Report question

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

What are the top 5 mistakes that you have made as a entrepreneur?

  1. Never asking for help
  2. Hiring friends
  3. Fearing theft of someone stealing my ideas and work
  4. Perfectionism
  5. Mistake No. 1: Taking Too Many — Or Too Few — Risks. Mistake No. 2: Having An “I Am Going To Do It All By Myself” Mentality. Mistake No. 3: Not Knowing Your Max Potential In Revenue, Profit And Service.

Sign in to answer

13 answers

The Biggest Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs Mistake #1: Not Having a Business Plan. Mistake #2: Focusing Too Much on Your Product. Mistake #3: Making it All About the Money. Mistake #4: Hiring the Wrong People. Mistake #5: Ignoring the Legal Aspects.

Report DAALIYAH's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

Well we are prom to making mistakes as human but as an entrepreneur you should watch out for this as they may affect the growth and process of your business.

  1. Not having a clear business plan: Failing to create a business plan can lead to disorganized goals and strategies, which can hinder success.

  2. Ignoring market research: Neglecting to do proper market research could lead to launching a product or service that nobody wants or has already been fulfilled by competitors

  3. Underestimating the amount of capital required: Insufficient funding can result in a failure to meet targets or deliver promises to customers, investors, and stakeholders.

  4. Hiring the wrong people: Hiring the wrong team or not delegating tasks properly can lead to internal issues, conflict, and a decrease in productivity.

  5. Not adapting to changes: Chasing outdated business models or not being flexible in the face of evolving market trends can lead to an eventual decline in sales and profits.

Report Victor's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

Starting my enterprise was a logical extension of the work I had been doing as an individual contractor, so the transition seemed easy enough.

What I had to learn very quickly was the business planning, marketing and competitive analysis aspects of operating an enterprise, as opposed to negotiating single person efforts. Industry teaming, having others work for me and dealing as a company instead of a person were all challenges.

Report Kenneth's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

I had a successful Twitter Lead Generation coaching program. It was successful until we got Snapchat. After that my business got lost into the oblivious. My major mistake was not following the trend. In the lead generation industry you have to follow people where they are moving at. Then, adapt your business strategy. Major failure. Never again

Report Angel's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

As humans, we Act and React to our Assumptions/Beliefs, and when they are wrong, it isn't easy to be successful. Please start by writing down all the Assumptions - in two parts: 1. Internal and 2. External. Internal relate to yourself and your product/service, while External refers to Customers, Employees, Vendors, Competition, Govt Regulations, etc.

Report AVINASH's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required
  1. Thinking I can achieve it all by myself; just hard work and dedication
  2. Not having a proper financial plan
  3. Doing too much things at a time
  4. Allowing people's opinion become a distraction to my business
  5. Knowing less about branding

Report Adeleye's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

Mistakes are a natural part of entrepreneurship, sometimes it’s hard to remember that we need mistakes to guide us forward. It’s not a roadblock it’s an alternate path.

Some issues that can make it difficult for entrepreneurs:

  1. Not having a plan: A goal without a plan is like destination without directions. It takes a lot longer and you will probably get lost along the way. If you reach a situation where you don’t know what to do next; write a plan.
  2. Allocate funds: Make sure you allocate funds for inventory, tax, marketing, wages. Don’t be caught by surprise. Get good people to manage this, automate as much as possible.
  3. Have a plan B: Something is going to go wrong, always. Be prepared. Expect your inventory to be late, how can you generate additional revenue in the meantime? Expect customers to pay late or to expect refunds, how will you deal with the shortfall?
  4. Pick the right business partners. Even if you do, it may still not work out. Set your non-negotiables, think about your values and who you want to be in business, if you can’t align, think of an exit strategy.
  5. Adapt: Don’t ignore the marketplace. Interact with your customers refine your product or service to suit. A good understanding of your customers needs and wants will help you grow more offerings.

Report Tilo's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required
  1. Starting for money. It's not about money.
  2. Monetizing everything I like to do. Again, it's not all about money.
  3. Being afraid to be the first. The ideas we are given, are ours alone and our responsibility to humanity is to share them with others.
  4. Doing everything myself. This is a big world with lots to do. We must select our time spent wisely.
  5. Wanting to be a 1 person company with a full emphasis on myself. It's not about me either. You do not become an entrepreneur solely for yourself. To be fully invested in carrying out a vision there must be a burning desire to share what you have. To make it a business it must be worth compensation to the receiver.

GREAT question! ⭐

Report Cheyenne's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

5 Mistake Tips:

1) When bootstrapping your startup -- don't spend money on things you're not sure you'll need or use. There are a lot of software programs and ad platforms out there. You don't need one of everything to get started.

2) Managing a budget: Have a Dollar in, Dollar out mindset.

3) "You get what you pay for." For instance, if you choose the cheapest designer for your brand, don't be mad when it doesn't live up to expectations.

4) You typically need to spend money to make money. So, if you spent $100 on an ad, don't think it's going to generate thousands of sales transactions.

There is no magic bullet. Beware of schemes. And if you're going to spend money on something to acquire customers, make sure it has much credibility generating ROI

5) You don't know what you don't know. It's always good to spend time with a mentor, rather than trying to learn everything by personal experience and/or online trainings.

Report Stephen's answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required

Mistakes I made when younger, included: - not putting enough thought into business planning, to the extent where it brought out the hard questions that I'd run into before too long - not having a mentor that would ask me all the hard questions, and challenge me, which would have saved me years - allowing scope creep to occur, rather than launching with MVPs and achieving staged validation - not building the right team - not having clear timelines laid out

60-90% of strategies don't achieve the stated goals, and a lot of that is attributable to execution problems. So don't go crazy with process, keep it agile, but putting a system in place that orchestrates how everyone will participate wll go a long way.

Report Kirk J.'s answer

Note: your identity will not be shared with the person who sent you this message.
This field is required