Business Mistakes | Why Most Businesses Fail and How You Can Succeed

In this episode of Commerce and Chill, Jessica and Waleed discuss common business mistakes (including some of their own) and ways to avoid costly mistakes on the path to success. They also talk about the importance of properly reading contracts and how to respond to RFPs.

In the course of their conversation, some of the early mistakes that Cope and JJC discussed included trusting too early and too easily without the right amount of background information. For Cope, cases of this issue included trusting people who simply wanted a free ride without actually earning their way along and trusting people who presented themselves one way on the surface or at the beginning of a relationship, and acted differently when it counts. For Jessica, the mistakes she discussed included giving clients too much lee-way for inconsiderate business practices, such as paying invoices late or bending the terms of agreements.

To solve these issues, both Cope and Jessica found that having people on the team or in the room that can support them in enforcing their expectations is helpful and sometimes essential. For Jessica, she found that having someone on the team at Johnson Security Bureau who felt comfortable being the “enforcer” for her allows her to maintain the positive relationships on which the business is built while also getting across to a client that they are in the wrong when that is the case. As an entrepreneur or business owner, if you are uncomfortable in a certain situation — such as calling out a client — there may be push from others for you to force yourself to confront or deal with it, and this may work for some people and some situations. For others, it is helpful to know where your strengths and weaknesses lie and to delegate your areas of weakness to those that feel more comfortable in that area so that you can focus on being your best in your areas of strength.

Regardless of how you learn to confront difficult situations, it is key that you seek for fair and just resolutions on both ends. Whether you are making verbal negotiations or contractual obligations, make sure that your agreements protect yourself AND the other party or entity. Protect yourself without taking advantage ot the other party, because you’ll ultimately feel better about yourself, build better relationships, and do better work when your partners know that you care about their well-being at least as much as you care about your own success.

That said, read your contracts, negotiations, amendments, RFPs and addendums carefully and pay attention to the details along the way. Be prepared to fill ALL the requirements of any agreement and make sure that you’re in a position to fulfil not only the primary requirement, but also any relevant obligations or responsibilities that may stem from your agreements or become relevant along the way. It is easy to get tripped up in a contract when you only consider the end results and not the requirements you may have in the process of achieving the end results.

Thus, when you are forming contracts, follow these guidelines to achieve the most success:

1. Never accept another entity’s standard contract — review and make edits!
2. Hire a professional attorney with experience in your industry specifically.
3. If you can’t afford to hire an attorney for every contract, hire one to create standard contracts for your primary operations and update them as needed.
4. Update your standard contracts as your business grows over time.
5. Have multiple people read over any contracts you receive before signing them.
6. Use an electronic docu-sign software to sign and keep track of your contracts.
7. Don’t start doing work without a written contract that explains the terms!
8. If the terms are not right for your business… say no! (and avoid being too eager for work to say no to anyone).

With all this said, mistakes are inevitable on the path to achievement and whether in contracts or in trust, you are bound to make mistakes when you are innovating. To deal with your mistakes best, you can do like Waleed and “move fast, execute, and make adjustments;” or you can do like Jessica and “Focus on positive actions. Evaluate, correct, and keep it moving.”

Either way, there is one thing you must always do to succeed: MOVE!

For more on this topic, check out the Commerce and Chill podcast and follow Jessica Johnson-Cope and Waleed Cope at the links below.

► Listen to the Commerce and Chill podcast on Anchor:

https://anchor.fm/commerce-and-chill

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Youtube: Commerce and Chill