Running a business can be a pretty tough time. There is so much to think of and so much to plan, prepare, organise and decide. And, more often than not, there is plenty of room for mistakes. Mistakes are fine, as they teach you a valuable lesson, but that is only true if you are willing to learn and to rethink your strategy. Sometimes you may not even know that you are doing anything wrong. You may blame the lack of success – not every mistake ends in a failure, it could just be a smaller success than you would have expected – on the market situation, the stressful environment at work, or simply bad luck. But before you look into further excuses, let’s examine three main types of business mistakes that are damaging your ROI: The mistakes that are caused by a lack of knowledge, the mistakes caused by an incorrect knowledge, and the mistakes caused by an outdated knowledge.
The Newbie’s Mistakes
The newbie can’t fully be blamed for his or her business mistakes. Picture it as someone who is just learning how to walk. Naturally, there will be the odd fall and the shaky legs until things can get better. This is the same process for people who are just starting their businesses, and while they have a fantastic business idea, they still lack the necessary business flair. They don’t think yet in terms of market, and may just base the business in the wrong location or not be able to interact with the appropriate audience. Additionally, it can be difficult to imagine that a new business needs to evolve and change, especially when you have not yet had the opportunity to show your worth. As a result, startups and new entrepreneurs often miss the market fluctuations and don’t respond quickly enough to new economic movements.
The Digital Genius’s Mistakes
The digital genius is someone who has business experience and who has learned to work essentially with digital tools. To put it shortly, the digital genius is a Millennial who has a sane understanding of the market but works by wrong assumptions. Millennials, when they launch a business, tend to focus on finding the most impressive location at any price. This often means that they are looking at expensive offices that may not be suitable for their needs. They are missing on flexible and affordable office strategies, such as steel buildings for example. Additionally, their extensive use of digital intelligence has created an environment of multitasking. Millennials are the kind of entrepreneurs who pile up digital tasks and fail to notice that they get less done. Unfortunately, multitasking only doubles or triples the amount of work and gives a less quality of work.
The Outdated Management’s Mistakes
Managers of the previous mindset are people who have been working for a while already. Their management methods are outdated and don’t meet anymore the social needs of their employees. As a result, the company might experience high turnover rate for certain jobs where the modern mindset collides against the old leader’s ways. In this constellation, the most common mistakes are reflected in the HR behavior: People feel that they have to work longer hours to prove their worth – even though overtime reduces the quality of your work –, and a lot of their working time is wasted in unnecessary meetings.