Statistics have proven that being an entrepreneur is more of a risk than success. Most people who take this path fail. And even those who succeed will end up failing along the way. A lot of times, the failures as a result of the mistakes we make in our businesses.
In today’s post, I’ll share the top 5 business mistakes I made in 2015, the costs of these mistakes, and how I’m planning to turn them around in 2016.
Hopefully, this will help you look closely into your business too, identify the mistakes you’ve made, evaluate their cost to you and your business, and create a new way of doing things.
My Top 5 Business Mistakes in 2015
1. Listening to well-meaning ‘experts’
I moved to Mombasa in December 2014 and set up my business early 2015. As I was evaluating the marketplace and deciding how best to approach marketing here, I met a number of ‘experts’ who had something to say about the market and how I should change my programs and products. I already knew that the need was there and my programs were well suited to plug this need. I also knew what works best in my industry. Finally, I had positioned my business as a virtual one and this was already working well.
One of the things most of the experts agreed on was that I should be more visible physically and to attend networking events about 2-3 times a week. This called for a change in my marketing and action plans and I went with the advice willingly.
Cost of the mistake: I don’t like networking events and this marketing tactic has never led to business for me in the past. My main marketing method has always been 1-1 interactions with people, attending social events that I like, and referrals. I spent a lot of time, money and effort in 2015 trying to fit into a marketing model that it totally not me and this failed big time! I did meet amazing people, but I can count on one hand the number of people who fit my ideal client criteria and who are willing, able and ready to sign up for my programs – and these people came from just 2 of the people who were giving me advice. This mistake caused most of the other mistakes I made in 2015.
Lessons learnt: I am the expert in my business. Once I stopped listening to other people and went back to my regular marketing methods, clients came from nowhere and I was back on track. Secondly, none of these ‘experts’ sent me qualified referrals or bought my services or products. Finally, I’ve learnt to only use marketing tactics that I love.
2. Changing my marketing methods
This was one of the results of mistake #1. As noted before, I changed my marketing to fit the advice I was receiving. I later realized that the people giving me this advice were not following it themselves. Plus, when I examined their results closely, I didn’t see great results, just a lot of effort to get visible and be known.
A lot of this advice was coming from people who had jobs and were in business part-time. So they didn’t know the reality on the ground for full-time business people and for my industry in particular.
Another marketing mistake I made was to hire a marketer on the basis of one person’s recommendations (and refusing to listen to another person who warned me about hiring this marketer). That is a story for another day as it requires its own blog post…
Cost of the mistake: I spent too much time learning and implementing new marketing methods that I really didn’t like. I’m not much of a social media person and yet here I was spending hours a day on social media. I was on Whatsapp a lot and it almost took over my life – to the extent that my children started reminding me that we had a ‘no phones at mealtimes’ rule in our house (ouch!).
I was always stressed and feeling as if I was missing out on something. It was actually a relief when my smartphone fell and broke down and I decided not to install social media on any other phone or on my tablet. (I’ve just made a huge sigh of relief after writing that last sentence).
For the marketer, I spent a lot of time getting her up to speed: she was not committed, was always late for meetings and missed some, it was not easy to get in touch with her, and I ended up getting so frustrated that I stopped updating her and finally let her go.
Lessons learnt: (1) Social media is a huge learning curve and it takes time and commitment to build a following before people start buying. (2) Positive social media comments do not necessarily translate into sales – a huge lesson that one. (3) Stick to the tried and tested path and hire qualified and eager to work employees to handle the parts that you don’t like. (4) Give new employees or suppliers small jobs to handle first to test their viability for the position. Be willing to cut your losses fast if your instincts scream out loud about the person (like mine were doing with my marketer and I was ignoring them).
3. Not believing in myself enough
Criticism from friends, family and the ‘experts’ led to a reduction in the belief I had in myself and my business. I truly don’t know how this happened because it crept in so slowly until one day I woke up with very negative voices in my head and I thought, “That is not me. That sounds like….” This was a huge AHA moment because it revealed how much I had allowed other people’s voices to sink into my subconscious mind and take control of my thought system.
This mistake was also the reason why I hired a marketer in the first place – because I felt that I was ‘not good enough’ to understand this market.
Another aspect of this mistake was when I decided to work without a coach for the better of the year, as I thought that I could implement my plans alone this year. I’ve always worked with a coach each year and this one decision cost me more than I expected. Had I not made this decision, I’d have had someone to help me work through the negative feedback I was imbibing from well-meaning people.
