Blog #41 Starting a Business: 1 Year In— 5 Things I Did WRONG

Why do we fall?

So we can pick ourselves up.

Each mistake is a chance to grow and learn something new. Without the mistake, one can’t improve.

A year in to starting the business, it’s fair to say mistakes were made. In this post, we’re going to be taking a critical look at the steps I should’ve taken, and ones I shouldn’t have taken at all. You can take away your own knowledge from this post, to make sure you don’t repeat my errors.

Let’s reflect on those errors and find solutions to the problems.

1. Scattered marketing approach—this one is good and bad. Good because it’s hard to know what works going in, so why not try them all; bad because it’s not coherent.

   Over the course of the first year, I learned a lesson—everything you do should feed into a centralised hub. From social media to the conversations you have along the way, everything should compliment each other, snowballing into a bigger result. Your marketing works best when it flows in a circle—each strand connecting to the other in a fluid motion. Be water.

2. Testimonials—I never got any testimonials from customers, and—looking back—it hurt the business.

   Testimonials create a layer of trust between the business and customer: “We are a real business, accountible to real people.“

   I miscalculated the value of this layer of trust and completely ignored it. So, I’m trying to remedy it now, but the damage has been done—I’ve lost the time already passed.

3. Not finding new ventures soon enough—In the previous post, I outlined how I was happy that I opened my eyes to the prospect of new ventures, such as writing a book. Looking back, I was so focused on business, that I completely missed the sky above me—a world of possibilities.

   There’s a whole world of possibilities out there, and also challenges. To narrow your vision into a single train of thought is a mistake, one that bogs you down. I’m glad that I’ve come to realise the endless possibilities out there, and dip my toes into the sand.

4. Banging my head against the door—not literally!

   When something is not working, let it not work. Whatever will come to be will find its way naturally there.

   Having submitted many failed proposals, I know what it’s like to bang my head against a door—not nice. The reason someone starts a business is to take things into their own hands; I should’ve followed that train of thought. You see, there are only so many opportunities in the field of video. When you succeed, it tastes sweet. When you fail, you try again. However, after a certain amount of time, you come to realise that there are only so many opportunities in the field of video production, so you meet a crossroads. At this crossroads, you can either double down, or accept reality.

5. Being consistent, but not focusing on results—they say that insanity is repeating the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. Well, I went a little insane.

   Having delved into the world of shorts, I told myself that consistency was the way to win—but it’s not…

   The way to win is by focusing on results, i.e. what does a winner look like? How do I get there?

   Iterating is important, but so is taking a step back and looking at the big picture: how do I hit the ball out of the park?

   It’s important to look at things on a fundamental level, and see why people don’t connect on that level. Once you do that, you can move forward in the right frame of mind.

   If all else fails, ask A.I.

That’s all for this post. It’s not as much fun to look at mistakes; I had more fun making the previous post!

I hope you found something useful.

Thanks for reading. If you’ve any comments, let me know down below.

Good luck out there.

-D.C.