One of the biggest fears which many have when it comes to starting their own business is that they are going to fail and make mistakes, this too was my fear before I decided to launch my own company. It was a good friend and business mentor of mine Reddy Kancharla who first alleviated my fears around this, telling me that I will 100% make mistakes, and I may very well fail. Reddy has spent a career in business and he has ran many successful companies, him telling me what I already knew about failing and making mistakes, really eased my worries in a strange way, and gave me additional confidence. I did make mistakes, just as the great Reddy had told me, and here are mistakes that you are likely to make too. 

Bad Staff

Unless you have previously worked in recruitment and you understand exactly how to hire the best staff for the job and spot talent, then you are likely to hire some bad staff in your early years in business. I can count at least 3 people who I have hired over the years, who were absolutely dreadful for one reason or another. The only way that you learn this is by making the mistake, so keep an eye out for this one. 

Wasted Money 

As a small business owner you will be scrutinizing every single penny that you spend, but sometimes even the most cautious analysis can’t help you to prevent some unnecessary spending. For example I decided to invest in some software which I later learned was already installed on the computer, not massively expensive but still  $200 down the drain, which is a lot for a small business. Naturally you’ll be trying too avoid this, but there will be times that you get caught out. 

Tying up Cash

One of the biggest mistakes that I made in the early days of the business was trying up money in products which sold slowly. In the first instance I genuinely thought the product would fly off the shelves, but I ended up with almost $5,000 tied up in those products, which were selling at a rate of 1 per month. In the end I slashed the price, cut my losses and got some cashflow back into the business. 

Marketing 

In the first couple of years of the business the only marketing which we did was in-house, using fliers and social media. It was only last year in fact that I decided to invest in this, and what a difference it made! If only I had invested a little bit in marketing earlier on, we may well have found far more success for the business. 

Much like Reddy told me, mistakes are a part of the business world and as long as they are not catastrophic and as long as you can learn from them, you should embrace them.