📈 7 Business Pitfalls to Avoid

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I’ve been a business owner since 2019.

Right out of college, I continued running Greenbox Storage instead of working a normal job.

After being in the game half a decade, here are six mistakes I’ve made (don’t repeat them!).

1. Selling an item instead of a feeling

If you sell clothing, you’re not selling T-shirts and sweatshirts, you’re selling:

• Confidence

• The feeling of receiving a compliment on your clothes

• Comfortability

If you’re selling an all-inclusive vacation to Cabo, you’re not selling a flight and hotel room, you’re selling:

• Relaxing on a beautiful beach

• That perfect nap after being in the sun all day

• The ability to brag about your vacation by posting it on social media

People purchase with emotion. Never forget that!

2. Not conducting market research

Here are my favorite methods to do this:

Google Trends shows interest for a topic based on Google searches.

Here's how to use it:

1. Google "google trends"

2. Select your geographic region

3. Select a time period (past 5 years)

4. Enter your startup's offering

5. Optional: Compare your offering to other startup ideas you may have

6. Notice demand levels / trends over the selected time period

My next tactic is the landing page method

Here's what to do:

1. Create a landing page

2. Drive traffic to the page (from social media, friends / family, paid ads, etc.)

3. Ask traffic to join a waitlist (email them if / when you launch)

If you have hundreds of emails, you might be onto something.

3. Picking a business with limited potential

My current business, Greenbox Storage, has limited potential. Operationally, it’s incredibly complex and can be difficult to run.

The way I see it, the maximum revenue it could make in one year is probably $20,000,000.

Many people would be happy with that number, and when just starting out, I was too.

Think about your goals before you start. But keep in mind, they will probably change.

4. Picking a bad company name

A bad company name can cause you a lot of difficulty down the road.

A previous newsletter included 7 tips for naming your business. If you missed it, check it out here.

5. Waiting too long to start

Don’t wait until you’re “ready” because that day will never come!

You must learn as you go. Entrepreneurship is an iterative process and to grow, you must enter the arena.

Think about it, you don’t get better at football by watching it on TV, you get better by getting out on the field and doing drills.

There is no better time to start than right now.

6. Thinking that everyone else has it all figured out

News flash, no one has it all figured out. Everyone is shooting from the hip, trying things out as they go. Especially when first getting started.

In fact, there is a good chance you’re smarter than a lot of people out there running successful businesses.

There is a lot of comfort in knowing this.

7. Failing to leverage offshore talent

My first full-time hire was an Executive Assistant from Colombia. She was awesome and extremely affordable.

Since 2022, I’ve made 13+ offshore hires for my business. Reduce payroll and pass those savings onto your domestic customers.

If you need help hiring offshore, I just released my Offshore Hiring Guide last week!

Tons of business owners have begun using it to transform their businesses.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1. Hire me as a consultant to take your business to the next level.

2. Offshore Hiring Guide: Learn how to hire inexpensive ($6 / hour) offshore talent in 3 weeks or less.

3. Promote your business to 1,800+ subscribers by sponsoring my newsletter.

4. The Startup Toolkit: This comprehensive course provides you step-by-step directions for how to launch and grow your startup. Through trial and error, I’ve developed these methods to grow my startup to $1.5M+ revenue.

Cheers,

Collin Rutherford

PS. When someone points out my mistake…