7 Small Business Errors To Avoid

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Falling up and mistakes are one of the most important parts of business. Instead of making a surrender, a businessman will learn from the mistake and start building his business again.

But this does not mean that the mistakes in doing business are completely unavoidable. There are some business mistakes that you should completely avoid. Here are 7 of them:

1. Have a Trader Mindset, and Not a Businessman

Although both sell goods and services for profit, traders and business people are two different entities. The difference lies in their mindset.

A trader will be happy if his merchandise sells out without thinking about innovation and the future of his business. This often makes them sell goods that are trending on the market only. When the trend fades, they will switch to selling other goods.

On the one hand, this is good because it means that these traders are adapting to the trend that is running. However, this effort is not sustainable because if the trend fades, while there are still many merchandise that are not sold, this means that the total value of these merchandise will enter the sunkcost.

This is different from the mindset of business people. A businessman wants his business to be successful in the long term, so he will think about the innovation of the products sold, as well as various sales strategies carefully. If these merchandise do not sell well, then a businessman will evaluate his business.

2. Not Separating Personal Money and Business

The second mistake that is often made by small and micro business actors is not separating personal and business money. Often the money from the sale of goods and services is also used for consumption and is not divided which is for business gain and can be used for consumption and which money should be used to buy new goods.

Not only that, small business actors, especially those who have a mindset of traders, also do not set aside part of their business profits for business development. Even though the money set aside is important as provision to develop business in the future.

3. Not Having Financial Records

Still related to finance, one of the biggest mistakes of small businesses is having no financial records, even though it is only in the form of notes in notebooks. Besides being useful for separating personal and business money, this financial record is also useful if MSMEs want to seek additional capital via banks.

The bank will certainly appreciate MSMEs who have a neat financial record even if they are only on paper. This is because, indirectly, these notes prove the employer's commitment to their business.

4. Not Adapted With Technology

Many small entrepreneurs are currently losing their income because their customers run away using online marketplaces. Not infrequently, those who consider this a normal phenomenon because sustenance is in the hands of God.

In fact, in order to survive in the midst of the onslaught of digital technology like today is by opening an online store. After all, currently opening and managing online stores can be easier to use ShopKey. By using this application, MSME entrepreneurs do not need to move from one online marketplace application to another to manage sales.

In addition, the ShopKey application is also prepared for online store entrepreneurs to be able to catalog products easily and practically, as well as manage social media easily as well.

5. Don't Market

One of the mindsets that are often found in small entrepreneurs in Indonesia is the mindset, thank God, otherwise it's okay. Mindset like this actually doesn't hurt, what's wrong is that entrepreneurs who have this mindset tend not to carry out any marketing strategies to introduce their services and products to consumers or maintain old consumers.

In fact, marketing is one of the important factors to become a successful businessman. This is because the more people know and know the quality of the products offered, the greater their chance of buying these products.

Not all marketing techniques must also use social media and the internet. Small entrepreneurs can market their products using offline marketing, such as distributing brochures, making membership, discounts and so on.

6. Do Not Have Good Communication Skills

Good communication skills are needed by traders and business people in order to convince consumers to buy their products. In addition, for business people, this ability is also needed to negotiate, either with suppliers, banks, or other potential partners.

These communication skills include the ability to communicate using body language (non-verbal). For example, often a small entrepreneur puts on a sour face and words that should not be used to serve customers, especially in closing hours of shops or when customers behave arbitrarily themselves.

Of course, bad services like this will actually make customers not interested in buying the products offered by these entrepreneurs and as entrepreneurs, being patient with customers is the key to success.

7. Not Adjusting the Needs of the Market

One of the challenges of becoming an entrepreneur is to find a common ground between making products according to the trend or market demand that is currently in effect by making products that are in accordance with the vision and mission of the entrepreneur himself.

For example, a batik entrepreneur has a vision and mission to maintain batik art in order to stay alive and sustainable. But on the other hand, along with the high demand for batik, batik cap tends to be more attractive because it can be made for mass products (mass products) even though the motive is often the same.

To get around this, a batik entrepreneur can open the batik cap and batik business lines at once. Of course, with records, the patterns and batik paper cloth are made different and custom, so the price can be more expensive.

Another mistake commonly found in small entrepreneurs, especially those in the market, is not forming a merchant organization. In fact, the cooperation of these traders is important to help entrepreneurs gain new skills, or get claims if something happens where they are selling.

In addition, this cooperation between traders can also initiate the formation of cooperatives. The existence of cooperatives that are properly managed and supervised can be an alternative to micro-financing for small entrepreneurs.

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, the 7 mistakes above should not be an obstacle, but a challenge that should be resolved. Because, apart from the 7 mistakes above, you will also face various other mistakes that can make your business more mature.