Cost of the mistake: I lost the traction I had built in my life and business. I also became very cautious, stopped taking the necessary risks I needed to take in my business and didn’t get my book formally published. Interestingly, the people who gave the most negative feedback about the cover and what they thought is missing from the book (after reading the Table of Contents) never gave me ideas on how to improve the book or told me exactly what was missing. They also didn’t buy the book or any of my programs… The result of this mistake was loss of potential business and a huge back-tracking financially!
Lessons learnt: Hang out with people who are positive and empowering. If you can’t find such people in your circles, join a mastermind group, find a mentor, get an accountability partner, or hire a coach. And if you cannot afford any of that, find an online group on Facebook and become an active member.
If all else fails, you’re actually better off keeping company with yourself until your finances improve. Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need be part of big groups or be visible all the time to succeed. You just need to find a problem in the market, create a solution to that problem, identify your ideal customers, craft your unique marketing style to let the customers know about your solution, and then turn your marketing into sales.
4. Lowering my fees
My ‘experts’ kept reassuring me that people here at the Coast are not willing to pay the same prices and fees as people in Nairobi. I believed it and lowered my fees. I also gave a lot of free Strategy Sessions to give people a feel of what coaching is about and this ate into my time. Big Mistakes!
Cost of the mistake: This contributed to loss of motivation because I was doing the same level of work for less money and more stress. I ended up attracting less-than-ideal clients and working together became and uphill task for me and the clients. We were just the wrong fit. I finally bit the bullet and fired these clients last year, and the resulting freedom and relief was enough to cover the pain caused by temporary loss of income.
Lessons learnt: There will always be people who cannot afford my fees and that’s OK. I don’t have to feel guilty about what I charge because I have spent a lot of time, money and effort to create my programs and become the expert that I am today.
Taking on people as clients simply because I didn’t want to let go of the money was a sign of poverty-consciousness and it only brought me people who were needy, bargained all the time, wanted the results without putting in the work, and worst of all, wanted me to work late into the night or very early in the morning!
I also noted that people who pay for Strategy Sessions take their goals and businesses more seriously than those who don’t…
5. Shiny new object syndrome
I’m a very creative person and my mind is always coming up with new ways of solving personal and business growth challenges. In 2015, I created 3 new programs and marketed them aggressively. Each of these programs has great potential, but needs time and commitment to get it off the ground.
Cost of the mistake: I shifted from my main program and started concentrating on these new ones leading to loss of time and focus. It also confused the market because I was trying to be everything to everyone.
Lessons learnt: When you find a lot of needs in the market and you know that you can solve them, STOP! Go back and remind yourself of your main focus and stick to that.
As a wise trainer once taught me, “Focus demands sacrifice.” When you want to be great at something, you have to leave all the shiny new objects alone or put them on the back burner until you complete your current project.
The only time to take on something new is when you can clearly see how it fits in with your goals e.g. when a new opportunity comes and it brings a goal you had in the future forwards. Moving to Mombasa was such an opportunity for me as it brought a future goal I had right into my present.
Way Forward for 2016
1. Going back full circle
When I set up my business, I knew that I wanted a ‘Freedom Business”. I wanted a virtual business that I could do from anywhere in the world; one that does not rely on other people; and that fits around my children’s schedule. It’s a business that I can run from home and work on phone or via internet. This is how my business has always run. It’s only when I tried to take my business offline that I ran into trouble because I needed to change the business model from scratch. I’m now working on marketing online within and beyond Kenya so that I can capture the East African market and Kenyans in the Diaspora.
2. Going back to marketing basics
Being an introvert, I knew from the beginning that marketing methods where I’d have to interact with lots of new people and crowds would drain me. So I’ve always kept physical networking meetings at a minimum.
After a close evaluation of the last 3 years of business, I now know that I made the most money when I was not marketing at all in the traditional sense! I was just going about with life my way and telling people what I do and they’d either sign up to work with me or send me referrals. I also realized that I would get clients as long as I was writing on my blog and to my newsletter subscribers, or speaking online and offline.
So I’m back to being myself – writing and speaking this year and using C.J. Hayden’s GET CLIENTS NOW! marketing program for coaches, consultants and service businesses. I’ve reduced networking and automated my social media activity so that I only spend 15 minutes a day on social media.
At the same time, I’m increasing blogging to 2-3 posts per week and optimizing my blog and social media so that they drive new sign ups to my e-newsletter mailing list. Most of my engagement will be on this blog and with mailing list subscribers.
No more struggle, no more stress, no more hustling.
3. Re-building belief in myself
The first step here was to go back with working with coaches. This year I’m taking a higher level coach training program to improve my skills; working 1-1 with a business coach to fine-tune my business; and taking a business writing course with a writing coach.
