When I started my first of three businesses over 10 years ago, my business partner and I did pretty much everything all wrong…
MISTAKE #1
We made all the classic newbie mistakes of wasting our time/money on tasks that didn’t get us any traction, aka sales/money. For example…
–> spending too much time making everything “perfect”… (oh man, this is such a typical and unfortunate newbie entrepreneur blunder that truly pains me!!)
–> not telling anyone about our business, not doing any marketing, not putting ourselves out there in emails, on social media, videos, etc (how do you expect the world to know about you?)
–> planning out the details of next 3 years… (uh, how about start with the next 3 days?)
–> creating some sort of lengthy business plan… (no, you do not need one)
–> creating a website too early, thinking a website would make us money (haallo, the internet is a massively crowded place … having a website does not mean you will make $, and is not the best way to go about it!)
When I started my next business a few years later, I was thankful I made all those rookie mistakes so I didn’t waste as much time and money as I had before, and things turned out wayyyy better.
But of course I still made a boatload of mistakes, which is why I’m so passionate about helping YOU not make wasteful newbie mistakes like I did!!
By the time I started my third business (coaching) next, I knew 1000x more than most of my peers who were starting their coaching business.
PHEW. All those lessons and mistakes finally paid off.
(The big mistake I made when starting my coaching biz was not charging enough money…which, of course, means my clients never make that mistake and now get paid💰💰💰💰!!!)
MISTAKE #2
Consider the source… who is giving you business advice?
Have they ever had businesses before? Do they have the level of business you want? Are they making the kind of money you want to make?
I recently talked to someone who said she wasn’t ready to invest in coaching to learn how grow her business because she was going to spend it on marketing and hiring a VA instead.
I asked: “Who gave you that advice”? “Do you have a marketing plan? How will you know what to do with a VA if you don’t have a step-by-step growth structure and marketing plan in place??”
She has some clients, but doesn’t have a thriving coaching business making consistent income yet.
And she was given this advice by her peers in a coaching certification program, who very likely don’t have thriving coaching businesses yet, either. (!!!)
The Blind Leading the Blind.
Another sad, and too often seen, new entrepreneur mistake and misconception that you can just “DIY” and “winging it” what to do that may or may not work for your business.
It makes me sad because winging it like that is what I did many years ago… and it’s a painful and costly journey!!
(It costs more to make dumb mistakes than to invest in getting the right help from the start).
The truth is, our world is filled with a lot of noise…
But, really, consider the source… who do you want to take advice from? Your friends who’ve never run businesses?
Or someone who’s done it before, who knows all the mistakes (and wins) that they can teach you so you don’t waste more years of you’re life “winging it” in your business, all on your own!
If any of this sounds familiar to YOU, please…don’t wing it. Do not do it all alone. Don’t make the mistakes I made!! Let’s talk. Apply for a free strategy session with me here now.
xoxo,
Beth