As a business owner or entrepreneur you would not be human if you hadn’t at one time been diverted from your core mission for one particular reason or another. The key is to not lose too much time and get back on the right path.
Below we have highlighted what we feel to be the five biggest distractions for start up businesses.
Start up Business Challenges – Top 5
1. Getting swept away by the idea prior to proof of concept
Even brilliant ideas need to be refined and tested in the marketplace to prove that they work. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about the idea but if it does not fulfil a need or there is simply no demand for your product or services take the lesson and move on. If it can be pivoted to success then obviously that is a good course of action too.
2. Funding circus
Venture Capitalists and Angel investors prefer high growth businesses that are scalable usually with a tech solution to a consumer need. Many businesses can do well without involvement of the funding community for at least a few years and some never actually need external investment because their success allows them to bootstrap their growth.
3. Tech for tech’s sake
We were approached by an organization that wanted us to create an app that would alert the police when a crime was being committed. Diplomatically I suggested that there was a device that fulfilled this need and it was called a telephone. I know some unscrupulous people would have created the app and collected the profit for the project but we prefer to operate with more integrity than that.
4. Ineffective social media engagement
A client of ours initially had a box ticking approach to social media. We need a presence on this and a presence on that – there then followed a list all the platforms selected. We had a fairly expansive discussion on which platforms were likely to deliver the best return on investment and they agreed that being more selective and focused was a much better approach. In our experience lots of SMEs and entrepreneurs are spending too much time on ineffective social media engagement.
5. Stargazing
Listening to famous entrepreneurs in itself will not make you a success but taking positive actions every day will. Yes, you will be inspired by their stories but turn that inspiration into action immediately. It takes many factors to make a business successful but the ability to execute your plan well will arguably be the most important.
This is by no means an exhaustive list – I am sure you can think of other distractions.Also read our 6 tips to grow your business fast. If you would like our help keeping on the right path we would be happy to explore specific opportunities for your business so give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com
We hope you found this information useful.
Best regards,
Marketing Fundamentals Team
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