Entrepreneurship can be one of the most rewarding activities in life. However, there are many potential Pitfalls.
1. Failure to Turn Thoughts Into Action
Have you ever found yourself in a meeting, or just lost in a daydream, and predicted future business success? I remember years ago, sitting with a group of friends, chatting about the world and what was to come. One of my friends mentioned how ridiculous it was that Amazon was so successful in selling hard copy books online, when it was all just data that could be delivered in any form. That night, a decade before it became popular, he predicted the rise of the eBook! That realization didn’t make him rich. It is not just about having the idea, it was also about the practical matter of turning it into reality. Do you have any dreams that that should be acted on?
Solutions:
- Plans make dreams come true. You will want to take your dream, and turn it into a plan with a timeline. There are many ways to do this. An straightforward way is to build a Gantt Chart. While there are a lot of tools for getting organized, a Gantt chart can keep you on track, week by week, using Google Sheets, Excel or even a pen and paper. Having a plan, and linking it to timelines and dependencies is the first step to building your dream.
- Get Accountable. A lot of us are used to being accountable to bosses or teachers. When you are an entrepreneur, in some ways you are accountable to no one. While that can be freeing, it can also be demotivating. If you have someone to be accountable to, whether it is a coach, mentor, business partner or even an “accountability buddy” from a networking group, you might find it easier to stay on track. In fact, when writer Gretchen Rubin did a study on people’s tendencies, the “obliger” — who needs to be accountable — was the most popular type.
2. Not Paying Attention to Mobile
Did you know that more than half of all digital traffic now comes from mobile devices and mobile apps? A recent ComScore report found that smartphones and tablets combined now account for an incredible 60 percent of all online traffic (up from 50 percent the previous year). People on a mobile devices will often abandon a site that has no mobile presence. If you are a restaurant or another local business whose customers will be searching you on the go, your mobile presence is even more important. It can be easy to get lulled into thinking that everyone is behind their comfortable desks, looking at a big screen,, but that is simply not true.
Solutions:
- When reviewing websites, do what the pros do: focus on “mobile first and best”. Experience your digital media the same way as your customer does.
- Remember that people are not only using mobile devices, they are also more distracted. Make sure that your Call to Action (CTA) buttons really stand out and are accessible even to larger fingers.
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