Deadly Sin #1. Focusing on multiple businesses or projects at once.

Focus on one project or business at a time. Ignore the claims of the ‘get rich quick’ crowd; for the majority of entrepreneurs, growing a successful online business requires time, commitment, hard work and resources (time, people, & money). If you attempt to implement several ideas or business models simultaneously, you will spread your energies too thin across multiple projects and reduce your chances of success on any of them. You do yourself and your business a disservice when you attempt to tackle & implement multiple ideas at once. You also risk losing money long term by trying “a bit of everything” as you search for what works.

Deadly Sin #2. Attempting to save time by copying another businesses model or online brand.

It is certainly effective to use other business models (online or offline) as inspiration, but don’t attempt to duplicate another business or brand. Just because it worked for them does not mean that it will work for you. Also, unless you have inside knowledge of that business, you are unaware of all of the information that would help you determine if that business is indeed successful. Look for inspiration, but bring your original ideas and strengths to the table to make your business unique.

Deadly Sin #3. Not having a vision, strategy or plan.

You know that you want to make money and lots of it. You have a general idea of the industry and service(s) that you will provide to make that money. But you have no vision for your business, no business plan, no overall mission statement and can’t identify or visualize your customers or your customer service model. If you are tempted to ask a web designer, programmer, or logo designer how you should plan and market your business, you are on the wrong track and should take some time to properly develop a business plan. The desire to make money is not enough to build a successful online business. You build an online business in the same fashion that you build an offline business. Also, a great looking website does not make a business successful.

Deadly Sin #4. Having caviar taste and a beer budget.

You have a vision and it’s a big one. In fact, it’s the next best idea since sliced bread, it will guarantee you millions in profits and you need to implement it yesterday … or else the idea will become obsolete, you’ll lose millions in potential profits and the world will surely end. You have a great idea, but you don’t have the resources (money, expertise) or time that it will take to implement it properly. The wrong approach is to hire someone to implement your vision with the expectation that you’re going to receive a high quality product, on the cheap and quickly. What you’ll receive is two of your three expectations. You’ll either get a good product very quickly at a very expensive rate. Or you’ll receive a good product, at a reasonable rate over an extended time period (i.e. much later than you desire). Or worse. The old saying remains true “you can’t get something for nothing”. You’ll either need to manage your expectations so that they’re in line with your resources or you’ll need to find additional resources.

Deadly Sin #5. Sweating the small stuff.

This is for the OCD crowd. If you’ve ever lost track of time straightening the “fringes on a rug”, you’ll understand this one. It’s essentially spending a great deal of your implementation time on things that don’t matter and won’t greatly influence the “big picture”. For example, you’ve started a website development project for your online business, you read an article regarding the coolness of Flash websites, so you decide mid project that Flash is the hot new technology and you’d like a Flash site instead. If not having a Flash website is not a deal breaker for your customers, you should not spend your time & resources on items which do not positively influence your customers’ experience or your bottom line.

Deadly Sin #6. Remaining disconnected from the ongoing administration and maintenance activities.

You have to be involved. It is not wise to make someone else responsible for the success of your business. If you’re disconnected from activities which help you build a successful online business, your team will become disconnected from your overall vision and you will become disconnected from (and potentially not recognize) the resulting product.

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2 Responses to “The 6 Deadly Sins of Starting an Online Business”

1. Greg Digneo says:

   January 26, 2009 at 4:11 pm

   All of these are great suggestions. One more deadly sin that I would add (and I’m sure there are many more) but the failure to connect with your customers or potential customers using the myriad of tools available.

   Reply
2. kishau says:

   January 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm

   Great point Greg! I agree that the failure to adopt to the preferred connection methods used by your customers is a definite disadvantage.

   Reply