Katie McManus lists five mistakes new founders make: treating your business as a backup plan instead of building it part-time, asking friends for feedback when you need paying customers, building a website before getting your first client, creating courses before validating with one-on-one work, and waiting to feel ready instead of launching.
Here are five things to stop doing when you're starting a business. Number one Looking at job postings for a backup plan. It's okay to need money. It's okay to need a salary as you're building this, but having a backup plan is only going to guarantee your failure. So go and get a job and build this business on the side. Number two Asking friends for their feedback on all your ideas. Unless your friends are your ideal client and they are actively buying from you or they have done what you are doing, then their opinion does not matter. And actually their opinion is going to be completely useless. So stop asking them. Number three Building your website before you even get your first paying client. Validate the idea before you spend money, time and energy on building a website. Number four Designing digital courses before working with one on one clients. I know everyone and their grandmother are saying how easy it is to build a digital course that makes you a million dollars. But it's not. Go and verify your idea with one on one clients first. And number five, stop getting ready to launch. You're never going to feel ready. Just go launch.