1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 15 Entrepreneurial Trap: Common Mistakes When Being a First-Time Boss (2)
Wang Zeng and Li Hua used to be colleagues. Later, these two brotherly friends started businesses at the same time, each running a company of the same nature.At the beginning, the operating conditions of both parties were similar.But a year later, when Wang Zeng began to think about how to grow his business and how to develop it in the long run, Li Hua ran out of funds and faced bankruptcy.Li Hua, who had nowhere to ask for a loan, came to his door in a hurry. Faced with the shameful look of his colleagues for many years, although Wang Zeng knew very well that Li Hua was not a talent for running a business, he still agreed to use the original plan without hesitation. Expansion of production funds to support friends.However, a few months later, Li Hua spent all the borrowed money, but the business did not improve. Wang Zeng also put the company in trouble due to the shortage of funds because of this large "friendship investment".

When you start a business, when you run a business, you often need the help of family and friendship.But if you don't handle it well, these family relationships and friendships will also become a burden to your business. "There are only eternal interests in the world, and there are no permanent friends." This sentence is a bit cold, but it is the truth most of the time. People who are in business should always keep it in mind.

Shopping malls don't recognize friendship, they only talk about facts.Knowing that the other party is not capable, Wang Zeng reluctantly lent his own little funds to his friend in consideration of friendship. As a result, he did not save his friend's business, but also put himself in trouble.When starting a business, you must remember that emotion cannot replace reason. Don't be blinded by the veil of warmth and confusion, and finally hurt the feelings of both parties in order to "talk about emotion".

107. Being emotional and unable to face investment failure correctly

Several new projects that Guo Yugang invested in consecutively were aborted due to various reasons.A series of investment tragedies made him ridiculed and doubted by the people around him, which hit Guo Yugang's self-esteem and aroused Guo Yugang's "fighting spirit".Just at this time, Guo Yugang, who was eager to make money and restore his image, heard someone talk about a new business opportunity with huge profits, and immediately decided to invest in this project without even thinking about it, let alone evaluating the investment project scientifically.In Guo Yugang's words: "If it fails once, if it fails twice, I don't believe it will fail this time!" Unfortunately, the market soon "returned" and his investment wasted again.

Not being afraid of failure is a good thing, but boldness does not mean recklessness.The founders of start-ups cannot bear the pressure of repeated investment failures, which arouses the psychology of gamblers. If they use emotional decision-making methods to decide investment directions and investment projects, they will undoubtedly fail.Being emotional is one of the most dreaded investment pitfalls.The founder of a start-up company must have a clear head and make calm and objective decisions under any circumstances. If he feels that he is unable to grasp it, he can ask experts or think tanks to help him, and he must not let his emotions control his mind. , leading to repeated mistakes in investment.

As a founder of a start-up company, you should accept your own painful failures. Only in this way can every founder of a start-up company truly succeed.Shopping malls are like battlefields, there is no general victorious, failure is not terrible, the key is what to do after failure?
108. Ignore the return on investment and invest in unfamiliar industries

Liu Dali, the manager of the newly launched restaurant, strives to win by scale, and is non-stop planning to launch some new projects.Liu Dali likes to read books and newspapers. He knows that experts are talking about the diversification of business operations, and he also wants to "diversify".Liu Dali decided to try his hand in a completely unfamiliar industry - to set up a garment factory.Because Liu Dali has never been involved in clothing, he has a dark eye on the clothing industry, and Liu Dali's accumulated experience in the catering industry is basically useless in the clothing industry. As a result, Liu Dali's clothing factory was defeated in less than a year. Come.

It is good for a business operator to love to learn and be self-motivated, but Liu Dali is not good at distinguishing when he is studying, forgetting that for a novice investor, "if you are not familiar with it, you will not do it" is a general rule.Blindly entering unfamiliar new industries not only makes it difficult for an operator to use the experience accumulated in the past, but also wastes precious time and funds.

The easiest way to start a business is to start with something you are familiar with or have expertise in. Generally, it can achieve twice the result with half the effort and greatly reduce the twists and turns in the entrepreneurial process.If you invest in an unfamiliar industry on the spur of the moment, it will inevitably be difficult to operate, and the probability of failure is very high.

109. Too optimistic about investment projects

In the 20s, VCD players used to be a high-end durable consumer product with a very promising market prospect. At that time, a company in the south decided to switch to this product.Although this required a very large sum of money, the company persisted through various financing.It's a pity that when the company's products went on the market, more advanced DVD products came out one after another.The market is caught in the quagmire of a price war, but the company does not have enough funds to fight a price war with others.After the first batch of goods sold for 90 million yuan, the company's products could no longer be sold and had to obediently withdraw from the market.After this battle, the vitality of the enterprise was seriously injured.

Every founder of a start-up company, lack of understanding of investment projects will bring many sequelae, including monetary losses, failure to obtain reasonable returns on investment, and shaken entrepreneurial confidence.At present, many entrepreneurs are eager to start a business, and the options are hasty, which leads to a series of problems after the project is approved. They are seriously deceived, and even spend years of savings. There are many bankrupts.When choosing an industry, two key points must be considered: one is how to select products or services; the other is whether entrepreneurs themselves are suitable for the industry.

