9 Business Habits to Avoid at All Costs To successfully grow your business, you must avoid these nine business habits.
By Jeanne Omlor Edited by Chelsea Brown
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Entrepreneurs at all levels make mistakes. They make mistakes that STOP progress and leave them scrambling for time, money, clients — you name it. I've seen it all.
There are some red flags that indicate that you're keeping yourself from growing your business.
If you find yourself doing three or more of these nine business habits, it might be time to get a better strategy in place:
1. You're too worried about your competition instead of forging your own path
You need to embrace the belief that you are your biggest competition — not others. No one on this earth is you. No one does exactly what you do. When you stop comparing yourself to others, you find your confidence and self-worth.
Related: As A Business, Here's Why You Need To Focus On Yourself (And Not On Your Competition)
2. You're "hoping" people will buy instead of giving them an airtight reason to buy — and instead of making YOU the only choice
First off, there is NO hope in business — only action and results. When you craft your offer for your service or product, you have to make sure it's compelling enough to your avatar.
Simply telling people what you do (coherently and cohesively) is a great first step because it clears up any confusion about your business. But to create an offer that sells, you'll have to be crystal clear on your unique selling proposition, and be enthusiastic and persistent.
3. You're trying to do it all yourself without a coach, strategist or mentor (you just KNEW this was coming)
What can I say? There are millions of people in the world who have coaches and mentors. Where there's smoke, there's fire, folks. No matter how "good" at business you are, no one can do everything alone.
Having a coach or business strategist in your corner is essential. Every highly successful person had or has a coach of sorts or even several. You don't want to be surrounded by "yes" people — or worse, go it alone.
A coach gives you the tools and strategies to move forward, gives you fresh new ideas that may not have occurred to you and keeps you on track.
4. You aren't being organized with lists, schedules, calendars, etc
Being organized will help you get more done in less time. Period. Make sure you have everything you'll need throughout the day laid out. Get out a notepad, and write down everything you need to get done that day — and stick to it (there's a lot more to being productive, but it's a start). Break up big projects into bite-size pieces! Setting doable goals is crucial to getting organized, no matter how small they may be.
Related: 10 Simple Productivity Tips for Organizing Your Work Life
5. You're not offering your ideal clients what they urgently want and need RIGHT NOW
What do your clients wake up in the middle of the night clamoring to have? You need to solve one BIG problem with one BIG solution. Customers crave results. For example, if you're offering healing coaching, people don't suddenly realize they want a healing coach. What they WANT is to feel better, happier, whole and at peace. Sell a result — not a marketing gimmick or brand.
6. You're not differentiating yourself from others and therefore getting lost in the shuffle
Your very existence alone differentiates you from others. You have your own unique brand of intelligence because you alone have lived a life nobody else has.
Use your unique story to your advantage (and if you have a boring life, make up a fabulous fantasy one that will wow people. You know I'm kidding, right?! LOL).
7. You're wasting time planning instead of going out and doing
So, first off, we need to plan. It's very important, but staying stuck at planning continually without implementation is a business killer. The difference between dreamers and doers is that doers understand that the key to success is consistent and persistent action. Block off time to implement new strategies, and test and adjust your processes until the results come rolling in.
Related: Reasons to Stop Planning Too Much — Live in the Now.
8. You give up or get discouraged when you try something once (or twice) and it doesn't work
Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward. Rinse and repeat.
Often, we give up easily when something doesn't work out. Keep charging ahead in any situation, no matter what, and you'll succeed. Of course, you will need to course-correct. Successful people aren't necessarily the smartest or most talented, but they are ALWAYS the most persistent and work through failure and WITH failure — no matter what.
9. You're waiting until the time is right to make big decisions instead of just going for it
Waiting until things are "just right" to launch a new product or start a business just holds you back and wastes your life. And you've been on this earth long enough to know that "just right" is a fairy tale. In fact, tons of successful people started their most prosperous ventures right after hitting rock bottom. I know I did.
Perfection is a myth that cannot be achieved. If you are a perfectionist, it's a form of self-abuse. I was a perfectionist myself until I saw that I was never going to win that game for so many reasons and that it was just a huge way of holding myself back.
So, if you're doing three or more of these things, you need help. The good news is that it can all be fixed. Most things can be fixed! That's the positive thing about life.
