You might think entrepreneurs have thought about their plans and strategies, and that nothing they will encounter will surprise them or cause them to trip on their ladder to success. But more often than not, many entrepreneurs receive business advice that does not help their startups to succeed, or at least make the path to success a very long and troubled road.
But even if you’ve made the mistake of following the pieces of advice below, there are ways you can protect yourself and your company from ultimately going down the drain.
You can fudge the facts
Some people in business like to gloss over details, but it is unforgivable to fudge the facts, whether it is to employees, clients, or partners. It often creates an atmosphere of mistrust and makes it all the more likely to have unsatisfied partners and clients. Directly lying about facts and figures will not win you more clients, even if it projects a professional image that you think suits your company.
If you want to protect your company from partners or clients who might be doing this, get a costing for errors and omissions liability insurance to protect your company. Make sure to cover the kinds of possibilities your partner might use against you, especially when you have issues with how they project their business.
Build an impressive office
Some people believe your office reflects your business, so many entrepreneurs spend some money to make their offices impressive and reflect their company values. The offices of Google come to mind and how their spaces encourage creativity and out of the box thinking. But not every business needs to have an impressive office.
For many clients and partners, what matters is the solutions and services they receive. It’s also best to spend your capital on the essentials of your company, and sometimes office space is the least essential thing. For startups especially, lower overhead and higher profits are much better than the other way around.
But what if you followed this advice? It’s not too late to quit the high-end office space and move somewhere more affordable. If you plan to move to a smaller office, you can donate or sell your other office furniture.
Catch the big fish.
Entrepreneurs often think that they only need one big client to make their business a success, but sometimes focusing on only one target can make you miss the smaller fish that could provide you with higher profits. It would also mean that all your time and resources are spent on one client alone. But what happens if this client decides to leave? Then your business will go down too.
Diversity is essential in any environment, and that includes business. You need to grow a customer base so your proverbial eggs won’t be in one basket. You can create a strategy that scales your operations to other clients and spreads your business to reach more people.
Advice is always a valuable thing, especially when it comes to business. It is not to be taken lightly. Be sure that any advice you hear suits your business strategy, capital, and methodology so that your path to success will be easier to follow.
