3 Dumb Entrepreneur Mistakes to Avoid

Starting a business is hard enough even when you’re doing all the right things. If you want to succeed you have to avoid these three entrepreneur mistakes.

Many entrepreneurs manage to make things even tougher on themselves by making three incredibly dumb mistakes, in particular, suggests Victor Green, author of How to Succeed in Business by Really Trying. “The most important mistake people make is they fail to research their ideas sufficiently,” Green writes. That means getting out in the marketplace and getting feedback from real customers, not just close connections and colleagues. Another boneheaded move is focusing on revenues when entrepreneurs should be focusing on profits. Even though it may take time before your company is profitable, that’s still the main goal, Green argues, and founders should maintain their focus, accordingly.

The third mistake is one perpetuated by our “never give up” culture — when things truly aren’t working it’s a dumb move not to pull the plug. “I always congratulate people who tell me, ‘I’m going to pull the plug–it’s not working,'” Green writes. “Every person in business will have a failure during their life, and if they say they don’t I can only think that they have a very poor memory. Do you do most things right? If you get things right 51% of the time, you’re ahead of the game.”