The Top 6 Mistakes of Committed Young Entrepreneurs

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中国结走过一程人生旅途，写下一段心路历程，留住一份美好记忆. << Ten Commandments for Entrepreneurs | 主页 | A Definition of Entrepreneurship >> The Top 6 Mistakes of Committed Young Entrepreneurs 2005-12-09 In my opinion, the first two mistakes that students can make with entrepreneurship are: Not getting started Not keeping with it However, what happens once you get past these? Over the years, I've met hundreds of committed young entrepreneur, and I've noticed six recurring mistakes. Below you will find my advice on how to avoid thse: Don't mistake early growth spurts with ability - Entrepreneurs are famed for having big egos. Young entrepreneurs may even be worse because they've developed a business passion/expertise early in life and differentiated themselves from peers who are still unsure of what they want to do and are focusing on the social and academic parts of life. Just because you develop your entrepreneurial ability and business acumen before your peers, don't mean you're necessarily better at these then them or older people. The earlier you can humble yourself, the better. Don't depend on word-of-mouth - For something to take off dramatically and quickly as a result of word-of-mouth is an extremely rare phenomena. There are a lot of factors that affect word-of-mouth, such as being different, providing incredible products, and delivering great customer service, but even with these, word-of-mouth can be slow and take a long time. Word-of-mouth shouldn't replace making sales calls and having a real marketing plan. Don't pretend to be in business - While entrepreneurship is all about following your passion, it is also about running a business. This means creating a strategy, making a list of prioritized action items, and executing on those items. If you're not doing what you've defined as most important and pursuing tangents instead, you're running a hobby business. Get Real - Develop a habit of holding yourself accountable to results. Beware of the "once I do x, then everything will be better" mindset. The earlier you find out why you aren't getting results, the better. Find multiple people who've accomplished what you want to accomplish and seek their advice. Take it seriously, but don't follow it blindly. Put branding behind sales - Having great letterhead, software, equipment, business cards, and a website don't mean you're in business. Having sales does. I've seen too many young entrepreneurs spend all their time and money building a brand and never getting a sale. A rule of thumb I use now is, "Spend your money only on things you're certain will generate positive cash flow in the short term until you reach cash-flow break-even." In other words, take the quickest path to cash. Don't Spread Yourself to Thin - If you're a young entrepreneur, you probably get a new viable business idea every minute. Don't make the mistake of trying to pursue them all. Most entrepreneurs agree that 90% of the success of a business comes down to execution. Start small and grow large. Empires don't start with multiple companies. They started with an idea that was executed well and then expanded. gerald 发表于 2005-12-09 18:50 引用Trackback(0) | 编辑 Comments 发表评论最近更新