Mistakes happen. Whether this is your first new business venture or your fifth, there are bound to be problems. Below are six common mistakes new businesses make, and how you can plan for such situations:
- The Workspace
A restaurant needs kitchen equipment. A gym needs workout equipment. On top of this, the workspace needs enough room to house all of these items, employees and customers. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the excitement of choosing a location. Make sure you know what you need so you can immediately assess if a workspace will fit your dreams. - The Design
If you’re building a location, this means you’ll be spending a lot of time with civil engineers. Someone with a Master of Civil Engineering has the knowledge and expertise needed to help. They’ll help you design a workspace that adheres to your plans while still sticking to local codes. Because of this, clear communication is a must. They need to know what you want, and you need to be able to compromise should a certain feature not work out. - The Weaknesses
All great leaders are aware of their own failings. While they continually work to correct these, they understand that someone naturally gifted in one of these areas will always do better than them and hire accordingly. - The Staff
With this in mind, it’s also important to be slow when hiring rather than fast. Whether you realized it or not, hiring even one employee is so expensive that it takes that employee a period of six months to pay off the time and money that was invested in training them. This is especially important with young companies that don’t have a large amount of resources to pull from. - The Plan
Now that you have a staff, you need to remember that consensus is not alignment. There will always be those that disagree with the main goals or how to achieve them, but this doesn’t mean it’s good to compromise just to get everyone on board. Only debate will yield the best results. - The Individuals
While customers are important, your employees are more important. Never forget this. They are the power source of your young business. Without their support and drive, your company will no doubt find an early demise. Treasure them as individuals, and you’ll yield fantastic results.
Starting a new business is challenging, but it doesn’t have to fall prey to the common pitfalls. Always remain aware of these points and the problems you do end up encountering will be much easier to weather.
