Fellow entrepreneurs tell you what not to sweat over — from obsessing over social media followers to being a perfectionist!
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Paying attention to the hype
“Although it might sound funny in this context, chasing press is often a place where new entrepreneurs spend too much of their time. If you spend the majority of your time reading the news and bemoaning your lack of press in the buzzy blogs for your industry, you’re almost certainly not really focussed on making the news by building a great company with delighted customers.” – Robi Ganguly, Apptentive
Getting hung up on social media numbers
“I see other entrepreneurs constantly getting hung up on how many people follow their new company on Twitter or Facebook. Accumulating sales and users is so much more important. The social media love will come with being a successful business that cares about its customers.” – Bridget Hilton, LSTN Headphones
Wanting cool offices
“You don’t need a cool office in the beginning to be a great company. Focus on what counts first, and reward yourself with that dream office when you deserve it and when the finances are great.” – Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations
Putting revenue over profitability
“Many new entrepreneurs obsess over top line revenue rather than worrying about the bottom line. This can often trap entrepreneurs into running out of cash and selling products that aren’t profitable enough.” – Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent
Putting emphasis on the idea
“It’s not the idea that matters; it’s the execution. You still see a lot of entrepreneurs spending time crafting just the right business plan, over-planning and more. If you find an idea, validate it by talking to actual customers, then build something to put in front of them. If you find something that hits that emotional note, you’ll grow, shift and be successful without wasting time.” – Tracey Wiedmeyer, InContext Solutions
Choosing the name and logo
“I have talked to way too many people starting a small business who feel marketing must come before a business starts. As important as you think your logo may be, finding customers is priority number one. Door-knocking and good old-fashioned hustling — that’s how you start a business. Branding and marketing are much easier to pay for once some checks clear.” – Brendon Schenecker, Travel Vegas
Being the latest and greatest
“It is important to have the right tools for the job, but it is also easy to go overboard trying to keep up with the Joneses. Warren Buffet is a great example of a man who spends wisely. I doubt he updates his iPhone bi-annually, and he probably invests where he will get a higher RoI.” – Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.net
Caring about the haters
“Don’t get too hung up on negative reviews about your company on the Internet. There will always be haters, no matter how careful you are. Just put your focus on doing what’s right, and communicate that message with your employees. When you continually do the right thing, your satisfied clients will bury those negative reviews.” – Evrim Oralkan, Travertine Mart
Launching the perfect product
“We’ve found that launching a product that isn’t perfect, but has enough features to allow our users to experience it, provides us with valuable feedback and ultimately allows us to create a better product overall. Often, you’ll see a company get caught up in trying to be perfect (in their minds) only to eventually launch and find out that users have a different expectation.” – Janis Krums, OPPRTUNITY
This article by Donna Louisse originally appeared on e27, a Burn Media publishing partner.
