Aconsejo leerlo en ingles puesto que al traducir se cambian algunas frases.
If you are thinking about starting your first real business, get
ready to embark on the most treacherous, exciting, rewarding, and
infuriating journey of your life. The life a new entrepreneur is one of
constant problem solving, careful planning, and ruthless execution. In
the next several months, you'll encounter disasters and opportunities,
crises and celebrations, and if you make it out with positive revenue in
the books, you'll have learned what you're truly made out of. In order
to better prepare you for what lies ahead, we have compiled a guide to
avoiding six crucial mistakes that junk businesses before they leave
quarter one. Avoiding these mistakes in your own company will save you
boat-loads of time and money, so be on the lookout for them at every
turn.
The "Great Idea" Business
One of the worst ways to think about a new business is the "great
idea" approach. The "great idea" approach can best be summed up as the
guy who has a big idea and is sure that by creating it, the business
will just roll in. Before putting an ounce of energy into creating your
product, you need to identify your target market and understand why they
will want what you sell. The easiest way to start thinking along these
lines is to ask yourself the question, "who has a problem that my
business will solve?"
Until you fully understand the needs of your target customer, you
will never figure out how to structure your business to serve them.
Venture capitalist Paul Graham
talks about this mistake on his blog, stating that "…a surprising
number of founders seem willing to assume that someone, they're not sure
exactly who, will want what they're building. Do the founders want it?
No, they're not the target market. Who is? Teenagers. People interested
in local events…or "business" users. What business users? Gas
stations? Movie studios? Defense contractors?"
Not Being Willing to Change
Adaptation is crucial to the success of a new business, but rarely is
that truer than when you are just starting out. Often times, founders
believe they know for certain what people want and how to give it to
them. Unfortunately, they become so enraptured with what they believe is
the "right way" of doing things that they are unwilling to listen to
what their customers actually want. SmallBusinessBranding
reminds us that listening to your market and adapting to the needs your
customers express is an important part of running a successful company.
Remember – you are not creating your product or service for yourself,
you are doing it for your target audience. Who better to tell you how
well you are doing than them?
Waiting to Start
Want to know how to destroy your business fast? Wait for the perfect
time to start – it will never come. Life always gets in the way of
something as time consuming as starting a business. School, work, family
obligations – all will be as much of a hindrance next month as they are
today. If you can drill one lesson into your head as you wade into the
waters of entrepreneurship, make it this: there is no reason not to have
progress.
Waiting for Funding
Having no funding gives new founders a comfortable excuse to delay
diving in and immersing themselves in their company, which can make the
whole thing look and feel a lot less serious. Not only does this "hurry
up and wait" approach kill the energy and morale of a new team, it can
be a real turn off to investors.
Venture capitalists and bank officers alike prefer to see that you
have created something of value without their money before trusting you
to wisely manage a huge investment. As terrific as it would be to have a
shiny new office and an unlimited supply of materials, that comes
later. By all means, aggressively pursue the funds you need, but
understand that now is the time to head out to the garage and build what
you have set out to create. Again – there is no reason not to have
progress.
Being Penny Wise and Pound Foolish
Money is often tight for a new business struggling to get off the
ground, and authorizing expense money for anything other than the bare
necessities can feel painful. However, as a new entrepreneur with the
best interest of your organization in mind, understand that it doesn't
pay to pinch pennies where they truly count. Your personal skill and the
talent that you hire will form the foundation upon which your entire
company either thrives or crumbles. Therefore, training materials,
expert consulting, and skilled labor are necessary expenses of any new
business, and should never be ignored in the name of saving money.
Not Setting Deadlines
There is a mantra in the business world that is good for new founders
to learn early on: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for
its completion." This is known as Parkinson's Law,
and it means that deadlines motivate us. Without deadlines, the effort
required to complete a task is either overestimated or
under-appreciated, and so the founder goes ok chipping away at it like a
brick of ice rather than buckling down conquering the whole project.
When a reasonable deadline for completed work is set, it acts a
psychological anchor to which the worker is held. In the back of his or
her mind, the founder knows that if they blow the deadline, they're
going to have to go hat in hand to the other team members and explain
why the task was ignored. This is a very uncomfortable and embarrassing
experience. Use deadlines to your advantage, and never settle for the
"I'll do it when I have the time" attitude, or as Parkinson reminds us,
it will never get done.
About the Author: Jeremy Wright is a freelance writer for
SuddenPayday.com. Sudden Payday is dedicated to providing consumers with
a one-stop payday loan resource center and matching them with lenders.
They bring lenders and consumers together. Apply for payday loans online at their website.
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