6 Startup Clichés You Should Avoid to Succeed in Long-term

Startups are inherently risky. If you strike it rich you can be next Jeff Bezos. On the other hand there is equal, probably more, probability of your startup shutting doors after few years. One reason many of them end up this way has to do with the founders not paying attention to the right things and instead going after frivolous items that don’t help them in the long-term. They chase what I term certain clichés that look good on surface, but ends up hurting them. So how do you avoid being another startup that ends up in the dumpster. Read on to learn those clichés and how to avoid them.

1. Putting Too Much Focus on a Quirky Commercial Property

It’s nice to have a quirky commercial property to work in. Whether you are purely an office and only your employees see the space, or you have client meetings/customers come in. It’s a truly great thing to have. But putting too much focus on gaining a quirky commercial property is a bad idea. Having a quirky office or shop won’t always help you to succeed, and you could even blow too much of your budget on it. You need to be smart when it comes to things like this. It’s important, but not the most important thing. Don’t put yourself in financial trouble for it!

2. Being Too Laid Back in Your Approach

Many startups these days are laid back. So laid back, in fact, that it has become a bit of a cliché. They let their employees work at their own pace, come up with their own processes, and a number of other things. This can help you to develop a more productive work environment, but all businesses need some guidelines. You don’t want your employees to feel lost with no real clue of what they are actually supposed to be doing! Laid back is great, but know when to draw the line.

3. Trying to Be Too Tech Savvy

Of course you should be tech savvy. You need to know what people are using in your industry right now. What could make your working day easier, your service better. But it isn’t down to you to be the technical genius, unless that’s who you are naturally. You can hire people to take care of this sort of thing for you, leaving you to learn about things you can really use, and spend more time on your to-do lists.

4. Trying to Manage Everything Yourself

Why manage everything yourself, when you can delegate and have people who are better at it than you do it for you? Trying to manage everything yourself might work at the very beginning, but pretty soon, you’re going to need help. If you can’t afford a real PA, you can even hire an online PA, which in theory should be much less hassle. There are so many businesses you can use online too, such as barcode solutions. You don’t need to take care of everything alone.

5. Only Doing What You Love

Of course doing what you love is a great way to make money, but you’re probably going to need to do a few things you don’t love to get to where you want to be. What if the thing you love just isn’t something others need? You need to combine what you love, with what you’re good at, and what others need. You need to give value to other people, not just yourself.

6. Creating a Huge Business Plan

Creating a lean business plan is a must, but really overstuffing it is a bad idea. You’re probably going to change it at some point anyway!