Mistake 1 - People build the product first
This is probably the biggest and most common mistake people make when going into business. And therefore this certainly applies to all the information marketer out there as well. The risk you're taking by developing the product first, and not doing any research is that you can go broke, or loose a lot of money.
Mistake 2 - Poor research
Not doing proper and sound research is WRONG. I'm sorry if you feel that I'm screaming at you. But I do want to be as clear as I can possibly be. It may seem to you that this is painful and time consuming. It can be but it doesn't have to be. There are online tool you can use. Generally their good and some of them offer free services. Drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction. If online is scary, pick up the phone and ask your clients directly. You can do it yourself but our experience has shown that if you have the surveys conducted by a third party, you get better and more honest results. Statistics show very clearly that surveys conducted by a third party are more valuable.
Mistake 3 - Poor economics
Most businesses fail because of bad mathematics and psychology. In every business or sales interaction as well as your marketing approach, you need to be clear on what the expectations of your audience is and make sure you're product or services are fulfilling them.
As to economics this in fact just is another word for mathematics. It should be clear to all business owners that a tight grip on the numbers is crucial for the success of any business.
Mistake 4 - Being a pioneer - steal and distribute
Being a pioneer in everything is really dangerous. It may well be that your product or service you've invented is something the market place should buy because it is so good. However, the danger with this is that the people are not yet ready and educated enough to believe you, therefore they will not buy. Being a pioneer means that you have to educate your market as to the value, benefits your service/product is providing. This can be a very expensive exercise indeed.
When I talk about stealing, I don't mean cut and paste what other people in the field have put together with hard work. Not only is it unfair but often times illegal, which opens up another whole set of issues. So don't go there.
Mistake 5 - not getting the product out there fast enough
Whilst it is important to provide good customer service and a product or service that works and produces what has been promised, don't get stopped by wanting to be perfect. Perfectionism is not something that can be achieved in one attempt. So be very careful here, wanting the perfect product or service can send you broke faster than you may think. Sometimes the right decision to make is based on close enough is good enough or in other words follow the 80/20 rule.
Mistake 6 - being stuck with the old ways
Times and changes are moving very fast these days. The introduction of Information Technology a number of years ago, this is not likely to stop. Quite the opposite, things will move even faster in the near future.
On one hand this is a real challenge for many of us, however, where there is a "threat" there always is an opportunity. It still amazes me how many people don't consider going online with their products or services. This is the biggest market place in the whole wide world - if you don't take advantage of it you risk to be put out of business real fast.
Mistake 7 - working hard versus working smart
This is the real key to achieving financial independence. I don't think it is a specific amount I'm looking at here. No it is what each and everyone of us thinks financial independence is for them.
We all know we can work hard because we have been there, however, I would hazard a guess that most of you would have had thoughts along the lines "if I only could do xyz smarter, it would save me time and money". This is exactly what I'm talking about. By all means do what you do best, but do take a helicopter view say every three months or so and have a look at what in the process could be improved e.g stream lined, what you could teach someone else rather than you spending hours on end doing it. One of the best things you can do is get yourself a mentor.
Want to get started but you're feeling stuck, send and eimail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it he's more than happy to give you some pointers.
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