3 Mistakes Rookie Businessmen Make

Mistakes are an unpleasant, but ultimately unavoidable part of life. That truth can be applied to anything, but it's especially true of people that have started their own businesses. Businessmen like Alexander F. Bouri know about the unique situations that can arise in these situations, but when you're new to the business world, everything can feel like one long series of trial and error. You will make some unavoidable mistakes, but there are some more troublesome problems you can avoid if you're prepared. When starting your new business, try to avoid these common errors:

Taking on too much work

The first few years of your business may have you doing a lot more "behind the scenes" work than you anticipated, and on the surface there's nothing wrong with that. You should be involved with your business, but you shouldn't feel like you have to do everything to get anything done. People hire employees and managers for a reason – if you feel like you have to do all the work because the people you have on staff won't be able to, you need re-evaluate your employees. In fact, that brings us to another common mistake…

Not letting go of bad employees

Like we've said before, it's natural to make mistakes at work. A few mistakes are nothing to worry about, but continuous screw ups are something that can't be tolerated. Some people are reluctant to fire an employee that isn't working out because they feel like they've sunk too many hours into training them, and hope that they'll eventually improve. Others don't want to have to deal with the hassle of finding another employee to fill their shoes. While both are valid points, dealing with an employee's mistakes will end up being much more troublesome than having to get rid of them.

Not getting customer feedback

The only way to run a successful business is to satisfy customers, and you won't be able to know that you are achieving that goal unless you take time to see if they're happy with your services or goods. Most people just assume their new business is doing well naturally because they believe in it, but if you don't have paying customers that share your vision, your business days will be over. Always ask new and returning customers how they feel about your services. You can do this personally, or via online surveys and in-house questionnaires.