Back to: Business Planning 1 From Idea to Action: Video Course
Please note: the sound on this recording is a little low, you may wish to listen through headphones.
Finally, here are the most common mistakes new business owners make when working through the business planning process around creating their Business Vision. We’ll cover them here in the hope you can avoid them:
Having an unclear view of your product or service. Drilling down into the components of your product or service and including doing the research on your pricing, may seem like a lot of work, but it puts you in a advantageous position both when working on your marketing later, and when creating your cashflows.
- Not creating realistic goals – or no goals at all! Creating a manageable set of SMART goals gives you a focus and help with your planning.
- Having an inadequate understanding of your market. Knowing your market inside out, doesn’t just give you an advantage over your competitors but also helps hugely with creating effective marketing campaigns.
- Trying to do too much up front ie a complicated rollout plan, multiple products or services, multiple markets, etc. If you can roll out your business more slowly, you’ll have more control and have a chance to course correct, should your plan hit a hiccup.
- Not having enough expertise in your industry to understand the trends or legislative requirements. Knowing your industry well enough that you can anticipate trends and manage legal requirements, helps you stay ahead of the pack.
- Not understanding your competition. It is never a waste of time to drill down on all your sources of competition. Research now will save your pain later.
- Relying on passion. Passion for your business keeps you going through tough times, but does not necessarily pay the bills. Balancing passion with practicality is the ideal combination for running a business that lasts.
I hope addressing these common mistakes here will help keep you on track as you work through your Business Vision activities.
Let’s wrap things up in our final video.
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