If you’re about to start a website or a small business, make sure you avoid these 4 business mistakes
Some of these are “do as I say” ideas and some of these are “do as I do.” The truth is, I’m not an expert by any means. What I do have, however, is hands dirty, boots on the ground experience with running my own website alongside being a VA for multiple clients at a time.
When I started our home renovation blog, I literally had no idea what I was doing. I started doing it because I have a terrible memory and thought I would treat it as an “online diary” of sorts so that I could look back and remember what our house looked like one day.
I didn’t do near enough research on the front end, aside from reading a couple articles and watching a couple how-to videos. I had worked for a software company for about 5 years and even was an assistant for some startup software and web developers so I did know a bit of the tech side so I felt a bit of confidence in that aspect.
However, when I decided to launch my VA business website, I wanted to make sure I really did this right. So, the very first inkling that this might become a real thing, I decided to do my research and start this business the right way.
With that, I was able to learn some very helpful things I did to avoid business mistakes on this site that I either ran into in my other one or that I had seen others run in to.
4 Business Mistakes To Avoid
1. Not Being Prepared
I know this sounds logical, but I promise you I was not prepared in any sense of the word with my first website. With this business, I was way more prepared.
Part of my 10 Days To VA email course that I’m currently creating will include time dedicated to just the things you need to do before you even launch your site to get prepared.
Researching name ideas, URLs, social channel handles, finding hosting, setting up tools like your email service, plugins you need for your site to run smoothly, creating Facebook and Pinterest business pages. Whew. It can seem overwhelming.
Oh, but you guessed it! I’ve created a checklist you can use that will help you be prepared! Hooray! Y’all know I live off of a good checklist and this one for sure has lots of things that can help make sure you’re prepared. This isn’t an all encompassing list by any means, but it will help you get started thinking through the longer term goals of your business.
2. Not being able to say no
You’re going to have to learn early to say no to good things so that you can say yes to great things.
Especially in the beginning, companies may be reaching out to you offering you a product or service in exchange for a review (AKA. product only and no money). Unless the item is a big ticket item (worth $250 or more) kindly say no thank you and walk away. I know it can be tempting, but I promise you it’s not worth it. I will talk more on this later, but for me, I have fallen into this trap one too many times of working for free and it’s caused me so much hassle, time, and regret. This is a huge business mistake you can and should avoid.
Focus on what’s important to you. If it doesn’t align with your mission and vision as a business, under no circumstances should you compromise. Integrity is super important so that when the day comes and the right company does want to pay you for your extremely hard work and honest opinion, your audience will actually trust what you’re saying instead of rolling their eyes at just another “ad” for a product.
3. Not knowing who you want to serve
Kind of playing off of what I said earlier, another huge business mistake is not knowing who it is that you want to serve in the first place.
In my case, I knew right off the cuff that my audience was bigger bloggers. More specifically, bloggers making six figures. While I would also love to be making six figures as a blogger one day, I’m currently not and so my focus is to help the ones who are because at the moment, it’s what I’m best at.
It is so vital to know who you want to serve and most importantly why you want to serve them. Take some time and write down your ideal client – what do they do for a living? What does their typical day or week look like? What will you be taking off of their plates? Knowing who you want to work for can allow you to find out where they “hang out” online and begin to network and pay attention to needs that may arise that you can swoop in with your magical powers and save the day!
4. Not treating it as a true business
I saved this one for last because it is without a doubt the most important one. I can not stress this enough but you are not just “starting a blog.” You are building your brand, you are building your business and you are serving actual other human beings that are called your clients. That is the very definition of a business. Even if your clients are your friends. If they are paying you for a service you provide, they are a client.
Start using business language right off the bat. When someone asks what you do, avoid saying “I’m a blogger.” You don’t have to say, “I’m a small business owner” or, “I’m an entrepreneur,” but you can say, “I run a website,” or, “I’m a virtual assistant for ________.” It gives you credibility and alleviates the deer in the headlights look people give you when you say you’re a blogger. (Ask me how I know).
People don’t ask you things like, “Oh, but do you make money doing that?” When you use business language, it’s just assumed that you make money – even if you’re starting out with nothing! It’s not lying; it’s putting you in the mindset of what you’re creating and what you want for your future business. I promise you it makes a difference!
Some of these tips I’m giving you because I’ve done them and I have been able to avoid business mistakes for some of the others because of what I’ve seen with friends or other people in a niche similar to mine. I hope this has helped you.
Do you have any tips you think are crucial that I missed? Let me know below!
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