Every business owner makes mistakes. Even the likes of Warren Buffett, Richard Marx and Elon Musk have made mistakes in their businesses. The quintessential need is not to be perfect and averting every mistake but to avoid those ones that will cost your business dearly. Here are the top five mistakes online business owners make.
Cheap Infrastructure
A business must always remain sustainable and for that it is necessary to remain reasonable with all expenses or recurring financial liabilities. However, affordability should not compel a business owner to make decisions that will not augur well for the enterprise. For instance, opting for cheap hosting plans will save you money but the real cost has to be assessed. Hosting plans that cost very little every month will have severely capped bandwidth, there will be hardly any worthwhile security for the website, the online presence will be compromised as the uptime will not be a hundred percent or even close and any kind of scaling will be dealt with very slowly. Infrastructure is the backbone of any industry or business. Online business owners often opt for cheap infrastructure.
Outsourcing Everything
Globalization has ushered in an era when you can find people to do everything at a fraction of a cost than what you would have paid in the pre-globalization days. It is not fair to state that the quality of professionals or their skills has waned but it is true that outsourcing has its pitfalls. You can and should outsource anything that you are not very good at. From website designing to accounting, you can and must hire experts. Also, note that outsourcing is not necessarily off-shoring. You can hire contractors or companies based in your city, state or country. The trouble lies in outsourcing everything. When online business owners don’t have complete control on any of the assets of the company or the day-to-day affairs affecting one or all existential aspects of the enterprise, then the business is bound to suffer sooner or later.
Lack of Diversification
Many business owners are content with their zeroed in focus on one or a few niches. It is perfectly acceptable to focus on one or a few niches but you need to diversify to sustain your overall empire through the years. Every niche goes through upswings and downswings. You can always enjoy the upswings but you need to plan for the downswings.
Cease in Upgrading
Many online business owners launch their enterprises with state of the art propositions and then stop upgrading. It is not just the technological infrastructure that needs to be upgraded but also the quality of products and services, the manner in which the business is managed and how the clients are dealt with.
Ignoring Competition
Digital enterprises can spring up in no time and usurp the market share of a major brand in a brisk few weeks. Ignoring competition is a surefire way to ring the death knell for the business.