The Top Four Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

08.23.10

Despite all our best intentions, and sometimes even because of them, entrepreneurs make mistakes. Here are the top four worst offenders I've observed, and tips on how to work smarter.

1. Hiding
I'm sure many of you are thinking: I'm not hiding. I've got business cards, a web site; I even tweet! But consider: with all of that networking, are you really making fruitful connections? Two main avenues to success entrepreneurs often bypass are:

• Being in touch with people who you could collaborate with on lucrative new projects (for more on this see my previous post "You Can't Create In A Vacuum"); and
• Keeping in touch with past clients who have been excited about the value you deliver - these clients are already sold on your talents and are more likely to embark on a new initiative with you than new clients. Often entrepreneurs are so focused upon broadening their client base they forgo this wellspring of support.

2. Failure To Change Your Business Model
When your clients start leaving you, or when you sense a significant shift in the market, you need to respond quickly to avoid being left in the dust of progress.

3. Changing Too Soon
Unlike change in response to market shifts, this is change for change's sake alone. Entrepreneurs are famous for constantly questing after the next bright new shiny object. These computer-literate Don Quixotes tilt at imagined windfalls rather than windmills- at a great cost of personal energy and funds. Your time and money is often better spent cultivating your best ideas instead of brainstorming tempting new innovations.

4. Delaying
Since time is money, delay costs. Waiting to address a problem can make it more expensive to fix. Waiting to improve your business until every duck is in line can mean lost momentum and opportunities. You may miss your moment.

All four of these mistakes create untold lost opportunity cost , which is impossible to calculate, and also priceless. The customers who walked away, the deals that were never signed, the projects never completed. Worse, they burn you twice - in the business lost and in the time and effort you spent.