How to Avoid the “Dumb Things” in Business

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“I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings

I've done all the dumb things

I melted wax to fix my wings

I've done all the dumb things” - Paul Kelly  - DUMB THINGS

In this week’s episode of Get to the Contest Small Business podcast, I talk about a topic that was inspired by a chat I was having with my guitar coach Jake Dobson.  We were talking about the songs I was hoping  to learn over the next month & the classic song “Dumb Things” by Paul Kelly came up. 

In the song, Paul Kelly sings about all the mistakes he has made in life, and how he now recognises all the “Dumb Things” he has done. 

It got me thinking about some of the mistakes I have made in business - or have seen others make, and what to do about it.  And this is what this episode is all about.

Here are some of the  “dumb things”  that we as small business owners can often are guilty of.  

Listen to this episode as I discuss each of these &  give strategies that you can use to eliminate these in your business:

1. Not knowing your margin

2. Not knowing your break-even point

3. Having a poorly structured finance

4. Not having your financials up-to-date

5. Not speaking or consulting with an accountant which can result to poorly structured financials

6. Having high-value team members doing low-value tasks.

7. Ignoring technology

8. Chasing the bright shiny objects

9. Making it hard to do business for your clients

10. Taking on any customer

11. Starting with the end in mind

12. No documentation

13. No clear roles and responsibilities for team members

14. Not making the business about the client

15. Not having a mentor

16. Focusing only on the business and not having an outlet outside of it