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5 early mistakes any entrepreneur should  avoid 

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Having a plan, discipline to act on it and total submission are integral parts of becoming a successful entrepreneur. 

You do not have to have some rich family background or be in the right place at the right time to succeed in startup rather success comes as a result of learning from individual success and failure and the success of others.  

Sometimes, simple mistakes we often make in life can long along way to cost us not only our investment but also time and opportunities and this is not different when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Here are five mistakes you should avoid when starting a new business:

1. Setting unrealistic goals

New entrepreneurs might be tempted to move with haste in implementing their ideas and in the process fail to set up a compact plan. The reality here is, it is  important to come up with a realistic time frame and attainable goals before putting to practice what you have.

Make a point of setting both short- and long-term goals, and make sure they’re specific. It will be harmful to say you want to make say like one million per month when you have not laid a clear steps on how you will hit the figure.

2. Adopting the ’ I can do it all myself ’ syndrome 

As an up and coming entrepreneur, it is common to think no one else can implement your idea better than you do. This approach is akin to failure. Once you hatch an idea, it important to involve experts or knowledgeable people  to add value to your objectives and perspectives. Experienced consultants will add value to your idea and guarantee you success both in your short and long term goals.

3. Underrating your competitors 

The excitement that comes with the introduction of a new product or business sometimes makes entrepreneurs think that they are the best ahead of the rest. In reality, it’s extremely rare to have no direct competitors. 

Unless you’ve invented a completely new product, there will be someone who already has market share in your niche. To compete or give your competitors a run for their money, First accept the fact that they exist then do your due diligence to find out what exactly they offer  and how they go about their business. 

This will give you a good platform to strategize how to make your product unique and sell.

4. Creating smaller margins

Healthy profit margins are critical for the success of any long term business. When setting a margin, consider the long-term outcome because the margin will have a direct bearing on pricing. 

It might be an uphill task in future to convince your clients of abrupt price changes and this is likely to  do great harm to your market. It might also take long to recover.

Take a look at your production and operating costs, and determine how much flexibility there is. Can you reduce these costs in the future, if necessary? If not, choose a higher profit margin now to accommodate these costs.

5. Giving your product first priority

The biggest mistake an entrepreneur is likely to make is putting his product ahead of the client and at the same time dreams of emerging the best. How do you intend to make the product if not for the clients? It is important to have a customer-first mentality. This way, you will easily know what exactly they want and that is what will guide you in production.

If you give the customers what they want, you are likely to create your market so fast and remain relevant for long. Consequently, the customer can also get easily convinced in case you want to do adjustments that would come with price changes. 

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CAVIN ODHIAMBO
CAVIN ODHIAMBOhttp://www.businesstoday.co.ke
Cavin Odhiambo is a reporter with Business Today. He has passion in dealing with socio-economic and political matters . You can reach him on [email protected]
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