More professionals now are turning away from the typical nine-to-five job with eyes on being an entrepreneur and launching a startup business. Some people are even looking to start a company as a way to diversify their sources of income aside from another occupation. Regardless of the reason why, new or aspiring entrepreneurs should be aware that along with the lifestyle’s benefits, challenges still exist.
Nate Mell, a successful entrepreneur and CEO of Felt+Fat, explains that the life of an entrepreneur can come with its burdens that easily keep goal-making and development just out of reach. Mell says a great way to stay on track is to be aware of these business flaws that can produce setbacks:
Missed goals
An organization’s unreached goals play a significant factor in delaying or preventing business success. The process of missing a goal is not always defined by its fate but rather its beginning state. How was the goal defined? How well was the goal communicated?
Unbalanced focus
The life of an entrepreneur is no walk in the park. The title that involves wearing multiple hats is usually more chaotic and sometimes feels enormous. Focusing on too many things at once can delay progression forward by spreading too thin. Business leaders should always have three top priorities to meet for the day, followed by smaller tasks that need attention.
Fear of failure
The fear of failure has caused numerous people never to lift a foot off the ground towards a dream. That goes to show how powerful the fear of failure can be when holding people back. Business leaders like Nate Mell say that being afraid to fail is one of the biggest business mistakes an entrepreneur can make. Without failure, there would be no success.
Success-less plans
Statistics show that only about twenty percent of businesses make it past their first year, and half of those small businesses are faced with failure before their fifth year of operation. Poor planning or lack of a business plan can lead to an early end for a company. Strategic planning can involve researching any business competition and studying its growth pattern. Developing a business plan helps keep all team members on the same page about the company’s values, mission, and primary goals. A business plan that seeks a successful future thinks five years ahead while still maintaining short-term goals.
Targeting the wrong audience
Unfortunately, some businesses delay their success by not doing enough consumer research. A company should operate to fulfill a consumer’s need through a product or service. However, if the business is marketing its product or service to the wrong audience, its growth could be drastically delayed. Also, a company could miss the mark on how to properly market if currently marketing to the wrong crowd.
Lack of growth support
When business scaling is on the horizon, a company needs to be able to support any growth to execute it. Without the necessary funds, workforce, or tools to develop a company forward, a small business will never have the ability to go to the next business level.
About Nate Mell
Nathaniel Mell is the founder and CEO of Felt+Fat, a ceramic design, and manufacturing studio based in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. In 2013 Nate was asked to design a set of plates for what would become the award-winning restaurant ‘High Street on Market.’ Since then, the Felt and Fat studio and team have grown exponentially through Mell’s leadership to become a go-to manufacturer for design-conscious restaurateurs.
Story by Jessica Brown
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