What you can do to avoid mistakes

Running a small business is not going to be easy all the time, you are going to make mistakes. The trick is that you just need to make sure you aren't making mistakes that are going to be detrimental to your company and lead to its downfall and demise.

Mistake # 1 - Bad marketing
When you are selling products and services you will need to market your business. People need to find out who you are and what your business is about. Bad marketing is a big mistake that people can make when they are running a small business. Bad marketing involves paying too much money to get your name out there. Are you trying to compete with the bigger companies? If so it can be easy to pay thousands of dollars to try and get your name out there. The problem you will face is the type of marketing you are doing. Print marketing is quite expensive for your small business and this can be your downfall. Look into other marketing techniques to get your small business name out there and save money. Here are some marketing tools to use:

• Social media marketing


• Blogging


• Newsletters


• Networking to create print ads for cheaper

Mistake # 2 - Bad market research
Another problem businesses make is marketing when they don't know their target market. Are you getting your name out there appropriately and doing the type of market research to create products that are specific to your customers? What makes your product saleable and better than your competitors? Are you creating products that your customers are searching for and will satisfy a need that they have? You can accumulate market research online or you can pay other companies to do it for you. Just make sure the market research you are doing is right for your business needs and you can afford it.

Mistake # 3 - Keeping it in the family
Perhaps you started your business as a family company but now it has outgrown this. Don't be afraid to hire talented employees because they aren't members of your family. Although this may be your baby and you want to involve your family in it as much as possible, you still need to branch out and bring in the people that will help your company grow and develop. Look outside the family when you are hiring and consider the possibility that these outside sources may be better for your business.

Mistake # 4 - Business and Personal
In order to create a small business and have it loved and accepted by millions, you need to separate your business and personal finances. It can be easy to continue using your personal credit rating to secure loans and the money you need to make your business a success. If you want to be taken seriously as a small business you need to focus on building your business credit. Don't let your personal finances get mixed in with the business finances as this is terrible for your personal finances if you are audited. The other thing you need to worry about when you are working on separating your personal and business finances. You can significantly damage your personal credit if you treat it like business credit, especially if you default on a loan or you have a problem paying on time.

It is important to run your small business effectively by watching your small business books. Losing control over your small business books will lead to your downfall as lenders will not work with you and send you the money you need to get out of debt.