110. Undiscovering the Advantage of Entrepreneurship During Adversity
Billionaire Yamer was originally just a poor farmer.When great gold deposits were discovered in California, he flocked to them with gold prospectors.The barren mountains and valleys, the climate is hot and dry, and the water source is scarce. Yamer, who was in trouble, saw this situation, thought twice, and resolutely gave up panning for gold and went to find water.So he dug a canal, diverted the water into the pool, and then filtered it to clarify and sell it in bags.A few years later, when most gold diggers became beggars or even threw their corpses into the wilderness, Yamer became one of the few rich men in the United States because of the "gold" he found in clear water.

Every entrepreneur may have encountered the same dilemma as Yamer, but some succeeded, while others failed like most gold diggers.The reason is that they don't see the advantages of starting a business in times of adversity.For example: the cost of starting a business is low—during the off-market period, the site rent is low and the labor cost is low; when starting a business in the off-market, the government generally introduces preferential policies to help some laid-off workers and unemployed people start their own businesses.

111. Give up investment projects easily
After rigorous investigation and careful consideration, Shi Mou finally set up a project of raising silkworm cocoons, and Shi Mou started to build it with great ambition.All the work went very smoothly as planned, but at the later stage of the project, the silk market became weak for a while because the goods were overpriced and the prices were low.Shi panicked because of this, as if he was holding a time bomb and was eager to get rid of it.Unexpectedly, just after he changed hands of the project at a low price, a dramatic scene appeared: with the recovery of the silk market, the price of silk rebounded strongly, and the investor who took over the project quickly completed the project, so he made a lot of money a sum.

It is a misunderstanding of start-ups to give up investment projects easily.

Facing the rapidly changing market, investors must maintain a good attitude and calmly analyze whether the change is long-term or temporary?Is it political or market?Panic can only lead to wrong decision-making, and wrong decision-making will inevitably lead to investment failure.When investors decide to start operating a project, they should predict various changes in the market and policies, and respond accordingly.

The founders of every start-up company should never give up investment projects easily, but work carefully and professionally.Because in this era we live in, some people call it a period of transition. Because many things are still uncertain, and the macro and micro environments are changing rapidly, both large and small capitals have many opportunities, including the opportunity to start a new industry.

112. Acting on luck and thinking that everything is possible
Don't think that you are lucky, that you are omnipotent, that luck cannot last forever.Using luck as a crutch to measure the road to wealth will inevitably stumble sooner or later. "Good luck, smooth sailing" is just a kind of good wish of people, which is impossible in reality.Investment is a science, and its laws must be respected, otherwise, if you are punished, you can only take the blame.

For the founders of every start-up company, it is absolutely impossible to invest by luck alone. In the market, there is no such thing as luck at all. , Healthy development.The correct method is: first, observe.Observe the current popular industries and popular industries in society.Second, measure.Measure the scale of the industry and measure the maturity of the industry.Third, discover.Discover the blank spots in the industry or industry, and discover the products or services that customers need but no one has thought of to satisfy.Fourth, take action.Once you find a gap, act immediately.

113. Ignoring the geographic context of the investment
Shui Quansheng accidentally discovered a natural product with great development potential in a remote mountain—high-quality mineral water rich in minerals. He was secretly delighted to invest in it after a simple investigation and analysis. funds for development.After some hard work, the mineral water bottling plant was finally built.At this moment, Zhu Deli discovered a new problem: Facing the long and tortuous trail, how should Zhu Deli transport the products out?Building this mountain road requires an investment of at least 10 times the cost of building a mineral water bottling plant, which is far beyond Zhu Deli's ability.Zhu Deli couldn't think of anything to do, so he had to bear the pain to give up his love, and returned empty-handed, wasting an investment in vain.

Entrepreneurs should pay attention when choosing a location for a business. The quality of the location will affect the performance of the business. At the same time, it can be said that if a start-up has a good location, the chance of success has already been half!
Ignoring the geography associated with investing is a big reason for holding back startups.Business is made up of big and small circles.You can also understand it as being composed of a large and small pot.There is oil and water in every pot, and if the pot is too big, if the person fishing for oil stars is too weak and thin, it is easy to fall into it and drown.Therefore, entrepreneurs and small and medium investors should choose which pot to salvage according to their own conditions.

114. Too arbitrary, investing in projects with too long operating cycle

Li Jiang, who was new to the business world, had an idea: "Buy other people's technology patents and use them to 'make nests and lay eggs' yourself. Wouldn't it not only save a lot of development costs, but also preemptively strike in time?" He decides on a technology that he thinks has great promise, and decides to invest huge sums of money to buy the patent right of this technology.Someone reminded Li Jiang that although this patent is promising now, the operation period is too long. Moreover, it is heard that a more advanced technology in a certain research institute is about to be developed.Buy this technology now, it may soon become obsolete.Li Jiang refused to listen to the advice and insisted on investing.When Li Jiang bought this patented technology and invested in turning it into a product, people no longer needed it.

Entrepreneurs are short-sighted when choosing investment projects, unable to grasp the future development direction of the market, and investing huge sums of money to purchase technologies that seem to be lagging behind, it is only natural to suffer losses.When an investment costs a lot and it may take a long time to recover the cost and make a profit, investors should not only consider its present, but also its future.Just because a product has a market now does not mean it will also have a market in the future.

(End of this chapter)