by Corbett Barr
Every week I talk with
entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about
successes and failures. I spend time with both complete newbies and seasoned
veterans, and everything in between.
I have a pretty fantastic job.
One topic that comes up over and
over again with both groups is mistakes made
in starting businesses.
Newbies love to know which mistakes
are common so they can avoid them. Veterans
love to talk about things they wish they had known or had done differently.
This weekend I was at the World Domination Summit in Portland with 3,000
ambitious people, and this topic came up dozens of times. “What do you wish
you had done differently?” “What mistakes do people make starting out?” “I wish
I hadn’t…”
So I put together a summary of the
mistakes people shared with me, combined with the mistakes we see being made
every week through our work with new entrepreneurs at Fizzle
and elsewhere.
Here are the Top 10 biggest
mistakes made when starting an online business:
1.
Waiting too long to launch a product/service
When you start blogging or
podcasting to build an audience, it’s easy to get stuck on the content “hamster
wheel” for months or years without ever offering something for sale.
There are a few reasons this
happens.
Some people are waiting for some
magic audience size “1,000 subscribers” or maybe “10,000 visitors” or whatever
your number might be.
Some people just can’t find the time
to blog or podcast or make videos AND to build a product at the same time. It’s
tough.
Some people simply talk themselves
out of creating a product because they’re afraid no one will buy it. They don’t
want to fail after putting in so much time creating content.
Whatever the reason, this is a fatal
trap. If you’re building a business, you need to address the biggest risk
head-on. The biggest risk you’ll face as a business is in creating something no
one will pay for.
Plus, you need practice at building
and launching products. Your first one might not be all that good. The sooner
you put something out there, the closer you get to sustainable revenue.
2.
Solving an unimportant problem
If the problem your business solves
is important enough, you won’t even have to look for customers. Imagine if you
had a cure for cancer, for example.
Businesses fail all the time because
they try to solve a problem nobody really cares about. If you put your product
or idea out there and nobody buys it, there’s a good chance you should look for
a more important problem, not a bigger audience.
3.
Not really listening to customers
How do you know if the problem you
solve is important enough?
Listen to your customers. Really
listen to them.
Don’t just listen to the customers
who provide validation. Listen to the ones who ask for refunds or buy your
product but don’t use it. Listen to the people who tell you they won’t buy, and
find out why.
Don’t just pay lip service to your
customers. You don’t have all the answers, they do. There’s a reason why “the
customer is always right,” because without customers you don’t have a business.
4.
Not being different
In most markets, customers have
different options to choose from. If your business has competition, you have to
give your potential customers a reason to choose your offering over
another.
I see this all the time with new
bloggers. They jump into a popular topic and essentially mimic or copy what
other popular bloggers are already doing. I suppose they think “if it works for
them, maybe it will work for me.”
But think about it from the reader
or customer perspective. If they find your blog, they’ll be asking themselves
“why is this blog worth spending any time on?” You have to answer that question
quickly and clearly, before they click the back button.
You can’t expect to grow an audience
by being an inferior version of some other better known site. Even if your site
or product is arguably better than the competition, “better” is subjective.
Instead of simply trying to be
better, you need to be different.
Then, when someone asks why your site or product is worth her attention, your
answer will be objective and easy to understand.
5.
Choosing a topic you don’t care about
Whatever you choose to focus your
business on, you’re going to need deep subject knowledge, fresh creativity, and
unwavering stamina.
There will be competition who cares
more about the topic than you do. How can you compete if the gap between your
love of a topic and your competitors’ is wide?
This doesn’t mean your business has
to be your #1 “passion” or life’s work (most of us don’t have one single
passion in life), but don’t make things impossible by choosing something you
don’t care about.
If you love your topic, stamina
won’t be an issue. If you love your topic, creativity will flow, and influence
will be easier to build.
Don’t ask yourself what the world
needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what
the world needs is people who have come alive. -Howard Thurman
6.
Starting with vastly wrong expectations
This won’t be easy, and it won’t be
quick.
Building a successful business is a
massive undertaking. You probably can’t do it while traveling the world. If you
have a full-time job, it will be much, much harder.
If your plan involves four-hour
workweeks, or if your timeline is measured in weeks or months, you will
probably fail.
These are the hard truths that
people rarely talk about. Overnight successes don’t exist. Your original plan
will probably have to be completely re-written, maybe multiple times.
Ask yourself: will building this business still be worth it if it takes
years to get there? What if building the business is harder and more stressful
than your current job?
Talk to some entrepreneurs who have
achieved something close to what you want to achieve. Ask them what it really
took. Ask them about stress and timelines and giving up. Ask them not to
sugarcoat it. Really listen. Then ask yourself if you’re prepared for your
own version of that.
7.
Spending too much time thinking and not enough doing
Not much to say here that isn’t
perfectly summed up in this quote:
Genius is one percent inspiration,
ninety-nine percent perspiration.
-Thomas Edison
-Thomas Edison
If your ratio of thinking-to-doing
is anything less than 80% doing, think again do more.
As Chase likes to say,
entrepreneurs have two modes, CEO mode and worker-bee mode. In a one-person
business, you have to be both.
8.
Going it alone
The only reason my business exists
today is because other entrepreneur friends wouldn’t let me quit. Seriously, I
tried to throw in the towel and start over with something else, but they
wouldn’t let me. They talked me out of it.
No one can succeed in business
alone. You need people to make it work. Your customers are people, your
suppliers are people, your service providers are people.
Most importantly, you need support
from other entrepreneurs who are at similar stages as you are, and from others
with more experience.
The more connected you become with
other entrepreneurs, the more normal your quest becomes. You’ll no longer feel
crazy or alone, and you’ll realize that we all face obstacles just like you’re
facing.
The entrepreneurs who talked me out
of quitting were part of a little group that met weekly to hold each other
accountable. It didn’t cost any of us a thing, other than an hour of our time
each week, but it turned out to be the most valuable resource I ever used in my
business.
Reach out to another entrepreneur or
two, and ask them to meet weekly. Share your struggles and goals, and review
your progress each week. This simple process is so powerful.
9.
Confusing “blog” with “business”
Repeat after me: a blog isn’t a
business. A blog isn’t a business.
A blog is an incredible platform for
sharing your ideas, connecting with people and growing an audience. The same is
true of podcasting, YouTubing, or any other place you might publish content for
free.
Giving away free content isn’t a
business. It’s a tool for building influence.
Don’t count on turning that influence into sponsorships or advertising dollars.
You’ll need a more direct plan for earning an income if you want your blog or
podcast to pay off.
See point #1 above about launching a
product/service.
10.
What would you add to this list?
This is my list, from what I hear
and see in the entrepreneurial world.
Is your list different?
What things do you wish you
had done differently?
What mistakes do you see new
entrepreneurs making?
Please share your thoughts in the
comments below. You might just help someone avoid a big mistake. If you think
this list is helpful, please pass it along!
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