The Worst Mistake An Entrepreneur Can Make
Posted on August 12, 2021 by Susan Giddings, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Are you over-promising and under delivering?
The worst mistake any business owner or entrepreneur can make is over-promising and under delivering.
It’s a classic mistake for both new (and experienced) business owners.
When you’re starting out, you’re tempted to promise the world to potential clients in order to get their business. This is because you are leading with a scarcity mindset.
But if you’ve made those promises just to get a customer, it will come back to bite you later on.
Look, I know you had the best intentions; you were sincere when you over-promised, but it puts unnecessary stress and pressure on you that leads to massive overwhelm.
And it makes for unhappy customers.Not a great way to start and grow a successful business.
So, how do you assess whether you’re over-promising or not?
First, you have to be self-aware enough to understand what you’re capable of and not capable of.
One way to do this is to monitor your activities. For a few days, time each job or task you do to see how long it takes.
That way, when someone asks you to do similar work, you’ll have a realistic idea of how long it will take you.
If you have a customer waiting on something from you, let them know any potential problems that might arise and slow down your progress.
Another way to ensure you’re not over-promising is to get a clear sense of the other person’s expectations. What is the end result they want from the work you’re doing?
Make sure you’re setting realistic expectations. Be practical about what you think you can actually deliver. And if you find that you’ve over-committed, apologize, correct the error and scale back to avoid this from happening again.
There’s a lot to be said about managing expectations. So do a good job of only promising what you can deliver, because the physical, emotional and financial stress long term can be damaging.
What you want to do is under promise and over deliver.
Ditch the scarcity mindset and move into the zone of an abundance mindset.
It’s a sure win for both you and your customer.
“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.”
– Wayne Dyer
