How many of the 5 biggest mistakes are you making? Most of us make mistakes. Mistakes are inevitable when you try something new and mistakes are part of business.

They also cost you money and it hurts if you keep making them. Especially if you keep making the same ones.

So here are 5 you should stop making.

1. Not investing in marketing. If you want your business to grow and to have a consistent flow of business, you need to invest in marketing. I chose that word deliberately. Marketing is an investment.This is what usually happens. You take your focus away from marketing, stop the investing, then go out hunting for work when the jobs finish. The hunting is more desperate then which means you discount more and make shittier margins. It’s a slippery slope from there.
2. Focusing on price (Doing too many quotes or tenders). The customer outlines a need and we rush off to work out which kit they need and how much it will cost them. It’s exciting working out what they’ll be paying you. But the truth is, it’s not helping you get the job. Your customer needs to know if you’re a bastard or not, if you do good work, if you’re financially stable enough to work with and if working with you is risky or safe. Price doesn’t help him with any of that.
3. Trying to do it all yourself. You’ve done it without dying. Doing pretty much everything and holding it all in close. Sure, you have guys doing the physical work but… You can’t trust people with your money, they might nick it. You can’t trust people to make decisions on their own – they might cock it up. You can’t let people manage themselves – they might bludge on your time. But this means you’re stuck – you can’t grow because you’re doing all the important stuff and there are so many hours in a day.
4. Not using technology to make life easier. Failing to take advantage of the gains you can get from technology – maybe because you don’t understand it or you aren’t good with computers or because it will take 3 months of investment from you before you start to get those gains – is a mistake. Other people are doing it. They will get those gains and they’ll beat you at jobs. They’ll be quicker with their proposals and estimates or better able to show customers why they should win the job. Just like it’s hard to win a council job without being quality assured, it will become hard to win work if you are still doing everything the old way. Don’t get left behind.
5. Not getting help. Somehow getting help with your business feels like putting your hand up at school and saying “Miss, I don’t understand”. You feel like everyone will laugh at you and call you stupid. I know this because I’ve felt it myself. But it’s stupid NOT to get help. Why wouldn’t you get as much help as you possibly can to make this business of yours the best it can be? I’m doing it. Tiger Woods does it. The CEO of Optus is doing it. Multi-6 figure business coaches are doing it. They all get help. They all have coaches. So why wouldn’t you access this help to be more successful? There are resources out there, including business coaches like me. No shit, you say, “I didn’t realise you were a business coach, Jon.”

I can help you if you come to the Tools Down Workshop in Byron Bay. It costs $297 and it will be epic.

I can help you before that if you book yourself a 10-minute chat on the phone to talk about whether coaching is the right thing for you right now.

Feel free to push the button below.