When you’re a new business owner, people around you believe they are entitled to give unsolicited advice. It’s not because they want to control you or because they don’t think you’ll succeed, but instead, they want to ensure that you don’t make the same mistake that they made or the one that someone they know made. It’s all in good intensions, but sometimes, you have to just smile, nod, and move on without a second thought to what they have told you. Knowing when you should listen and when you shouldn’t is important, so keep these examples of business advice you should ignore in mind.
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You Need a Lot of Money to Make a Lot of Money
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in this world started their business with either no money or just a few hundred or thousand dollars. According to the United States Department Small Business Administration (SBA), the average cost of starting a business is $30,000, but many people who start off as a freelancer can build their business for much less. If the average startup cost makes you throw your hands up in the air in defeat, don’t pay too much attention to it. The amount of money you spend starting a business depends on how much you have, and how fast you want to grow it. The less money you have the smaller you’ll have to start and the slower you’ll grow, but you can still start and grow. You just have to be patient and be creative in how you use your money.
Fake it Until You Make It
Many entrepreneurs hear this and will adopt as part of their business ideology. It’s the wrong way to build a business though. If you lie to your customers about knowing how to do something, you set yourself up for them to be disappointed if you end up not being able to fake it. Running a business takes knowledge and experience. Of course, you won’t know everything, so you’ll learn along the way, but if you’re running your entire business on just experience you may end up in a lawsuit.
You Need to Hire a Lot of People to Achieve Business Success
When you hire people, you have to pay people. If you are not bringing in enough revenue, you end up not being able to sustain the business. Don’t hire a whole bunch of people thinking that is what will make you money. Hire the number of people you need for the level your business is at now, and as your business grows, add more employees.
Employees Won’t Care About Your Business as Much as You
Not true. If you treat your employees well, and allow them to actively participate in the growth of the business, they will care about it as much as you do. It’s when you push employees away or treat them as tools rather than partners that they will start to care less about your success.
When You Own a Business, It Becomes Your Life
Your business doesn’t have to take over your life. It’s only part of your life. Actually, if you make sure it doesn’t consume you, you’ll have much more success because you’ll be able to deal with the challenges better.
Now that you know which business advice you should ignore, go out there and make your dreams come true. Go with your gut when people try to tell you what to do or not to do. This is your thing, not theirs, so run it the way you believe it should be run.
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About Carson Derrow
