Have you ever wondered why millions of people all over the world try to follow the rules of business each and every day, but strangely end up failing? Then, you find a bunch of guys who commit some outrageously terrible mistakes, yet they succeed immensely.
Perhaps, it’s time to consider that the rules are actually wrong.
Perhaps, it’s time to commit some outrageously terrible mistakes…
Dismissing Customer Feedback
We constantly hear the all-too-common phrase, “the customer is always right”. Furthermore, we are all told that businesses can only prosper if they keenly listen to what their customers say. That only businesses which constantly reconsider their plans, based on customer feedback, would ever manage to be truly successful.
Then, comes along a company like Facebook; which, against all manner of opposition from it’s huge user base, decided to push on with it’s News Feed feature (of course, they might have tried a more reasonable method of introducing the feature, but you get the point). Virtually everybody was against the new feature, but Mark Zuckerburg strongly believed in its usefulnesses, and he still went on to apply it with incredible success.
Basically, you have to realize that no matter how important customer feedback is, you and only you have the true vision of what your company should and can be. Also remember, although people can tell you that you should make something in a different manner, it doesn’t really mean that they would actually enjoy it in that new format. Perhaps, they might also not really hate a particular product or service, but just some minor issue about it.
Not Adopting New Innovations
Some of the most successful companies in the world are regarded as leaders in innovation within their particular industries. Moreover, the modern business environment places a high premium on innovation, encouraging business owners to constantly innovate in order to remain current and profitable. In this era, no one can ever think that companies which don’t embrace technological advancements would ever succeed.
Then comes along a kickstarter called exploding kittens (a simple game of physical cards), which becomes one of the most successful kickstarter projects ever (the third most-funded). Even more successful than all the high-tech, insanely futuristic kickstarters available.
Even if your business is based on technological aspects, you have to understand that advanced technology doesn’t always mean increased utility, efficiency or usability. You might be spending millions of dollars (or Kenya shillings) to create an insanely advanced product, but it only ends up offering much the same benefit as a deck of cards.
Hiring an Inexperienced/ Unqualified Workforce
It’s common knowledge that having an experienced and highly qualified workforce will lead to production of high quality services and products. This leads to greater profits. When you hire workers who are less qualified, just to cut down on costs due to salaries, you are likely to lose out on the long run.
However, who said that you can’t actually create a system which would allow less experienced/ unqualified workers to perform even better than the highly experienced/ qualified workers? How else would we explain the monumental success of online publishing platforms that have allowed less experience and much less qualified people to dispense information, which was once the preserve of the well-connected and highly learned. In turn, such companies as Google, Facebook and Twitter are minting billions from the indirect online workforce.
There’s also a firm that makes it a priority to hire workers with disabilities. You would have thought that able-bodied workers would make better employees, but this company’s profits tell a different story.
Supporting Your Competitor
It’s crazy right? Why would anyone want to support their competitors?
“Or perhaps you mean businesses that aren't directly in competition with yours? At least you can work out some collaborative plan with them to achieve a win-win situation, right?”
No. I mean businesses that are directly in competition with you. It’s true that you can have many collaborative opportunities with businesses that complement yours. However, there are certain collaborative opportunities that can only be realized with businesses that are in direct competition with you.
There are also certain things that you can only learn from people who are doing exactly what you’re doing. Of course, there are limits to which you can go in helping out you competitors, but you’re sure to gain immense benefits.
Limiting Your Marketing
If you cut down on marketing your product, how are you ever going to make good money out of it?
Actually, you just might make so much more out of it.
A good place to see this in action is in the online freelancing world. You’ll find one group of freelancers (particularly writers) who frequent job sites, sending countless applications for job requests that pay very little. Then, there’s a different group that would instead work on building a reputable blog, and they would only send several job pitches in a month; which when successful, deliver much higher pay.
So, have you made any outrageous mistakes in business?
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