My 7 worst business mistakes that cost me thousands of dollars

Hey and welcome back to the show! It’s Doone here, your host and hype girl.

In this solo episode, I will talk you through a few, just a few, of the many mistakes I’ve made with my different attempts at business. And, let’s be honest this is a just handful that I’m not so emotionally scarred from that I can actually talk about. There’s probably another handful that I’ve blocked out of my mind. It’s tempting to lock all my mistakes away and throw away the key, but there’s a real opportunity here to turn these entrepreneurial failures into learnings. So strap yourself in, here are my 7 worst business mistakes (& their learnings) that cost me thousands of dollars.

Firstly, doing something that you don’t actually enjoy. Life is too short! Time is passing us by. Yesterday the pandemic just started and now we’re halfway through 2022. We should be enjoying life not hating it. We spend so much of our life working (especially as entrepreneurs) that it may as well be on something that lights a fire in our belly. Stay laser-focused on what makes you happy, and check in with yourself to make sure you’re doing what’s right for you. 

Secondly, doing things driven by money over passion. This is a tough one to swallow. You can get caught up in building this exciting business and the glamour of that rather than something you’re truly passionate about to your core. Check in with yourself, and make sure you have that burning passion and connection.

Next, creating solutions for problems no one really needs. Or wants to pay for. Most startups fail, that’s a hard fact. Just because we have this little lightbulb go off in our heads and think it’s genius, doesn’t mean people will want to actually pay money for your solution. Make sure you do the research and prove out your business concept before you go all in.

Then, hiring too early. This one sucks. And this is where you lose a lot of money, especially when it comes to hiring agencies. And where you can harbor quite bitter emotions. You need to have the right foundations in business ready to go so that you’re set up for success when hiring an agency and seriously I still don’t seem to have learned this lesson.

Which leads me to mistake number five. Making the same mistake twice. Three times. Four times. You get the drift. I’ve hired agencies too early, staff too early, contractors too early, signed up for software I don’t need yet… All of it! Multiple times. Know where your entrepreneurial weaknesses lie-, and learn to nip problems in the bud next time around.

Also, not having a clear focus. Pushing yourself in multiple directions is again a total time and money waster. With a million ideas it's easy to go off on some random tangent, when you should be focusing on what’s working and doubling down on that. It certainly helps to have a super clear North Star you can check yourself against. 

And finally, not understanding your numbers. My god. Knowing your numbers inside and out is critical in building a business. You need to know where your profits lie, you need to know how much you can be spending to acquire a customer and where you can put a dollar in and get a dollar back.

If you relate to any of these, I feel you girl. Let’s get straight into it! This is me for Female Startup Club.

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