doing and getting paid for it, all the better.

One great thing about being passionate is that it gives you energy. If you are passionate the day just flies by and it hardly feels like you were working at all.

Sure it can be tiring, and lying on the sofa watching TV temps you far more, but it’s the passion that keeps you going.

Some days I have worked fifteen hour days or longer at something I am passionate about and this was a breeze, compared to working just four hours at a job I hated.

Passion is what fuels the mind to make more wins to give you even more passion.

At a seminar I heard Jim Penman of Jims Mowing franchises being asked; “Is their a time in business when you should perhaps be more by the book and not be as passionate?” Jim replied, “Great businesses are passionate!”

Are You Trying To Do It All?

Things like, which ingredient is best or what does this ingredient do? Or, if you put this ingredient with that one, how do you mix it together? Every aspect from the labelling to the manufacturing, I did it all.

The end result was, I was exhausted. I saved a bit of money, by doing things myself, but I left more money on the table, because I did not delegate and outsource.

It was false economy, I wasn’t marketing or selling, I was doing something, that some one else could have done better and far quicker.

Don't do it all. If it is not a crucial factor in your business that you really need to know, like marketing, or something you can only do, then delegate it, outsource it, delegate it, outsource it, delegate it and outsource it.

Have You Lost The Key?

Think about it, what really is the difference between a low paying job like a factory worker and an entrepreneur? They both come across issues everyday. The low paid factory worker has problems that are smaller and fewer. While the entrepreneur’s problems are more frequent and larger.

Unless the entrepreneur knows how to solve the crisis, he will soon become a low paid factory worker.

So how does the entrepreneur, tackle the problems?

With knowledge, ah ha! It is knowledge that solves the problems. Let me repeat that, it is knowledge that solves the problems. Problem, solution, easy.

If you have money problems, what does that mean? It means you haven’t learned enough about money. If you have relationship problems, it means you haven’t learned enough about relationships. (Just ask my wife, she thinks so.)

If you have business problems, it means that you haven’t learned enough about………… ???, yes that’s right, business. The old saying that the more you learn, the more you earn, is true.

When I talk about learning, you don’t have to know everything. Knowing every detail of your business is not vital. But knowing what is important is.

Do you need to know about the fine print of the latest tax ruling that will not make an ounce of difference to your business? No, but you do need to know what is important.

There are only a few ways to get more knowledge and experience. The first way, is to actually do it. This is the best way for first hand knowledge, but the worst way because it can take a lot of time and money, especially if you make numerous mistakes.

Mistakes are a great tool to learn from, but by then you might be broke or dint your enthusiasm. However, there is nothing like doing it.

Robert Kiyosaki from the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series recommends if you are thinking about starting out in business, you should take jobs that you can learn from and not just for the pay cheque. Such as getting a job in sales to learn more about sales. A great way to learn about different business areas and to get more experience.

Another way is to find a mentor who will teach you or steer you in the right direction. The mentor doesn’t have to live close to you, with the telephone or e-mail, it makes it easy to connect.

You may meet your mentor all the time or once a month or even just once a year. Keep your eyes open for someone who has been their and done that. You might even have a couple of different mentors, who advise you on different aspects of business or even life matters.

The third way is to get knowledge from books, courses, compact discs, seminars, internet, maybe even some business schools and DVD’s. This is a convenient and cheaper way to learn, however you may not absorb the information as quickly as doing it.

Its not uncommon for me to read two to three business books a week. My friends joke, that I love reading books. To be honest they couldn’t be further from the truth, they are missing the point, I would rather be fishing, however, it is the learning and knowledge I get from the books that I love, not the books.

Books by themselves are worthless, they are just paper. It is the wisdom of the words of people who have made huge costly mistakes and also people who have made a fortune. That is worth it’s weight in gold.

To sum it all up - To grow your business more profitably and quickly, consider the options of how to learn more:

Doing it, is the best way to learn, but can be costly in energy, time and money. Finding a mentor who has been there done that, is the next best thing, but they may be hard to find.

Books, courses, etc, while not as hands on can save you a lot of money and time.

Minimize the downside and risk of things and accelerate your knowledge by learning from all the different ways.

Knowledge is a continuous quest, because there is always something new to learn. If you are not learning, you are not growing and if you are not growing then you are dying.

Hard words but true.

If you are making these business mistakes, change direction now otherwise success will be non existent or at the very least slow. I know, because I have made all these crucial mistakes in business.

These mistakes have sent me back years and cost me a lot of money, however, what I have learnt from this is priceless.

Now and then, I still try to do it all and I should outsource more, but I am passionate about business and learning. How do you rate your business?

For more crucial mistakes to avoid in business and marketing tips go to Craig Howlett's Blog

Disclaimer - The articles aim to provide general ideas. Neither the authors nor publisher shall take any responsibility for any loss or damages occasioned to any person or organisation acting or refraining from action as a result of this information. As always the advice of a competent legal solicitor, accountant or other professional advice should be sought.