So the idea is to write an article about 6 common mistakes made by entrepreneurs, based on personal experiences. Just 6 I thought? Ah, probably to keep it brief and prevent writers from running out of pages then!

The first place we all fall down is overvaluation of the business idea, concept or product. I’m very guilty of it. A lot of ideas come from blue-sky people and rarely from over-analytical types. Yet these people are so open to endless possibilities that the slightest encouragement is all they need, while reserved negative judgements are quickly overlooked. The key take away here is take advice from other business people who don’t owe you any favours and ignore those close to you who really want to encourage you, not your idea. Watch Dragons' Den for some interesting takes on this!

Failing to plan is planning to fail. This is a really common “entrepreneur” characteristic. Many do up business plans but with no real heart – they’re hollow. That’s because it’s hard to turn the potential of an idea into words and numbers. Who wants to be kept indoors when there’s so much fun to be had outside? Sound familiar? Planning is a key part to success and avoiding pitfalls that will undermine your success.

What to do: When planning, consult other people’s views of where it could go wrong. If they don’t know, they’d probably be happy to recommend someone else who does. The best businesses often start out with intention A but end up moving towards a similar-but-different direction. Often this by lucky chance that they discover which route is better but it’s not left to random events. Build in redundancy and safety nets into your plan by making sure that each decision has a built in plan B and C that are maybe less profitable but not going to kill you. If you can’t, it’s probably too risky.

Not keeping records. This is especially true for sole traders and businesses with 1 – 5 employees. This is down to bookkeeping, filing expenses, keeping receipts and directors meeting logs. And it’s also linked to planning. Be disciplined. Just buy four sided folder box and pop in your receipts, expenses and notes. Then type them up at the end of the week or month or give them to the bookkeeper. Make sure everyone else does so too. Nobody likes doing it. Just sit down and do it!

No budgeting = no budget. Budgeting is planning and there’s no two ways about it. Too many start-ups’ first issues are that they haven’t budgeted for certain eventualities. The biggest one is Marketing. If you don’t plan properly, you’re not going to be able to budget properly. Invest in your planning and budgeting. Too many startup’s rely on initial consultations for their budgeting. Anyone who works in project type work will know what I mean here: You can’t expect special “start-up” status from other professionals. Sure – they’ll be excited for you and will be happy to share advice, time and contacts but they have bills to pay. There’s nothing worse than arriving at a PR agency, web designer, marketing consultant or any other service provider with the statement “I’m a start up”. How are companies supposed to make up your shortfall in your business if you can’t be bothered?

Managing cash flow is a really big problem for new and small businesses, particularly those on contract work. If you don’t believe in planning or budgets, then cash flow will be a regular problem. If you have regular payments to make, then structure your payments so that you can meet these. Build in a risk cover at the outset so that you don’t get caught in down the lin.

Lack of Leadership. If you’re going to run your company by consensus, then you’re going to run it into the ground. Leadership doesn’t work by committees – that’s why the government and local authorities and groups up and down the country are in a mess – there’s no vision, there’s no strategy, there’s no responsibility. Take a look at this nice short article by Helen Cousins ‘What makes a Business Leader’.

No Marketing. It’s very common and quite easy to believe that great ideas promote themselves and get recommended by person to person and rise to the top automatically. Yet, the very best products have the very best marketing. Thinking brands? Think Apple, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft and Guinness. These companies don’t use marketing to augment their products – marketing is baked in. The products are designed to with their marketing in mind. If you can’t think of how you could market your product then who have you designed it for?