Tweet

Million Dollar Mistakes

Guest post by: Roger Pierce

Article Overview: Want to avoid common start-up missteps? Read on...

Million Dollar Mistakes



I`m not worried about what you`re doing to do in year three or year four of your small business career because you`ll know what to do by then. I`m most worried about the mistakes you may make before your business actually opens for business.

I`m most worried about these five common and costly startup mistakes:

• Giving away ownership. Aside from investors who will take a piece of your company in exchange for money, you should think twice before formally partnering with anyone. Early entrepreneurs are too eager to trade a piece of their ownership pie for help with marketing, sales, management or production. Keep your equity – you can easily delegate those functions to vendors or employees.

• Failing to check names and trademarks. It’s easy to fall in love with that business name you dreamt up one night in the bar. It’s a mistake not to check it out. Ask your lawyer to search the government database of registered business names and trademarks. You don`t want to find out later that someone else has legal rights to your business brand.

• No focus. You can’t be all things to all people so don’t try. Offer something really specific to a very narrow customer niche market – like banjo lessons for preschoolers in Houston.
  
  

• Low price. Big businesses can survive on thin margins because they enjoy high sales volume. You can`t. Charge large and enjoy healthy margins to fuel your business growth.

• Skipping market research. It’s a million dollar mistake to jump into business without first conducting market research. Find out everything you can about your intended customers, your competition, and your general marketplace.

Of course, the biggest mistake is failing to learn from your mistakes.

Related Articles
  U.S. Dollar Forecast for 2009
  Business Growth and The Peter Principal
  Managers Only Gain 4 Per Cent Pay Rise
  Are You The Guy Who
  Ideas and Action
  Dollar Falls As China Buys Up Commodities! Euro & Aussie to Benefit!
  Get This Book
  A Foolproof Way To Evaluate Marketing Advice
  Your Million-Dollar Testimonial Strategy: Using Testimonials to Counter Objections
  Financing Your Franchise Business
  Investing Trick of the Pros: As goes Oil, So goes the Euro!
  #60 How to Setup a Budget and Goals for Your Website
  Selling Is 90% \"Understanding People\"
  Clint Eastwood
  Flight To Safety No More?
  Is your Small Business at Risk?
  The Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Home Business
  It’s a Very Good Thing: Stewart’s Path to Success
  Advice for Entrepreneurs
  Lesson #1: “If you get knocked down, get back up again”

Article Tags: banjo lessons, biggest mistake, business career, business growth, business name, conducting market research, dollar mistake, government database, investors, lawyer, marketing sales, marketplace, niche market, registered business names, rsquo, sales management, sales volume, small business, thin margins, ul



Related Forum Posts
Re: How To Be Rich - [quote="TheRainmaker":tst8wsa8]Sounds great. What exactly have you found to be eye opening??[/quote:tst8wsa8] The first eye opener was measuring wealth by your total assets 1 Million - 2 Million Pounds The Comfortable Poor 2 Million - 5 Million Pounds The Comfortably Off 5 Million - 15 Million Pounds The Comfortably wealthy 15 Million - 40 Million Pounds The Lesser Rich 40 Million - 75 Million Pounds The Comfortably Rich 75 Million - 100 Million Pounds The Rich 100 Million - 200 Million Pounds The Seriously Rich 200 Million - 400 Million Pounds The Truly Rich 400 Million - 999 Million Pounds The Filthy Rich Over 999 Million Pounds The Super Rich
Re: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg the youngest list on Forbes 400 - Lucky man! I'm only worth $750 Million so I didn't quite make it. LOL
Re: How does an entrepreneur stay energized? - Hi there, This subject is not only for entrepreneurs. Everybody can benefit from this, that is the reason why 'Healthy Living and Eating' is a multi billion Dollar business. Often I smile, because so much is written about it. So many different business are blooming and doing well. Whilst there is so much knowledge and opportunity to be healthy and well, the need is still growing. There is so much that could be said. The cheapest form of energy is gained by a good sleep.
Re: Best Internet Marketing Strategy - I wanted to share more on the topic of Blogging and creating your own original content that you enjoy writing about. Here's a real example. My wife started her own little Web site a few years ago. It's a very simple, home made Web site she built all on her own. She had sort of a hobby of going into Dollar stores, purchasing a few inexpensive items for a buck or two. Then she would create something completely new (usually home decor) out of what she bought (often with the same value of creating something that was worth up to $15 or $20) if you bought it in other stores, but only using material she bought at a dollar store. So on this little Web site, she starts writing about her creations and take pictures of them etc. A few years ago, someone from an AOL Money and Finance Blog (called Wallet Pop) invited her to Blog for AOL. Today, she write for both the US AOL Blog and the Canadian AOL Blog as well as she continues with her hobby and keeping up her own Web site. The other Bloggers at AOL have nick-named her, "The Dollar Store Diva" and she often writes about budget decorating. What amazes me is that with no SEO and just her original content, she attracts huge volumes of traffic. She has done radio shows in Toronto (and nearly went to the US to do breakfast television) and most people would be so amazed to see the traffic spike she gets from Blogging. But once again, she is just writing about the stuff she loves to write about. She is having fun with creativity and she now has a huge following of readers and subscribers.Others are decorating their homes with her ideas and their doing it with next to no budget. If someone is creating a Web site or a Blog, the best thing you can do is try something original on your own, but make it something that you love to write about.
Please help me before I give up!!! - Hey everyone, I am not really new to the idea of Affiliate Marketing but I have yet to make 1 Dollar. My latest venture involved registering a domain name and redirecting the domain name to my affiliate link. advertising of course, is my biggest problem. I have advertised all over the web. Some free, some paid for. I am seriously thinking of rolling the dice and spending a heap of money on a radio commercial or full page ad in a newspaper or magazine. Anyone think that’s a good Idea?? Or got any new ideas for a clickbank wannabe like myself?? ...Thanks!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Why Use an Advertising Agency

Five keys to business success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.