8 Common Small Business Mistakes—A Business Coach’s Perspective
If you're a brick and mortar retailer, you may know that 90% of startups fail.
While outside factors like the pandemic and reduced economic activity may play a part, some critical common small business mistakes play an even greater role in this failure. Even though many new entrepreneurs make these mistakes, it is best to avoid them from the get-go.
So the question is, what are these crucial mistakes? More importantly, how they affect your business and what is the solution.
Read along as you learn about the 8 most common small business mistakes and avoid these dangerous pitfalls for your retail store.
1. Not Taking the Time to Plan
Lack of planning is one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make. New retail entrepreneurs are motivated, but they often jump into the brick and mortar retail industry without adequate planning.
This lack of planning leads to unpredictable situations that cost them time and money. Therefore, establishing a comprehensive retail business plan must be the priority when you embark on your journey as a retail store owner..
A well-rounded business plan should cover key aspects like:
● Summary of your retail business (mission, vision, goals, etc.)
● Market analysis
● Structure of organization and management
● Marketing and sales strategy
● SWOT analysis
2. Trying to Sell to Everyone
“Find a niche, not a nation”
Another common small business mistake is trying to make everyone a customer. It is a quick way of setting up for failure.
From the start, you should critically and clearly define your ideal customer and a niche of specialization.
Doing so will help you consolidate all your development, marketing, and selling efforts to extract maximum results. Your target audience will also treat you like an expert, helping you build trust and confidence.
On the other hand, if you try selling to everyone, you'll spread yourself too thin, wasting time, effort, and money.
3. Having Unrealistic Expectations
In the retailing industry, there's a fine line between being hopeful and unrealistic.
A common small business mistake owners make is they start thinking about stacks of cash before giving their business and customers time to mature.
It often boils down to setting unrealistic goals and expectations, and you can avoid that by grounding yourself in practicality and realism.
One way to do that is to use the SMART approach, where you set specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, and time-bound goals. It allows you to consistently achieve success and climb the ladder gradually but surely.
4. Not Doing Due Documentation
Basic human decency might compel you to trust word of mouth and handshake agreements, but it is a small business mistake you must avoid. Why?
Humans are unpredictable. Your relationship with a vendor, a partner, or an employee might become rocky over the years. Putting down everything in writing and signing contracts protects you from legal problems that may put you out of business.
Contracts list clear boundaries, rights, and responsibilities — and help develop smooth relationships that are legally protected.
5. Marketing Without A Plan
When it comes to a list of common small business mistakes, ad hoc marketing definitely makes the list. Marketing is a vast arena, and jumping in without a plan can drain all your budget.
In contrast, planning your marketing efforts strategically can increase the chances of success by an impressive 331%.
Ideally, you should hire a marketing agency/professional with experience handling your niche and target audience. They'll help you understand which marketing channels are best suited for your retail business.
Next, you should focus on efforts and campaigns that yield the best results and keep focusing on them until your retail business becomes profitable.
6. Doing it All Alone
Trying to do everything on your own has many disadvantages, and it is another common mistake small business owners make. Here is why:
· Firstly, it affects the quality of everything you do. If you're handling everything from designing the website to marketing your business, you're not giving your 100% to anything.
· Secondly, it tends to burn you out sooner than the time your store needs to take off. As a retail store owner, your job is to handle the big-picture decision-making while delegating the rest to the experts in their domain.
Yes, it will cost you financially, but it will also set a robust and systematic foundation your business can rely on in the long run. See it as an investment rather than a mere expense.
7. Being too Rigid
Rigidity can cost you dearly in both personal and professional life.
Being too rigid is a serious mistake small business owners make. It means you're not open to new ideas and changes even when adapting to them becomes essential.
For example, if your product is not performing as well as you thought, you have a decision to make.
At this point, you can either change/modify the product to meet the customer's needs or stick to what you believe is best. If you choose the latter, the market will throw you out sooner than you think.
In simple words, when it comes to retail entrepreneurship, failure to adapt is a failure to survive.
8. Being Unaware of Your Shortcomings
A lack of self-awareness is also one of the common small business mistakes retail store owners make. As the expression goes, you don't know what you don't know.
In such cases, you might benefit from someone more experienced and knowledgeable than them. Someone who has worked with different entrepreneurs and has understood what mistakes they're most likely to make.
That is where business coaching comes in.
Hiring an experienced retail business coach can significantly speed up your journey to success.
Research shows that small businesses that work with business coaches show a 17% higher success rate than those without coaches.
Summing it up
When it comes to common small business mistakes, you need to avoid only a few to help your business take off. We have discussed those mistakes so you can learn from them without making them.
An experienced business coach can make your business trajectory smoother and give you insights you might not find online.
If you want to explore what business coaching can do for you, hop on a free discovery call here.