I’m also working through Problogger’s blogging challenge to improve my blogging and increase this blog’s readership. (BTW, I highly recommend this blog and the challenge if you’re interested in making money blogging.)
Mid last year, I picked up The Prosperous Coach by Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin and learnt a new way of building a coaching business. They teach tactics that go way beyond what’s normally practiced in the coaching industry. One of the things they teach is for coaches to be fearless when marketing and coaching.
The first time I used their recommendations and said no to a prospect who wanted me to reduce my fees, she signed up at full fee and has turned into one of the best clients I’ve ever had. That first “No” from me created a strong sense of commitment in her that she’s taking actions that previously seemed very huge. A lot of these are actions that she’s come up with herself.
I’ve also stopped sharing my plans with people other than my coach, God, and two Facebook groups of like-minded entrepreneurs.
- When other people ask me what I’m up to, I simply tell them I’m coaching, speaking and writing.
- When they ask how business is, I tell them it’s doing great.
- If they want more tips, resources or advice, I refer them to my blog and tell them to sign up for my weekly newsletter.
- If they want a Strategy Session (the ones that didn’t take advantage of the free sessions I gave last year), I tell them the cost of the session and ask that we talk the next day to set the day and time.
- If they’ve already had a Strategy Session, I remind them of my coaching programs and mailing list (if they haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet) and then inform them that the ball is in their court now.
- Finally, I’ve resolved not to take advice from anyone whose business is younger or doing worse than mine. That hugely reduced the number of formal and informal business advisors I’m now in contact with and led to more peace of mind.
4. Fees
In November 2015, I went back to my full fee and started charging for Strategy Sessions. All I need to do now is create more affordable options for people who cannot work with me directly. These include books, teleseminars, MP3 downloads, group coaching, workshops, e-courses, and a low-cost membership site.
Free stuff is now found on my blog, teleseminars and in the articles and resources I send my mailing list.
Finally, I now only work with people who fit my ideal client criteria. They must also be willing and able to afford my fees because I no longer allow for bargaining where fees are concerned.
The result is that the clients I signed up since November 2015 are highly qualified people who work hard and appreciate the work we do together. I’m enjoying my work more because these clients challenge me to grow and be the best coach and mentor.
Come February, I’m increasing my fees and giving away the 3 programs I created in 2015 as bonuses when someone signs up for my premium 1-1 coaching package.
5. “Focus demands sacrifice”
I learnt some very painful lessons from following after shiny new objects. This year, I’m having tunnel vision and narrowing my focus to automating the Create Your Dream Business (CYDB) program so that it can run without me. The plan for this was ready in the first quarter of 2015, but I let it go.
This plan includes branding the program and its components, which include workshops, teleclasses, manuals, group and individual packages, online and offline marketing materials, automated emails to people who sign up for the mailing list, and hiring associate coaches to help run the program. It also means getting the 12 Weeks to Startup book published as this is required reading material for the program. The CYDB program will also have online and offline packages and each of these requires tailor-made materials.
This is a huge undertaking and I’m making it my priority focus in 2016 and sacrificing everything else. I’ll spend 70% of my time in 2016 on this project and 30% with business owners. I’ve also created my ideal customer avatars for both the business startup and business growth programs so that I can have laser sharp focus in my marketing, work with my ideal clients only, and create solutions that fit their needs.
Conclusion
This was not an easy article to write and I resisted it for a few weeks. It’s not easy to admit to making some of these business mistakes, given that I am a business coach. However, I do know that people benefit more from learning about where others have failed (I know I do) and so I’m putting my failures here so that you can learn from them.
I’ve also found that being open about your mistakes is kind of cathartic. Once you’ve admitted them, especially in such a public place as the internet, they stop having a stronghold in your life. I’ll be updating you on my progress as the year moves on – to keep myself on track. Feel free to challenge me if you see my blog posts or marketing veering from the goals I’ve posted here…
Making mistakes is an essential part of business as you will learn more from your mistakes and failures than from the successes. However, if you don’t take time to evaluate what you did wrong or where you went off track, and then make changes in your current plans, then the likelihood of repeating the same mistakes remains very high.
Try as much as possible to learn from each of your mistakes (having identified them first) and use these lessons as stepping-stones to your business success.
What were your main business mistakes in 2015? What did you learn from them? How did they affect your life and business? How are you planning to overcome the effects of these mistakes in 2016?
I’d love to hear from you so please share your experience in the Comments.
(Images credit: digitalart at www.freedigitalphotos.net)
