{"id":2405,"date":"2018-06-14T22:18:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T16:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2021-02-07T17:40:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T12:10:54","slug":"5-things-entrepreneurs-should-never-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/5-things-entrepreneurs-should-never-do\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things Entrepreneurs Should Never Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introducing the \u2018what not to do\u2019 list<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most lists for entrepreneurs focus on the key ingredients they\u2019ll need to make them successful. Derived from famous success stories, these tips can often be misleading. Just because an idea worked for one individual in one situation does not mean it will work for everyone. Perhaps more importantly, investing in a set of activities, however worthwhile, does not automatically mean new entrepreneurs will avoid the pitfalls they should.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve started 2 companies and 5 websites. For the last 5 years, I have stepped out of corporate life and into running my own things. I can tell you from bitter experience that this is the list I wish people had given me on day 1. Here\u2019s what not to do if you want to be a successful entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

Get involved in an industry they know nothing about<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picking an industry to start up in is the hardest part of the puzzle. I had worked in telecommunications for around 15 years. When I examined the skills I had, the only thing I could really offer insight into at the time was phones and phone plans<\/a>. \u00a0Since then I have written hundreds of thousands of words of content, outlining everything I know about the field, with a view to even out the information balance between time poor people looking to get the phone plan that\u2019s right for them and the phone companies.<\/p>\n

What you take for granted, what people ask you about at BBQs on the weekend, that\u2019s your valuable Intellectual Property and it should probably be the focus area for your business.<\/p>\n

Act without insight into the market<\/strong><\/p>\n

The single most valuable thing I have done since I started my own business is to spend money on Google Surveys<\/a>. For as little as $0.10 per question, per user, it\u2019s possible to mobilize Google\u2019s content monetization chops and get unique, affordable insights into your target market.<\/p>\n

Without this, you\u2019ll be guessing at where to position your products and the information you need to provide people on your site to overcome their emotional and rational barriers to purchase.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re operating in an industry you know intimately, and, as we\u2019ve seen, you should be, Google Surveys can add to your trove of understanding and give you unique value on top of what your competitors can provide.<\/p>\n

Do it part time \u2013 or alone<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll never get funding for your idea if you\u2019re doing it part-time. Any foray into entrepreneurship has to be a 110% commitment of all of your resources, including time. If potential investors see you ensuring failure by keeping even a part-time job on the back burner, they won\u2019t take you seriously.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurship gives you freedom but requires, in exchange, discipline. A number of studies have shown that grit<\/a> \u2013 determination and persistence in the face of obstacles are what sets successful entrepreneurs apart from those who fail. Get yourself a partner in crime \u2013 if you can\u2019t convince someone else to join you, how are you going to convince investors to invest or customers to buy. And then work the problems between you, full time, if you want to make a go of it.<\/p>\n

Do it just for the money<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having a friend and colleague by your side will also help when things go wrong. I\u2019ve been screwed over by suppliers and beaten up by Google\u2019s search results algorithms more times than I care to remember. If your only motivator for working this way is to make money, it almost certainly won\u2019t be enough to keep you going when things fall apart.<\/p>\n

Whatever you see in the media, being an entrepreneur can be best characterized by a single metaphor \u2013 getting kicked hard in the crotch at least once a week. Money is not enough to justify the experience. You need to be realistic about how passionate you are about the industry you\u2019re choosing, the colleagues you have and this entirely new way of working. If you don\u2019t love, love, love what you\u2019re doing, I\u2019m sorry, but don\u2019t bother starting.<\/p>\n

Spend the money as soon as you have it<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the great things about being an entrepreneur, especially a digital entrepreneur is that the time from an effort to reward can be extremely fast. Have a good idea and your analytics can often show money rolling into the coffers quickly. Take it from someone who learned the hard way \u2013 when that happens, bank it. I try and live on the minimum amount I can, investing everything else back into the business. I keep a safety net of 6 months operating cost (some entrepreneurs call this \u2018runway\u2019) in the bank.<\/p>\n

Small businesses succeed and fail on cash flow. When a good idea pays dividends, bank them for a rainy day. There is one just around the corner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introducing the \u2018what not to do\u2019 list Most lists for entrepreneurs focus on the key ingredients they\u2019ll need to make them successful. Derived from famous success stories, these tips can often be misleading. Just because an idea worked for one individual in one situation does not mean it will work for everyone. Perhaps more importantly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[909,911,910,701],"class_list":["post-2405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-entrepreneur","tag-idea","tag-planning","tag-startups"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golocalclassified.com\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}