Things Small Businesses Should Avoid

[Carpon]

Every kind of set up has some things that they must avoid for their safety. Small businesses too have such and in this thread, I will be sharing some of the things that I think small businesses should avoid to ensure their sustainability.

✓ Credit sales: A small business must avoid transactions that are on credit. This really cripples it since it has not yet made enough profit and needs to maximise it's daily income for it to stay alive. Thus a small business must avoid credit transactions.

✓ Indiscriminate discount and gifting: There are businesses that decide to gift some of their customers or offer them discount when making purchases. Small businesses can also do this for the purpose of attracting regular customers. But it must be done wisely and from time to time. Avoid doing it regularly if you own a small business.

✓ Debts: small businesses must also avoid getting into debts. When a small business incures much debt, it exposes itself to situations that can suck it up!

 

[Holicent]

Small businesses are constantly striving to be the best they can be. In order to do that, they need to avoid making some common mistakes. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. Not having a clear vision

A business without a vision is like a car without fuel or brakes—it's just going to keep going in circles until it crashes. Small businesses need a clearly defined vision, one that will help them focus on what they want their business to be and how they want it to look when it's successful.

2. Being too reactive

As small businesses grow and expand, it can be easy for them to lose sight of the big picture and get caught up in day-to-day operations instead of focusing on long-term goals. This can result in missed opportunities and wasted resources if you don't take the time to evaluate your strategy and make adjustments when necessary so that your team stays focused on the things that matter most!

3. Having no system in place for managing expenses

Fiscal responsibility is key when running any business—and it's especially important for small businesses because they tend to operate more efficiently than large companies do (which means there are less overhead costs).

 

[Ithedicious]

Thank you so much for the well written content . it is left for business owners most especially the smaller business and the new business owners to put all these things into consideration because if they are not putting them into consideration and acts toward preventing themself from giving product or services on credit they might be at risk of losing their business. .

There are many strategies that can be used to attract customers into business but you shouldn't go as far as selling your products at a relatively cheaper rate just to satisfy people that are coming to buy from you and you denied your profit as a business person .
Over generosity sometimes may not also be the best in business , that is why you have to take your business as serious as possible only do things that is necessary and not try to please people .

 

[Rubz]

Thank you for the detailed information. This will be very useful to small business owners on this platform.
Debt is something that I believe everyone business whether large or small should avoid. When a business owner especially a small one is in debt, the business owner barely gets any profit for his or herself because all the profit is dedicated to paying off the debts. Debts can really do a lot of harm to business. Most small business have shut down because they weren't able to pay off their debt.
Like you said, credit sales is another thing that is very detrimental to a small business. Most people that buys things on credit never pay off their debt orvthey pay very little and this is definitely going the business. Small business should endeavor to avoid credit sales especially from friends and family because it would be difficult to get the money from them.

 

[Shaf]

There are some things I've noticed that can cripple a small business fast. Sometimes it is easily managed, sometimes it's more challenging.

One of it is proper planning. A lot of small business owners start a particular business simply because based on their calculations, it's very profitable. For example, rearing poultry for meat. This is a business venture that is high risk and labour intensive, but most people never plan for this but focus on the profits they can make. It also needs a market that's willing to buy or else you run into losses when the chickens are mature. Proper research and planning to see that you can meet these conditions would help a newbie to succeed.

Another is that some small business owners rely heavily on the income from the business for all their personal expenses, which they don't manage well too. This will gradually deplete the funds available for running and expanding the business.

 

[Kennysplash]

Constant competition with other businesses. There are times when you see other businesses doing better than your own, you start thinking and pushing yourself so that you can level up with them. That is a sure way of any business person to set themselves up for failure. You don't know anyone's story, so just do your thing at your own pace without regards to others. The goal is to be better than you were yesterday, not who someone else is today.
In addition be patient with yourself and with your business. Entrepreneurs want fast results and that does not happen most of the time, you need to give it enough time don't trust the process whatever you rush does not produce the best results in the long run. So take it easy, take it slow and be patient with yourself and with what you are building.

These are my own tips.

 

[Sotherefore]

Thanks for sharing. Smaller businesses are supposed to be the most group of business with the most discipline because anything you are doing too much in terms of gifts or giving of product unnecessarily will definitely affect the smaller capital you have invested in the business which is one of the things that must be avoided at all costs .

It is not easy . I have been in a situation that someone I know run a small Mimi store but because the person was not disciplined enough to avoid giving products on credit , As such a lot of people were collecting goods on credit leading to a total collapse of that business.

Sometimes I also put into consideration the fact that so many people do not have the strong mind to avoid giving products on credit but at the same time this is the reason why so many businesses are not succeeding most especially the smaller ones.

 

[Augusta]

It is always good to look for ways by which you can draw in customers to patronize your business but it shouldn't be to the detriment of the business when once a business is not making profit then it is only negative part.

So as such even when a business try to be customer friendly and try to reward loyal customers they should be a positive decision that will not temper with the progress of the business it is always good to Grant credit sales to some customers that you think are reliable and trustworthy to be offered the deal

But at the time carefulness should be adopted to avoid bad debts same with gifting discounts and other incentives to customers it should be done in a way that it doesn't affect the finances of the business it should be done in a way that will be to the growth of the business and also satisfy the customer's.

 

[Chibson]

As a small business owner it is always very important and necessary you put the right measures in place in order not to run into losses. Selling things on credit is one of the easiest ways you can ruin your business.

That is why when it comes to running businesses you should not put friendship into it. Everything concerning your business should be done professionally.

You should not even give your products on credit to your family members or Friends. giving unnecessary discounts should also be avoided as a small business owner if not to you may run into a lot of losses.