8 important things you should not do as a Enterpreneurs

8 important things you should not do as a Entrepreneurs

Ways used by Elon musk

💥Not signing a contract

I had a call with a mate just yesterday, where his co-founders (and coincidentally good friends) are now reconsidering the equity they gave him, this happens more often than you know it. Remember, doesn’t matter if it's your own sibling, parent, best friend or high-school teacher, always sign a contract, that's why they exist. And if you’re too shy to bring it up with them, then realise that it's already a recipe for disaster, because having tough conversations is something that you need to get used to in business

💥Taking money from friends & family

Everyone has their views on this, only take money if the respective family member or friend can live without that cash and move on easily. Also only do this when you’re absolutely confident that you can make this business or idea a success, perhaps after some initial strong validation or growth. Money doesn’t build a business, it accelerates its growth. So make sure you’re taking money to accelerate an already growing business, else it can get ugly…fast.

💥Not set a framework for discussion

I learnt this from an employee of mine who has had an extremely healthy and happy relationship with his husband for nearly 8 years. He goes to therapy with his partner every week…even if they’ve got no issues. This was ming boggling for me at first but also very enlightening. The principle behind this point is to build a system of discussion without emotion involved with your co-founder. This is very important to make sure you maintain a relationship with them if s**t hits the fan and you have to close the company.

💥Doing it all

You’re sure to fail if you end up doing everything. Remember if you do everything you end up doing nothing. Hire, delegate or automate - either way, you need to make sure you’re not doing everything and you’re able to offload your tasks to people much better than you in that particular role. People forget that the job of the founder is to replace themselves at every step possible, else you end up doing a job not running a business.

💥Never owning up to your mistakes

When the company wins, it's because of the team. When the company loses, it's because of you. Rule number 1 of leadership - it's always your fault. It comes with the job and if your ego is too soft to accept that, you might need to rethink entrepreneurship

💥Restricting yourself to a geographical location

We’re in the age of the internet, even if you have a retail store, you NEED to take advantage of being omnipresent on the internet. People who don’t do that are severely missing out

💥Not separating business from pleasure

You’re human after all, take a break and try to understand that everything needs to be paced. If you’re really obsessed (which isn’t healthy), work on a side project for fun, but definitely take a break here and there - because it's necessary to keep the creative juices flowing, it's necessary for you to learn and educate yourself to become better at business