Starting a business as a young professional is an accomplishment but lack of experience can lend itself to making mistakes. Young entrepreneurs are also prone to those mistakes that come with youth whether it is sponsoring too many company happy hours or taking days off simply because they can. The founder of a company acting in such a way can lead to a lack of accountability of the staff. Asking the staff to work long hours which often is associated with startups while not putting in the work yourself is a recipe for disaster.
The following issues can be a problem especially for young entrepreneurs as well as the solutions for these situations that will arise.
Launching Before The Company Is Ready.
A young entrepreneur is far more apt to launch a company too quickly in order to show those around them that they have done it. Far before launching it is important to find a way to make scalable processes as well as automate everything possible. Taking on a few small clients or clients where there is a prior relationship can be a great way to work out the kinks. If offering a quality service at the right price many other small businesses will be willing to work with you. The last thing that a young entrepreneur wants is to alienate a huge client in their industry due to launching too early and taking on too much too quickly. Scalable processes can take care of this as many other processes could break with a huge influx of orders whether they are for products or services.
Skimping On Important Things Like The Company Website.
The worst thing that can be done is to skimp on things like the company website. This will be the first impression that many customers have of the company so it is important to make this impression as positive as possible. Looking into professional help with this takes a quick Google search of a phrase like website design Burlington Ontario to find some of the best available companies to help. These pro designers will be able to optimize the site for SEO as well as help with tagging your pages to make them even more search engine friendly.
Inter-Office Romances.
Startups can be full of people fresh out of college as some of the older demographic might not want the professional risk of working at a startup. While inter-office relationships are common regardless of age the long hours worked at a startup with many people fresh out of college can be prone to making this mistake. This can tear an office apart as these romances ending not only can impede communication between departments it can make for an extremely uncomfortable work environment. Writing up an employment contract that prohibits these types of relationships forming can be a great deterrent. At the same time an all-star employee could be terminated due to violating this with a person that might never work with directly. This cannot be taken on a case by case basis as this can complicate things and a wrongful termination suit can come from treating people differently in similar circumstances.
Work Hard, Play Hard Going Too Far.
The work hard and play hard mantra has been popular in the startup niche for quite some time. This helps staff relieve stress but there is a chance that people are playing too hard and impacting their work the next day. If the company happy hour is on Wednesday and Thursdays turn into the worst day of the week for production, it is time to take a hard look at who is suffering the next morning. Substance abuse can impact performance immensely and can lead to losing clients if a staff member shows up to a meeting drunk or high. A regular drug testing policy should be implemented with those being tested who could be at risk.
Employing Friends Without The Skills or Experience.
The urge to hire friends or family without the required skills or experience should not be done under any circumstance. This can lead to resentment among the staff as well as an uncomfortable meeting when you have to terminate this person. This does not mean that if you have a friend that is qualified that you should not consider hiring them. The only thing to make sure of is that they know the boss and employee dynamic while you can return to being great friends after work hours. Do not dry up the company cash flow giving a job to a cousin that still thinks they should be CEO without any prior work experience.
Young entrepreneurs have a lot to think about but avoiding the above issues are paramount. Take care of details within control and set yourself up for success!
