Personal experience: 7 mistakes of a beginner entrepreneur

1. The first business in a new sphere for itself

I, a marketer by education, have been working in marketing, branding and project management since 2006, but for some reason I decided to start my own business in tourism. Romantic but not rational. The idea so captured the mind that logic shut down. As a result, I spent the most precious time - time - to understand the new topic, but I appreciated the scale of the disaster and still switched to the area in which I understand better. With a friend, a designer, we launched a design studio. And I decided to return to the topic of tourism later, when on the first, more understandable thing to me, I get used to the world of business.

If you are already a good and well-known specialist on the market, maybe you shouldn't neglect all your experience and established connections? Try to “look for yourself near the place where you lost,” as Elena Rezanova writes in her book “Never. How to get out of the impasse and find yourself. Start doing what you are already doing, but in a different format.

2. Lack of financial cushion

Realizing that it takes time to start a business, I gave myself two months: for exactly this period I had a reserve of money. When it was exhausted, and orders had not yet arrived, I had to put my hand into a credit card, and this became a difficult decision. I sold everything I didn't need, switched to a monotonous diet, didn't get enough sleep from tension and uncertainty in the usual 7-8 hours and once a week I found gray hair.

Going into your own business is an effective way to lose weight in a short time, but not very healthy. It took me a total of six months to get the system up and running and come out on top. My ideas for conquering the world had to be divided into three and the corresponding financial reserve had to be prepared. Later, I learned to be realistic in planning both income and expenses.

An entrepreneur or self-employed who does not have a stable income is simply obliged to plan future expenses and see where he will get resources from, as well as know his living wage.

A financial cushion in the amount of a personal living wage should be enough for at least six months, or better - for a year. The more voluminous it is, the more time we "buy" for experiments - also a thought from the aforementioned book. On the other hand, the smaller the pillow, the faster life will make you spin. Some can sit for a year on stocks and only closer to their end get off the ground.

3. The opinion that a good project does not need advertising

The first six months would not have been so hungry if we, experts known to a narrow circle, expanded our audience with the help of minimal investment in advertising. For the context or target in our market, fabulous sums were not required: it was a question of 3-10 thousand rubles. You can figure out the settings yourself or negotiate a barter.

The conviction that we are so cool, that we don't need advertising, stole several months. After 12 years in high-paying marketing roles, it is difficult to remove your crown and admit that you now have to re-prove your worth in the market. Free sources of promotion paid off, but the investment in advertising would pay off faster.

Lost time and lost profits are the result of neglecting timely investments in online advertising.

When starting a new business, budget for the promotion. It's great if you don't need it. If you went into business with not an active client base, then the first time you have to spend on getting to know the market with your company. This requires investments - they are quite lifting for small businesses.

4. Underestimating the power of networking

The lack of advertising is not so scary as the neglect of the possibilities of free promotion. Uncertainty in oneself and one's product, "impostor syndrome", is what prevented one from immediately declaring oneself.

At first, only close friends were aware of our work in a new field. The first clients were just acquaintances, they also gave recommendations that were converted into applications. I decided to open social networks and talk about the studio there only after a couple of months.

Observing other aspiring entrepreneurs helped fight shyness. A couple of times I attended special networking meetings, where I met dozens of people who were “testing a niche”. That is, they tried themselves in a business that they did not understand yet, but they sold their services dearly, like already established professionals.

The usefulness of such events for expanding the customer base and the circle of partners is highly questionable, but you should not completely neglect the opportunities to make new acquaintances.

From that meeting, we did something to two startups at a price below the cost price, they appreciated the help and later recommended us to familiar businessmen, with whom we already had more profitable cooperation. And then word of mouth started. Over the past two years, we have never resorted to paid promotion, most of our clients still come from recommendations.

Start talking about your new business not only to your friends, but also to the market as early as possible. Attend events that your prospective clients attend, not your “fellow misfortunes”. Build your personal brand and broadcast it on social media long before you go free-floating.

5. Perfectionism

Not only in IT, it makes sense to release a minimum viable product in order to have feedback, test hypotheses and get the first income. To launch a design studio, it was enough to collect a portfolio for a landing page and social networks. However, all our perfectionism went into developing our own visual identity and website.

Indeed, we are going to offer our branding services, how can we ourselves look not on the five? Yes, and in front of colleagues in the workshop, it is awkward in a form that is far from ideal. Objectively, even the first draft of our site looked better than most players of our size in the segment - it did not interfere with attracting orders.

It was worth spending two months not on finishing the visual part, but on building communication with the target audience.

It is better to enter the market earlier, with an imperfect product or service, but test your offer on real customers and start getting feedback and profits, than to postpone the launch by hitting perfectionism.

6. Inconsistency

If we are too stuck with the packaging of a business, then others often, on the contrary, forget about it and wonder: why is it not working? Carrying out for months a project logo that may not work is just as wrong as not believing that you are greeted by clothes and forgetting about aesthetics.

Many people think that at the start you need to spend a lot, immediately register as an individual entrepreneur, rent an office. I legally became an individual entrepreneur only when the first client appeared who worked strictly by bank transfer. We ordered business cards for the first meeting. And we never needed an office: clients prefer to meet on their territory so as not to waste time on travel. A year later, we completely went online and now we work remotely from different parts of the planet.

Step by step: first, packaging "on the knee", test advertising, testing the viability of a business idea, and after the first sales - investments in branding, office, equipment, promotion.

7. Artificial motivation

The first question to be asked is: "Why do I need my business?" If you want to get more money, maybe it's easier to change employers? If you are tired of going to the office, then agree with your superiors on a flexible schedule? I lacked freedom and independence: I wanted to choose which of my clients and colleagues to work with and with whom not, to gain mobility, to be at the helm of a small mechanism, and not as an executive cog in a corporate machine.

Second question: "Why do I need money or free time?"

At first, I tried to impose on myself the "right" goals: to pay off the mortgage ahead of schedule, for example. But this desire did not become a dream, he did not have enough energy to inspire, lift in the morning and help overcome difficulties.

I was ready to deny myself paid entertainment and new clothes if my financial goals fell through. The hardest part was the lack of travel - that's where my motivation was buried. I had to be cunning: in order not to postpone trips until the time when I earned money on them, I first bought a ticket, and with it it became meaningful to work. The upcoming adventure invigorated me and made me move, and what kind of mood, such is the result.

I spent these two years in 13 countries and as many regions of Russia. Remote work and constant travel have become a way of life, which is now difficult to give up.

If, when working in a company, the corporate system itself with the boss and KPI serves as an incentive to complete tasks, then it is easy to relax in free floating. The strongest business plan can collapse due to the lack of motivation of its executor. Mandatory payments (rent, loans, utility bills, grocery purchases) do not work as positive reinforcement. You need to have clear sparking goals, each has their own. Rewarding yourself for achievements, celebrating small victories is also an important part of motivation.