[Behind the Scenes] 3 Business Startup Mistakes We Made In Our First 6 Months

We didn’t expect to make business startup mistakes at Biashara 360. Given that we’re all coaches, we thought we had our bases covered. We’ve now learnt that no one escapes, no matter how well prepared you are for startup.

When we set up Biashara 360, we were very clear that we’d work with entrepreneurs. We hadn’t drilled down our niche or identified our ideal clients, but we were clear about the general target market.

A few months down the road, we found ourselves floundering because of the following business startup mistakes. We share the mistakes and how we turned things around.

3 Business Startup Mistakes We Made at Biashara 360

Mistake #1: Making everyone a target market

Within a month or so after startup, we lost sight of our target market (entrepreneurs) and expanded our reach.

This made us lose track of who we wanted to work with and we started working with everyone that asked for our services. When someone asked if we could do something, we said “Yes” and tried to make it work.

Things got so bad that we found ourselves saying yes to politicians too. Now that was definitely not a group that we wanted to work with.

We even created some services from scratch when asked to do so…we’re really good at that.

Not having a well-defined target market is one of the most common business startup mistakes. You’d have thought that experienced coaches and consultants would know better! Sadly, we didn’t and fell right into this trap.

Our solution

An evaluation revealed that trying to ensure that all founders’ interests were taken care of was not working. When we did this, we lost our specialities and all became generalists.

Having identified this problem, we were able to get on track. We then reconnected with and clarified the business vision we had at startup.

This also helped us narrow down to one target market that everyone identified with.

The lesson: Identify your target market then pick one or two specific segment(s) of that market (niche) to work with. This makes your work and marketing easier.

Mistake #2: Not reviewing our vision monthly

The first few months of business were very intense. Our focus was mainly on making money. And so we easily veered off track and chased activities that were going to bring in the most money in the shortest time.

In the evaluation, one of our founders summed the problem in 3 words, “We got greedy.” Simply put. And very painful when you consider the consequences.

What did help to some extent, were the reviews we do each month. Unfortunately, while we were doing monthly reviews of our progress, we were evaluating the wrong things. We looked at the activities done and money made. Rarely did we look at our vision.

Luckily, our reviews eventually raised a red flag and made us ask ourselves some hard questions. We were working hard, but were we working with our ideal clients? And were we even doing the one thing that brought us together as Biashara 360?

The painful truth was that we were not.

Our solution

We took a 360° view of our business. This was critical because a number of changes had occurred since startup and we needed to evaluate their impact on the business.

The next step was to go back to the beginning and re-strategize. It wasn’t easy and we lost time and money as we weeded out things that we not in line with our business vision.

Finally, we narrowed down our offerings to just 3:

• 1

  Business Startup Coaching

  The Create Your Dream Business (CYDB) coaching program is for women managers who want to exit into employment within the next 1-2 years. You start your business while still employed and grow it to a level where you can exit into your own business.

• 2

  Business Growth Coaching

  The Business Breakthrough (BB) coaching program is for full-time business women. You learn strategies to help you make more money and grow your business while reducing the time spent working.

• 3

  Business Mastermind

  The Confident Business Woman (TCBW) mastermind is for women who have completed our business startup and growth coaching programs. The mastermind is a combination of learning, peer-to-peer coaching and collective growth. You connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, share ideas, knowledge and experiences, and grow together.

Everything else we do, including social media, teleclasses, workshops, speaking, and networking, is geared towards these programs.

The lesson: Review your business vision and goals constantly, preferably on a monthly basis. This will help you identify when you’re getting off track. Mistakes are easier to correct if they’re caught when their impact on your life and/or business is still low.

Mistake #3: Not making changes fast

Even after we got clear about our target market and two niches, it still took time before we turned around and focused on them.

To start with, we had invested a lot of time, energy and money in marketing to the people who had expressed interest in working with us. We had some active and potential clients.

Letting go was not easy at all! For one, some of the work had to be completed as we’d already committed to it. Also, we were deep in the process of negotiating for other work, and it was too late to stop the processes.

To make things worse, we had reached a point of confusing the people we were marketing to. Our online description of what we do had changed a few times. We were now wary of making any more changes before we got absolutely clear and tested our new focus for a few months.

All these cost us time and potential business. We also got demotivated as we had to complete some work that we really didn’t like.

Our solution

In a way, not making changes fast also worked in our favour. As a result, we had time to get crystal clear clarity about who we are, what we do and how we do it.

As we did this, our niche became quite clear – we loved coaching women. And were already working with business women and professional women who want to get into business. We had simply lost sight of that.

Another solution that happened was not of our making. As we focused on our new direction, we no longer had the zeal to chase the current opportunities and we lost some.

In a way, this was a blessing because we were now free to shift back to our vision. It also gave us the courage to let go of everything else that didn’t fit our business.

The lesson: Use your reviews to make changes fast, even if it means letting go of seemingly lucrative opportunities that are not in your best interest. If you need help with reviews, read this article on how to conduct a mid-year review. The steps in the article can be scaled down easily to monthly reviews.

Getting back on track

Having clarity about our target market, niche and coaching programs was just the beginning. Here are some of the changes we’ve made since then.

1. Repairing our annual plan

We’ve reviewed and repaired our plan for 2018. This was made easier when we narrowed down our offers to only 3 programs that build onto each other. There are other upcoming changes and we’ll share them in subsequent blog posts.

2. Changing our marketing

Our marketing is now easier and more targeted. This in turn has increased motivation as we’re dealing with our areas of expertise and interest. We’ve also made a deliberate shift to focus on women in business.

3. Updating our online presence

We’re now redoing our blog and online profiles to match what we do and who we work with. This also means letting go of some social media platforms that were not in our plan to start with.

Parting words

One of the major lessons we’ve learnt over this period is one we knew but had lost sight of:

Get very clear about your target market, niche down to a specific segment of that target market, and create solutions for that niche.

You also need to turn a blind eye to all the shiny new objects that try to take your attention away from your core work, and concentrate on providing the best value to your niche.

For us, this means being of value to business women and professional women who want to get into business. If you fit any of these two descriptions, you’re in the right place. Let us know the challenges you’re facing and we’ll create or find resources to help you.

We’ll also keep sharing personal development tips that cut across the board so even if you’re not in business, there will still be something for you once in a while.

One more thing…

Is starting a business one of your resolutions for this year? If it is then wait no more. The Create Your Dream Business (CYDB) coaching program will help you get started fast and effectively even if you’re working full-time. Click here for more details.

Here are businesses that were started or modified using the CYDB program

• Wangari is an accountant who loves colour and interior decor. She started and is growing her business Nyumba za Fahari while working full-time.
• Gathoni had a thriving women’s clothing business when purpose checked in. She’s now helping people identify and achieve their life goals in her life coaching business.
• Mercy prepared to start her kindergarten when she was employed. She stepped out of employment and is providing children with a powerful start at Little Flock Kindergarten.
• Ronni had a great job as a manager in a tech company, but she wasn’t happy. She set up Finding Futures when still employed and stepped out of employment 2 years later.
• Shilpa was doing well in her business Inside Out Consultancy, but she was working too hard. She started working with her ideal clients, increased her fees and scaled down her working hours.

You too can achieve similar or better results. Check out the Create Your Dream Business program and sign up for the next class.

(Image credit: Unsplash)