Business principle number one: if you want to get paid like a business, you have to act like a business. All too often, new entrepreneurs lose out on opportunities to earn money by not mastering that single principle.
I’ve spent over a decade as an executive at Fortune 500 companies, where I built and managed relationships with multi-billion-dollar corporations. After running my own firm for 7 years debt-free, I now teach everyday entrepreneurs how to apply my techniques to build their businesses, get more sales, and live a well-monetized life.
My clients are some of your favorite million-dollar earner entrepreneurs, influencers and business owners –and they’re making these errors. But you don’t have to!
If
you’re acting like a business, then you’re not making these eight rookie
mistakes:
1. Posting on your personal Facebook account (rather than a public Facebook Page) about your business. Quick Fix: Establish one for free for yourself (as a public figure) or for your brand/business.
2. Not having a dedicated website. Quick Fix: Take 30 minutes to set up a quick free site on platforms like WordPress or Squarespace.
3. Co-mingling business and personal funds in your PayPal account. Quick Fix: PayPal for Business is free, and you’ll thank me come tax season. Being paid as friends or family via PayPal for business isn’t okay. Especially to avoid fees. Your fees are tax-deductible and part of the cost of doing business. Use accounting software and keep track of your money.
4. Wasting hours creating your own graphics when the design isn’t your specialty. Quick Fix: Get professional graphics work done inexpensively through online sites like Fiverr, or create something better looking on your own quickly with Canva.
5. Flooding people’s Facebook and Instagram timeline with your products with no strategy or plan on how to establish and grow your own consumer base. You might see some traction, but are you sure it’s from the right audience? And if Facebook or Instagram disappears, how will you contact this new audience? Quick Fix: Create a place for your fans to congregate and discuss your offerings like a website or Facebook Business page.
6. Not having an e-mail list. This is the granddaddy rule: you need an email list. It’s a must. When people buy from you, get their email address. Quick Fix: There are so many email list providers (Convertkit, Mailchimp, Infusionsoft), and most are totally free. Do that, like, yesterday!
7. Setting unclear goals. Don’t dabble; go hard. Quick Fix: Set weekly sales, inventory or social media growth goals. Then crush them.
8. The legality of your business is a must. Once you take a dollar for a business or product, you are in business. Your clients see you that way and so does the U.S. government. Quick Fix: If you’re making over $2,000 annually, you should be an LLC (Limited Liability Company). If you are in an MLM/Network Marketing, you need to be an LLC too.
Get started building your big dream today. The world needs your gift, and your business deserves to get paid. Act like it, and make it happen.
Nicole Walters is a former six-figure corporate executive who built a seven-figure business showing others how they can build a life they love.
Black and Positively Golden is a new movement to uplift communities and empower excellence. It highlights all things positive in the culture and focuses on stories of truth, power, and pride. It celebrates Black excellence, supports education, empowerment, and entrepreneurship, and shares cherished moments. Join the conversation @wearegolden on Instagram.