Over 80% of new businesses fail within 5 years of starting up. For this edition of Entrepreneur University we enlisted the help of business coach Leanne Hoagland-Smith. Leanne Hoagland-Smith works with individuals just like you who want improved results personally or organizationally. She works to improve human capital for sustainable transformational change by developing results driven leadership in people, teams and organizations.
Leanne shares her advice for how to overcome the 7 most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make:
Small business owners numbered over 5.5 million in 2001 and generated over one billion in annual payroll. Sam Walton said there is a “lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of” and looks like Sam was right.
During the last five years as THE small business coach in the Chicago area, I have discovered 7 mistakes that small business owners consistently make. These small business help tips should guide you as the small business owner, entrepreneur or executive around these pitfalls as you work to improve your business results.
1. Work on your business not in your business Mistake: Most new business owners and many experienced business owners are so busy working in their business, they fail to work on their business and demonstrate the leadership that the business demands. In the book, It’s Not the Big that Eat the Small, But It’s the Fast that Eat the Slow, the authors revealed that executives spent less than 15 minutes each day thinking about the future of their business because they were so busy dealing with yesterday and today’s events.
2. Assess your business both externally and internally Mistake: Don’t presume that you know what is going on in your business. Take the time to assess your business both externally and internally. Using an organizational assessment based upon proven criteria such as Baldrige may help you to focus on the directionally correct actions.
3. Develop a strategic plan Mistake: If you don’t have a plan, you are on someone else’s plan. A strategic plan indicates who does what by when. Remember, hope is not a strategy.
4. Work your plan Mistake: Pay for a plan and leave it on a shelf or in a desk drawer. A plan’s purpose is action. Without action, the plan is useless and the dollars invested in creating the plan are wasted.
5. Invest in your people Mistake: Spending dollars on things such as technology and not people. People make the business. They create the loyal customers or disloyal ones. Employees don’t come to work thinking how they can mess up the company. Invest in people development and watch your investment quickly multiply.
6. Pay yourself first Mistake: Wearing all the hats and not paying yourself what you are worth. Entrepreneurs wear many hats when they establish their business. As time progresses, they continue to wear these hats because money is tight and they believe that they can do things better. The end of the year approaches and the company made a profit. By paying yourself first, you will focus on what you do really well and delegate those other activities to others at a far lower rate.
7. Keep balance between your personal and professional lives. Mistake: You are too busy to take the time with your family or friends. By attending your work life balance as well as your personal and professional development, you will see incredible results happen within your business.
These 7 leadership tips will help you catapult your business in warp time. Of course, if you like where you are now, then ignore these tips. However, can you be sure your competition will also ignore these tips? And what would happen, if they just implemented one tip less alone all 7?
Evan Carmichael
