Business Mistakes that Break My OBM Heart

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” – Winston Churchill
 

Between clients, staff, colleagues, fellow students and group members in my masterminds, I talk with a lot of business owners. I see some of the same mistakes over and over again.  

These mistakes hold back otherwise incredible business owners who could be doing so much good in the world.  

It's unfortunate, because I know how passionate and talented they are.  

I see what a difference they could be making if they were fulfilling their potential instead of running themselves into the ground and missing or losing opportunities that could be game changers for them, their business, and the people they so earnestly want to serve.  

I’m sharing these with you today to help you avoid those same stumbling blocks! You have so much to offer, and I want you to thrive as a business owner and human being.  

If you see yourself in these mistakes, here’s your wakeup call. 

 

 

Trying to do everything yourself 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Nothing holds you back from your potential like trying to do everything yourself.  

Your time is one of your most precious assets, and it’s best spent on the stuff only YOU can do.  

If you can hire a VA to do something, DO IT. If you’re not good at it and it’s slowing you down, find yourself a tech wizard who can take care of it in twenty minutes instead of wasting two hours or more on Youtube trying to figure it out yourself.  

Hire a VA, a graphic designer, an OBM, a coach, or whoever would move you forward the fastest.  

I’m not saying you need to spend more than you can afford, but let’s be honest…we can create ways to afford things. If it’s important, you’ll make room in your budget.  

 

Not investing in your businesses  

I’m just going to stay it: stop using free shit.  

Or rather, stop using free shit you’ve outgrown.  

If your free social media scheduler isn’t cutting it anymore, upgrade. If the free version of your mailing list system is holding you back, upgrade to a paid one with the features you need.  

Way too many business owners limp along with the free programs they started off with long after they’ve outgrown it.  

This is a BIG problem because your business can’t grow if you don’t have the systems you need. You’ll waste time trying to make the free stuff work, you’ll be limited in what you can create and put out into the world, and your customer experience will suffer, which impacts your profits tremendously.  

 

Lack of ownership 

Own your site. Buy your domain and hosting. Publish content on your own blog.  

Social media is great, but it’s no substitute for a site you own with a blog and your own content.  

Those other sites could go away any day. Look what happened recently when Facebook was down. Social media algorithms change constantly. Don’t build your business on a sandy foundation. Build it on a rock you can control.  

Don’t build your business on a sandy foundation. Build it on a rock you can control. Click To Tweet

Relying solely on “rented” land like social media, article repositories, etc. leaves you and your success in a precarious position and at the whims of other people. 

 

Not having a plan  

This is HUGE. If you don’t have a plan, you’re just going to wander in circles and hope you like where you end up.  

Come on, if you wanted to drive to Disneyland, you wouldn’t just get in your car and start driving aimlessly, would you? You’d get the address, put it in your GPS, book your hotel ahead of time, and have a plan.  

Your business is no different!  

I understand that slowing down to plan can feel really counterintuitive because you have so much to do that you’re afraid you’ll fall way behind if you stop even for 20 minutes to plan out your next steps.  

I think we get this idea that planning will take a whole week or a day, so of course, we feel like we don’t have that. But you’d be shocked how much clarity you can get in just ten focused minutes of planning.  

Set a timer for a doable amount of time and write out business goals. Write your dreams, your ideal business. Break this down into priorities and what you can do to get there. Break things down into smaller and smaller pieces and soon you’ll see where you need to focus your attention. If that’s enough for one session, stop and schedule time in your calendar to pick up where you left off. When you come back to it, break what you've outline down into steps, like who to hire, what to automate, what to create, what to STOP doing (that’s important too!).  

If it’s easier, you can just spend ten or fifteen minutes daily getting clear about what you want and where you’re going, and every action will be much more deliberate.  

My word for 2019 is Purposeful, so I’m making sure everything I do has a purpose. Each blog post, social media update, client action, meeting scheduled, everything has a purpose and a goal. Nothing is done willy-nilly.  

Invest in a coach or marketing expert if you need to. You will get so much further with a plan, trust me.  

 

You're not alone

I’ve made these mistakes before. I’ve been there. Once I wised up and started investing time and resources, planning, and delegating, my business grew like crazy!  

If you've been experiencing any of these mistakes, don’t worry. Take five minutes right now and make a plan for how you can turn things around. Write down three actions you could take to move things in the right direction.  

You’ll be surprised how fast things can change.  

 

Need help getting out of these ruts? Let’s talk.