Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s no different for entrepreneurs either launching a new business or already running one. Getting a little tripped up here and it is natural, but for an online business or eCommerce seller, even little errors can become severely costly down the line.

So, what do you do?

You plan and preemptively prepare yourself so that you can easily navigate the business highway and reach your destination, without taking the wrong exits or worse – crashing into something!

Here are some critical business mistakes you can start avoiding today – for both short and long term of your entrepreneurial life cycle and online business journey:

1. Outsource What You Can’t Manage

Whether you’re a small business online or offline, you can never overlook the importance of getting an “extra set of hands” to take the burden off you! As a business owner, there is sometimes a lack of self-awareness. Entrepreneurs sometime fall into the habit of micromanaging and not delegating or outsourcing work they can’t handle.

They try to do everything that they possibly can to cut costs, but really, in the long run, they should have outsourced the things that they are not good at and focused on their strengths. If you are aiming for multiple targets at once, you are very unlikely to hit one!

2. Automate Important Functions

In the world of online business and eCommerce, automation plays a crucial role. When you’re dealing with thousands of people worth of traffic and operating on the level of a global audience, automation makes your life easier. It helps to systemize and mechanize vital areas such as emails, sales funneling, lead capturing and so on. Once such areas are set in place through an automated system, your business becomes self-regulating and you can focus on other important things to grow and scale.

3. Offer Services Instead of Products

The benefits of offering services over products is the beauty of ‘intangibility’. You don’t need to manufacture units, warehouse them, ship or distribute them, or worry about refunds and exchanges. Otherwise, all of which can take tons of your time effort, money, and resources.

In the world of online business, services can be easier to scale and grow to a global audience – devoid of boundaries and borders, with the lesser hassle and physical framework required.

4. Ignore the Haters

“Haters are going to hate”, as the saying goes! People hate because they cannot digest other people’s success; it hurts their ego and makes them feel lesser knowing they’ve not done as well as someone else. Hence, they vent their frustration in anger, fueled by jealousy and powered by insecurity. Let them be.

You have an empire to build, dreams to fulfill and a legacy to create. Their hate only makes them small. Your ambition only makes you big! So keep focusing on what’s important and ignore the haters.

5. Implement Market Segmentation

This is one of those critical business mistakes that many business owners ignore and hence suffer tremendously down the road. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into groups, or segments, based on different characteristics.

The segments created are composed of consumers who will respond similarly to marketing strategies and who share traits such as similar interests, needs, or locations.

Knowing, applying and benefiting from Market Segmentation strategies is key in growing your business and targeting critical demographics that respond the best to your services.

6. Be Timely and Be Responsive

Time is money for any business. And for consumers, time is image.
Just as responding and tackling everyday business situations in a timely + responsive manner is crucial in upholding the health and stability of your business, so is timeliness and responsiveness when dealing with your customers.

It is very important to be timely, efficient, responsive and empathetic in all your business dealings within your company (your employees, stakeholders etc) and outside it (your vendors, customers, and contractors)

7. Market Research

Operating a business without market research is like shooting darts in the dark. Market research. It is essentially the process that links the producers, customers, and end users to a company through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems.

It enables a business owner to generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Not having solid market research in place is one of the gravest of business mistakes you can commit.

8. Be Market-Competitive in Your Services

Your services are your biggest asset. Treat them like gold. And that means offering market-competitive pricing, value, and quality to your prospective customers. Being market-competitive in your services is critical in getting ahead of your competitors and being ‘visible’ to prospective clients or customers in a consistent manner.

If you want to learn from a live example, look Urtasker as the best example for a successful business management.

Omer Riaz is an experienced IT Professional, E-commerce Consultant and Amazon Seller. He is the co-founder of DaskTech, Inc & Urtasker, which made its trademark in the e-commerce world by providing skilled and trained virtual staff and services. Omer blogs on various topics which include: his experience on the fast changing world of e-commerce, hiring and effectively managing virtual assistants. Contact Me: Urtasker: