11 Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make | The Social ...

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Running a small business or nonprofit requires wearing many hats and being many things to lots of people. ?When an entrepreneur embarks on the journey of creating and growing a business they are susceptible to making mistakes. ?Mistakes are part of the learning process but when it comes to owning or running a small business some mistakes, made at the wrong time, could threaten the long term viability of the organization. ?Because of this, it is important to identify those things that should never be overlooked or neglected.

1. ?Don?t have a defined mission, vision and values statement.

Every organization should spend the time to clarify and articulate why it exists and what it hopes to accomplish. ?This is done by spending the time to articulate and write a mission, vision and values statement. ?It doesn?t matter if it is the drycleaner, neighborhood restaurant or a boutique in the mall ? every organization needs to have an articulated focus that provides shared direction for decision making and employee performance.

2. ?Don?t Plan

Strategy and planning is critical to the success of any organization. ?Whether large or small, every business needs a plan. ?This involves taking time at least once a year to review strategy and goals and making sure the organization is moving in the direction that was originally intended. ?There is an old saying, ?if you fail to plan?..you plan to fail..? ?There is a lot of truth in that statement!

3. ?Don?t Write Goals

Goals are how plans are achieved and if goals are not developed, written down with assigned accountability, they will be difficult to accomplish. ?Business goals should be written as part of the overall organizational strategy and each goal should have someone assigned to them with very specific timeline expectations.

4. ?Don?t Budget

I?m always surprised at the number of organizations that generate millions of dollars that don?t take the time to develop and manage by a budget. ?Budgeting is something that should ?be done once a year and used to fund the plan and goals. ?Organizations that don?t budget can be successful but budgeting allows managing how resources are used and helps to achieve targeted growth because the dollars are allocated to those things that improve and grow the business.

5. ?Don?t Hold People Accountable

When goals are written it is important to assign responsibility for completing them. ?When organizations don?t hold people accountable for completing goals, and performing basic job responsibilities, they are mismanaging the organization?s resources. ?When employees are on payroll and aren?t held accountable for their job responsibilities?they are in essence taking money out of the organizational coffer without providing value in return. ?Performance management is critical to successful organizations and employee job descriptions and goals are the first step.

6. ?Don?t Anticipate Market Changes

The last couple of years has been a hard lesson for many organizations in how quickly the market can shift and the importance of keeping an eye on changing trends in areas such as technology, customer requirements or financial viability. ?It is easy to get distracted with the day -to-day job tasks and lose sight of rapid market change.

7. ?Don?t Take the Time to Understand Customer Requirements

Customers pay the bills so organizations need to figure out what the customer wants and put systems and processes in place to meet their needs. ?Very often organizations build products and services based on what they ?think? the customer wants. ?Talking to customers, surveying them ?and constantly trying to learn about changing expectations and customer satisfaction?is critical to being able to maintain and grow the customer base.

8. ?Don?t Consider Employees to be Their Most Important Customer Group

Employees are one of the most important customer groups because they are the hands and feet of the organization and when businesses don?t put employee friendly policies and processes in place they are risking alienating those individuals that interact with customers. ?When employees are given clear job expectations, the tools and training to do their job and are rewarded for performing well, they are more likely to be happy at work which directly affects the customer experience. ?Every organization should work to improve employee engagement and create environments that employees can thrive in and enjoy.

9. ?Don?t Communicate with Employees and Customers.

Communication, or lack thereof, is a universal problem in most organizations. ?There can never be too much communication and successful organizations have structured processes to manage communication?to both employees and customers. ?Creating transparent organizations that continually shares information results in customer loyalty as well as an environment that employees enjoy working in.

10. ?Don?t Continuously Look for Ways To Improve.

Continuous improvement is how organizations develop and enhance products and services. ?The process by which those products and services are delivered should always be under review for identifying improvement opportunities. ???Whether it is a process to manufacture a product or a process of delivering a service to the customer, looking for ways to continuously improve is important. FOCUS PDCA is a great model to use for continuous improvement.

11. ?Don?t Celebrate Successes.

Many organizations get so bogged down with the daily grind that they forget to stop and acknowledge how far they?ve come. ?Celebrating successes and team building not only recognizes progress but also encourages employees and improves engagement.

Running and growing a business is a challenging endeavor which makes it important to create systems and processes that routinely look at how the organization is performing, identifying ways to improve how things are done while planning to improve the employee and customer experience ? which will ultimately improve the bottom line.

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