7 Small Business Mistakes That Slow Down Growth 

All your hard work is finally paying off. It’s a dream come true when you see your business start to grow.

But this dream could quickly turn into a nightmare if you’re not growing the right way.

Small Business Mistakes

Here are the 7 small business mistakes often made that slow down their growth and how you can avoid them.

Mistake 1: Growing Without A Plan

If you don’t have a solid plan that includes how you’re going to grow, this guarantees growth that will be chaotic.

Things will change that are out of your control, and you’ll find yourself always on the defensive. If you grow in a careful and controlled way, you will lead this growth and work toward your goals.

Take Action: Create a plan and set business goals.

Mistake 2: Thinking The Same Actions Get The Same Results

A common mistake is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results. Of course, once you find something that works well, you should do it again.

But over time, you need new ideas to try and add to your arsenal. Many businesses become stale and stunt their growth by failing to evolve.

Take Action: Review your results at least monthly and be sure to adjust and pivot when needed.

Mistake 3: Failing To Get Feedback

Every idea you try and action you take gives you feedback. If you don’t listen to this valuable feedback from the market, you’ll never know what the market wants and how you can better serve them.

Take Action: Monitor the results of your efforts and especially new ideas, ask for feedback from your customers, and you’ll learn what works and what direction to go.

Mistake 4: Focusing On You And Not The Market

The success of your business doesn’t depend on you but on meeting the needs of your market. You need to know your target market well.

This includes your ideal customers, your competitors, and the industry you’re operating within. Many businesses fail to grow because they don’t keep an eye on what’s happening in their market, and they become out of touch.

Take Action: Conduct market and customer research to learn about changes, trends, or gaps that you can take advantage of.

Mistake 5: Chasing After Every Idea

There are a million ideas you can try in your business, but what you need in order to grow is focus. You can’t afford to waste time on avenues that don’t lead anywhere.

You’ll encounter many business opportunities, but you need to be able to distinguish which will get you profits and results and focus on these above all others.

Take Action: Create a place to add your “ideas” where you can visit them when the time comes without being distracted or thinking you need to do them right now.

Mistake 6: Working With The Wrong People

Many businesses don’t pay enough attention to who their partners and associates are.

If you’re working with or hiring the wrong people, you won’t grow the way you want to. Avoid toxic and negative people, and you’ll find not only will your business grow, but your company culture will benefit too.

Take Action: Surround yourself with people who share the growth mindset and believe in delivering value to those around them.

Mistake 7: Growing Too Quickly

Of course, you want to see your business grow as quickly as possible, but growing too fast can cause many of issues.

Too much investment, too much outsourcing, or too much of anything can bring more risk than it’s worth.

Healthy business growth should be focused, slow, and steady. This is how you meet your long-term goals.

Take Action: Look over your operations and growth in the past months. Is there anywhere you need to slow down in order to think more long-term?

Avoiding these seven small business mistakes is essential to keeping your business growth on track. Are you making any of these common small business mistakes? If so, it’s time for a course correction!

Implement the advice in this post and watch your small business grow like never before. Avoid these small business mistakes.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: TORIE MATHIS

Torie Mathis helps entrepreneurs grow their business with Smart Marketing.  She is a best-selling author, Army veteran, international speaker + trainer, and the CEO + Creative Director at Lake Shark Media. She also teaches entrepreneurs how to get smart with digital marketing at toriemathis.com