If you’ve never had to start your own business in Nigeria, it can take some time to get comfortable with the idea of being your own boss. However, the first step to achieving the success you desire is to never stop believing that your dream of owning a business can be realized.
While running your own startup can be rewarding, unfortunately, many will stop before reaching their goals. Those who give up on their dreams usually do so for predictable reasons. If you want your Nigerian startup to flourish, you need to avoid the following mistakes:
1. Neglecting to Plan from the Outset
In the end, planning is the keystone of any successful endeavour for the newbie entrepreneur. Knowing what you’re getting into by performing market research and scouting out the competition first is integral.
Before getting started, be sure to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses as a businessperson. Lastly, identify your ideal client demographics beforehand so that you know who to target when marketing your business.
2. Risking Everything
Like it or not, some of your independent ventures may fail. Even the most successful entrepreneurs in history have more losses than wins on their records. Just because you’re sure of an idea doesn’t mean that it will pan out.
As such, it’s important to avoid risking all your savings on a single startup idea. Don’t become overly invested in any one venture to the point where its failure will devastate you mentally and financially.
3. Doing It Just for the Money
An entrepreneur must love what they do to succeed. That doesn’t mean that you have to love the specific business in which you’re engaged such as selling flowers or designing websites.
Rather, you need to love the entrepreneurial journey itself. Simply wanting to get away from a boring day job or gaining some fame won’t provide the necessary motivation to succeed. If you don’t enjoy running your business, that should be cause for concern.
4. Letting Perfectionism Derail your Aspirations
Doubt and fear are always going to be the enemies of the small-time, risk-taking entrepreneur. The truth is that you’re never going to be perfect no matter how hard you try.
When all is said and done, it’s preferable to do an imperfect job on a project rather than never completing it at all. Run your new startup to the best of your ability and don’t allow a fear of failure to stall your dreams.
5. Giving Up Too Early
The most common reason why startup founders fail is that they give up way too early. For any given side project, there’s a certain time and effort threshold that must be breached in order for profitability to become a probable outcome.
If you quit before you reach it, you’ll never know how far you could have gone. Be sure to set goals for yourself, monitor your progress and change your plans as the circumstances may warrant.
As always, share your thoughts!
