So you have suddenly come up with that million-Naira business idea. What next? Time to bring this business idea to life, right? Well, it is not that straightforward. Let no motivational speaker deceive you. If you do not plan properly, you will run into business mistakes that may ruin your business and dash your million-Naira idea out for free. This post lists some of the top mistakes that new business owners make in Nigeria.
In a bid to rush into the business, many business owners have made mistakes that eventually proved costly. This is not just a foreign thing. Business owners make costly business mistakes, even here in Nigeria.
Imagine having to shut down your business after investing hundreds of thousands of Naira into it. In fact, in some cases, it is up to millions of Naira. Imagine losing all the employees you have managed to make, all because of avoidable business mistakes.
We do not want you to make such mistakes. So we are giving you a list of mistakes that business owners often make in Nigeria. Check out the list and be sure to avoid them in your business endeavours.
1. Starting a Business without a Business Plan
This may seem like a trivial issue when starting a business in Nigeria, but it has actually cost many people a lot of money to rectify this. In fact, it has cost many people their businesses in totality. The need for a business plan cannot be over-emphasised.
When starting anything of value in life, it is necessary to have a plan. If you do not draw up a plan, you are almost definitely working towards doom. Of course, some people have managed to eventually find a way around this later, it may not work for you that way.
Before you start out on your business endeavour, you need to draw up a plan. You need to figure out how you intend to achieve your business end goal. This is not something that you just think up in your head. You need to write out your plans so that you are able to follow them strictly.
When you have a business plan, you already know where you want your business to head to. You also know the necessary steps to take towards the success of your business. This makes it easy for you to carry out your daily business activities the proper way.
2. Setting Short-Term Goals with no Long-Term Vision
This is one of the most common mistakes in the business world, even in Nigeria. Ask a new fashion designer what their end goal is for starting that business, and you will likely not get any smart answer. A lot of new business owners are just into the business to feed. This is the difference between “menial” business owners and the people who own huge business conglomerates.
If you do not have a long-term vision for your business, then you will only remain on a spot. With just short-term goals, you will be okay with making just enough money to feed yourself. Why not consider where you want your business to be in the next 5 or 10 years?
Do not just talk about how you want your business to be there to put food in your mouth. Talk about how you want the business to grow. Talk about how you want the business to take on similar businesses that have grown to certain levels. Most importantly, try to write out your long-term vision and follow it judiciously.
3. Hiring for Expense instead of for Expertise or Experience
It is very easy for a new business owner to consider hiring people for cheap. Of course, you may even get twice as many people on board for the same price. However, is it really worth it?
In the short run, it may be like a wonderful idea to hire people for cheap rather than for expertise or experience. But in the long run, this will work against your business. This is considering a situation where you have to choose between expenses and expertise. There may be situations where you may get an expert without spending much too. However, when it becomes an option, choose expertise and experience. Many business owners choose cheap labour and regret it later in the business. Do not make this mistake.
4. Sacrificing Quality for Speed
Of course, you are excited about your new businesses and you want to work as fast as you can. This, in itself, is a good thing. However, you need to make sure that this speed is not at the expense of quality.
It does not matter how fast your business is moving, if you are not giving your customers the high quality they expect, you will eventually lose them. Speed is good, but quality is too big a sacrifice for it.
At the end of the day, it is all about finding the balance. You do not want your business to move too slowly but below-par performance is definitely terrible. Moving quickly is good but when you do it beyond your team’s capability to produce quality results, then the speed backfires.
5. Not keeping Financial Records
That business may be in its infancy stage but you should definitely start keeping financial records. Many startups and new business owners fail to recognise how important this actually is.
You need to know how much you are making and how much you are spending. If you do not keep a record of this, you will not even realise when you start spending more than your profits.
A lot of new business owners have the idea that keeping financial records is only for big businesses. That is a myth. It is important for small and new businesses to keep financial records too. This helps you to be accountable in your new business. This post is getting long. See the full article here: https://businessroom.ng/top-mistakes-that-new-business-owners-make-in-nigeria/ 
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