10 Mistakes to Avoid as a First Time Online Entrepreneur | BD Gizmos

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

Starting online business is a dream of most of the entrepreneurs now a days. 

People show interest in online venture because of location independence, flexibility and access to global market.

I am also one of them. 

I have seen lot of people working from home and getting more than expected. Some had started their business, e-Commerce Store, Blogging or Web development, App development and much more.

Some failed miserably due to their wrong steps and not able to understand their concept and lot of other reasons. 

In this blog, i am going to discuss about those mistakes which will help you to not repeat in your life and give you clear understanding of your career in Entrepreneurship.

I am having experience of 3+ years and i have also failed number of times. I have also done these mistakes once in my career while starting my business.

Lets start with, 10 Mistakes to Avoid

1. Not Planning Long-term

Most of the people before starting business does not think for long term. I was also one of them when i started my first business in development.

Most online ventures are characterized in 3 stages. The launch phase, grinding phase and the sunrise phase.

According to resources, the sunrise phase where your income take over your living costs will occur after around 1000 days.

This is why your long term plan should be in place from the moment you press start.

Let's take example, You've launched a blog on digital marketing with great blog ideas and in-depth articles. 

You publish 3 blog post every week. You monetize your blog with ads and affiliate links. 

After 12 months you get problem with in blogs. You require great SEO strategy to get your blog on google's 1st page.

You have to give value in every single post of your blog.

Many bloggers fail when they are in grinding phase and quiet.

In the launch phase, every blogger think it is very easy job and they become blinded by the growth traffic and social media traffics.

Many bloggers lack in long term strategy and they quiet while grinding phase that is why they are not able to get the taste when sun eventually rises.

2. Waiting too Long to Launch

This is the most difficult question for many first time online entrepreneurs "when to launch".

There is no such thing of perfect timing to launch product in the market.

You will have lot of questions like you should start your online store with 5, 10 or 20 products. Maybe you have youtube channel with less videos and not sure to share that with your friends. Maybe you are blogger with less posts and not sure, to share or not.

These are common questions, but it does not matter how many videos you have, product, or articles on your blog. It will increase with time, quality and desire-ability of your success.

Whatever your business is, you have to launch as soon as possible so that you can identify your product is valid for audience or you need to put more efforts in it. Always remember, your first product is not your last product.

More Understanding in timing of launch, keep this in mind:

• Readiness : You don't to launch an unfinished product. It doesn't have to be perfect but it should be ready for public.

• External Circumstances : The crisis (like pandemic) is not the best time to launch bus booking app.

• Your Plan : Find out on which day you will be comfortable to launch your product.

• Selling Period : Find out which season suits for certain product category. Like teddy bear are mostly sold near valentine's day, so sell teddy bear at that time. Some festival are recognized  with certain catalogs of products.

3. Trying to do Everything Yourself

Working on everything alone is good in the beginning, but at some point you need a team which will handle your work load.

You can think that you will handle everything but they is for thinking only. If you are building great organisation then you need to hire good and smart people, who will handle other work of your company.

Giving time to yourself is also required to refresh and better understanding your companies future, for that you need to hire some people who can handle your work.

4. Giving up to Soon

This happened with many people who start their business and feel after sometime that this is not working and demoralize with idea of entrepreneur. I have met some startup owners who quiet their idea in between and go back to their jobs.

If you are stepping into entrepreneurial, then think long-term strategy because this is long journey with bumps to get success.

When i started my first business, i was facing lot of problems. Like the main issue was not getting clients for long and it was making be demotivated and frustrating. I was not able to handle myself at that time and decided to quiet.

And i started working with some company. While working with that company, i realized that i should start my business again with full understanding of not giving up. 

Now, i am working and getting good clients.

5. Not Managing the Finances Properly

This is not very big problem but this is important for new entrepreneurs.

People start online venture due to low expenses.

After sometime, they feel it is costing more money than expected because they spend money on unusual good and services, which are not part of plan. 

They also connect with wrong financial advisers, who charge them more and tell them to pay taxes for nothing. 

You need to smart here and invest yourself in learning financial education. This will help you to understand about taxes and financial advice you get from wrong people.

I am not great in this but i am good in this. I take care of my finances very well before paying taxes and buying uneven goods. 

All this due to learning.

6. Getting Stuck on Details

Most of the people stuck in this due to their obsession in details.

They look for perfection in each and everything. 

I was also one of them when i first launched my first Android app. I was wasting time in logo, fonts, and other simple problems in app. In this small issues, i wasted 2 weeks.

When i realized, then i learnt a lesson of 80%. That when your app is complete 80% then launch it and solve rest of 20% after the launch and update app.

Now, i always do this for other works also.

7. Giving Away too Much Free

Most of new entrepreneur forgot that they are running business not charity. 

It is the bitter truth of every new entrepreneur but they don't have to do that. They need to understand how much they have to provide for free and after what point they have to charge.

Work hard on understanding that rule of charging. 

Make clear idea of charging for some processes and give some processes free. I will not suggest anything because you know your business and you know it better. Which part is premium.

8. Not Thinking About Customer

Whenever or whatever you are building blog, youtube videos, Android app, website, etc. You have to think like your customer first. 

If they are not able to understand what you have done then there is very less chance of success. 

When i write any blog or pick any topic for writing. First thing comes in my mind is "Is this going to solve any problem?" 

Because i want my views to come again and again to my blog to read and learn new things which will help them somewhere in life. 

For launching your product you should also have that thing in mind.

9. Not Networking Enough

Many of us enter this online world because we like to work alone. We like to work alone with concentration and peace. 

We like this very much but no one can stop you from networking with others. Every sector have like minded people and you should have to connect with them.

Help them with their problems and give them perfect solutions. In return they will also help with your problem, this is the benefit of networking.

If you are developer, you also need network to grab projects. You can network with other companies and they will recommend you clients.

This works both ways. But remember you need to help first to get help back from them. 

10. Be Different

In Online business, young hungry entrepreneur come to disrupt the business with great ideas and vision. 

They want to reinvent wheel. 

They take old version and add some more effective process and serve it to customer. You should also think like this to get your target audience.

Like audience who follows my blog are my targeted audience. They know my content and style of writing articles. They love this way.

So they will come again to get valuable content from me. Because my style of serving is different.

Like you may be following someone in your niche. Why? Because you can clearly tell the difference. You should also put some efforts in your business to be different in your online business.

That different will serve you success.