I’ve been playing the entrepreneurship game for roughly two decades now, and I’ve carved out a fair share of success along the way…
…but not without a fair share of bonehead moves.
Between my own companies and the countless entrepreneurs I’ve coached, I’ve seen just about every mistake there is.
And trust me, avoiding these four will save you a whole lot of time, money, and headaches.
DUMB MOVE #1 – Tolerating mediocre employees
Employees who don’t meet your expectations or share your core values can be a virus inside your company. When you tolerate a substandard employee, you’re telling the rest of your team you accept a lower standard of work.
Soon two things happen…
- Your team starts losing respect for you for putting up with it.
- They start lowering their own performance to match.
Look, in all of life you get what you tolerate.
Tolerate mediocrity and you’ll start losing customers, profits, and respect.
DUMB MOVE #2 – Trying To Do Too Many Things At Once
This is a rookie mistake I made, and I see a ton of the entrepreneurs I coach making it too.
Too many programs, too many services, too many offers, too many businesses.
There’s nothing wrong with having multiple businesses and income streams.
Hell, I’ve got a ton of them. But before I moved on to building other businesses, I made damn sure Fit Body Boot Camp had the right systems, processes, and team in place.
I call this Entrepreneurial Discipline: a singular focus on ONE thing until it’s healthy, profitable, has strong systems, and has competent people running it. Then you build the next thing.
Skip that step and you end up stressed, overwhelmed, and broke.
DUMB MOVE #3 – Underestimating The Power Of A Personal Brand
For a long time I was convinced the only marketing that worked was paid ads and direct response. TV, radio, and billboards were way too expensive back then, so direct response is all we could afford.
Ads still work, but they keep getting more expensive, and Instagram and YouTube opened the door for everybody. Today you can build a personal brand that makes you the go-to expert in your field, and when it’s done right it sells your products and services for you.
DUMB MOVE #4 – Bad Leadership
The biggest blind spot most entrepreneurs have is not realizing they’re bad leaders. For most of us leadership is not factory installed. It’s a muscle, and you have to train it.
I always say leadership is the problem, and leadership is the solution.
Effective leaders work on:
– Emotional discipline
– A clear vision for the business
– Communicating that vision to their team
– Elevating and inspiring the people around them
– Solving problems and making decisions fast
When I started investing in becoming a better leader, I saw a massive shift in my people and my profits. Hands down, it was one of the biggest needle movers of all.
I share this with you because every one of these cost me months, if not years. Hopefully hearing about them saves you from making the same dumb moves.
Talk soon,
Bedros Keuilian
P.S. Saving you from dumb moves like these is exactly what we do inside Scale Syndicate. When you’re in the room, I hand you the marketing, sales, and leadership systems running inside my companies right now, so you skip the bonehead mistakes that cost me years and go straight to what works.
Apply for Scale Syndicate here >>>
P.P.S. At our last meet up…
– One member finally let go of the underperformer he’d been carrying for two years.
– Another one found the bottleneck on his website that was holding back his whole business.
– Another one killed two side offers so he could go all in on the one that actually makes money.
Every one of those was a dumb move caught before it cost another year. Our next in-person meet up is coming up soon and I’d love to have you in the room.