135: The Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistakes I've Made

just see. And it's your job and responsibility to pull the plug, change directions reroute the ship.

mistakes. If this is your first time here, my name is Darrell Evans, I'm your host. And if this is your first time here, I'd invite you to hit the follow and subscribe button if you enjoy today's episode. Let's dive in. So what are those top entrepreneurial mistakes that I've made in my career? There are a few and I'm going to go through three or four of them with you right now. One of the first ones that comes to mind is

not thinking big enough. When I started my entrepreneurial career, I'm not sure I believed in myself, as much as I needed to back then. And I've had to work on that over the years. Some people say that they've been so confident from the beginning that they were going to succeed. Well, I'm not sure that that was ever my story and I believe that I've had to constantly work on building up my confidence to continue to go to the next level. For some people, success means certain

things. And depending on what your definition of success is, you can look back on this type of a comment or this type of what I would call mistake. But I say that not thinking big enough, has held me back in a number of ways but at the same time, some people say, well Darrell, you've done all these things, and you've built these businesses, you've worked with these companies, etc. What do you mean, you don't think big

enough? What I mean by that is this - is that there were times when I just didn't believe in me enough to take certain actions, take certain risks, or really step out in faith in myself. And so I say that is mistake number one, really not believing big enough for what it was that I was chasing. Another mistake that I think I made had to do with trying to do everything because of my own

quality standards. I really wish that I had picked up the understanding and the power and the beauty of delegation sooner. I wish I would've understood people's unique gifts and characteristics so that I could have partnered with them earlier in my days. I wish I would have known that when I found someone who had their superstar DNA, as I call it, that their definite natural ability aligned with mine and my vision, that they would be operating in their gift and helping us meet our, our

vision and mission sooner. I think that's another big area of opportunity for entrepreneurs, which is who we think that if it has to get done and has to be done by us. We think about hustle and grind, and if you look around social media, you can easily get caught up in this idea that if it's going to be, it's up to me. And that's just a trap. And it's a recipe for burnout and failure and

frustration. So that would be probably one of my second big entrepreneurial mistakes was really thinking that I had to learn every single thing in business, to have my business be successful. I'd redo that all

over again. And the thing that I would recommend you do is really look for those sticking points in your business and find someone who can do those things, because if they're sticking points in your business, it means that it's not your gift, and you can spend your time doing the things that you're gifted at. And if you can find the resources to get the right person on board, I think you're going to be better off sooner.

What's another mistake? Another mistake that I think for sure is, and this is gonna sound a little bit maybe esoteric, and that is not cutting losses soon enough. What do I mean by that? Not cutting losses in a marketing strategy. Not cutting losses with a team member or staff member. Not cutting losses when you see something changing in the economy. You know I can think back to a scenario where I could see in my mind what was

about to happen. And I didn't make the right decision soon enough and it caused definite pain and anguish and heartache in our business. What does that mean? It doesn't mean that I'm like Nostradamus or anything like that. But there are certain things you become accustomed to in your business, certain things in your industry, certain things in the economy, that you can just see. And it's your job and responsibility to pull the plug, change directions, reroute the

ship, right? Jim Rohn is known for saying, and I know it was one of the most impactful things that I've ever heard him say, and that was, "It's not the blowing of the wind, that determines your destination. It's the set of the sail." And there's been a number of times in business along my journey, where I've seen that we needed to set a new sail. Now, in truth, you know, you may know you need to set a new sail and it's easier said than done, as

they say. Sometimes you have business partners and you have to get alignment with them. Sometimes you have stakeholders, sometimes you have financing concerns and issues. But the point of it is, is not cutting your losses quick enough can really tip your business over and cause you all sorts of problems. And I can think to a couple scenarios, for sure, in my business journey, where that had been the case. The last thing I want to talk about, I think, from mistakes.

So we talked about trying to do everything yourself, we talked about not thinking big enough, we talked about not cutting losses early enough, which is really funny, because in the paid media world where I live, a lot of times, I mean, we're quick to cut a bad ad that's not working. We're quick to cut an ad group in Google or an ad set in Facebook, when it's not performing. We just quick to do it, but it's funny how we don't apply some of the same principles to the rest of our

lives. This last big entrepreneurial mistake, I would say, is really not thinking about the effectiveness and making it a priority to put systems and processes in place in the early days of the business. Some people say Darrell, well shouldn't I worry about getting sales first and doing all these things first, before I put in systems? The answer is definitely yes. But

here's what I mean. If you go buy a McDonald's franchise, a Taco Bell franchise, any of those franchises, right, just use fast food for an example. They come with all the systems and processes in the system that you're buying, in the franchise that you're buying. They have already figured it all out. For some reason, in entrepreneurship, though, when we go out on our own, we're figuring it out from day one. And we don't have the systems and processes in place. What do

I mean? The sales systems, the marketing systems, the operational systems, what I like to call the how we do it here system. It doesn't have to be a franchise model, where you've got 13 books and guides and all these things. No! But there needs to be at least a blueprint on a sheet of paper that says, here's how we sell. Here's how we market. Here's how we service our clients. Here's how we do finances. You know, just the basics, right? You don't need

much. I think back to 2002 or 3, when I was working with my coach and I built out my first system. It was our lead gen and sales system and I think it had 68 steps when I first wrote it all out. Now what it did was give me clarity that there were 68 steps in the process of our lead generation and sales model. And from that, I was able to step back and say, okay, of these 68, what do I have to do based on my

unique gifts? And what could someone else do so that I'm not wrapped up in all 68 of those steps? And that was like, oh, duh. I mean, and it was the same way when I worked at Taco Bell all those years. Everybody had a role on the team, I didn't do everything. It's just funny how we leave corporate environments where we had the systems in place, we go start our own business and it seems like I'm talking to entrepreneurs 3, 4, 8, 10 years later, who don't have any systems. They don't

have any processes. They don't have any models and frameworks that they follow. So I'm going to leave it at that for today. Those are four big ones, right. So number one, don't get caught up doing everything yourself. Now, that sounds like the last one as well. But when I say don't get caught up doing everything yourself, that is find talent and team members who have unique gifts early. Number two, cut losses, when you notice them, cut losses and get them out of your way, fast. Number three,

think big. Believe in yourself. You owe it to yourself to believe in yourself a little more. It's something I wish I would have done a lot sooner. And this last thing is about getting those systems and processes, what I like to call the minimal viable processes, even if you're a solopreneur, you can put some of those in

place. If you've got two members, 10 members, 200 members on your team, whatever it may be, you've got to always be working on systematizing the business so at some point, it will run without you and it will grow without you. That's a challenge. That's the big challenge for entrepreneurs of the day. Not only getting the business to run without you, but when you can get it to grow without you, you know you've built a great business. I hope this has been helpful.