Newbie Netrapreneur - Do You Do This?

We all make mistakes.  We all get sucked into the promises of the next greatest, best, cheapest or most expensive way of making money online, working in our pajamas or just getting a bag of dough dumped on the kitchen table.

It happens to all of us.  It happens to any of the great gurus, anyone who's making any money or anyone who's not making money.  It is a function of the human condition to search for the path of least resistance. And the promises made in sales letters that you can make money while sitting in your pajamas is just that - the path of least resistance.

But, there are other less obvious and more insidious mistakes; mistakes that can ruin a business or significantly impact the bottom line. 

1. The vacuum cleaner.  The vacuum cleaner is an individual who sucks in all kinds of information.  They are an education hog.  These people want all the information they can have before they make a move to do anything.  Although this behavior is related to the perfectionist, and may have perfectionistic tendencies, the real challenge these individuals face is the inability to take action without having all the information at their fingertips.

2. Perfectionism pretty.  I think we all know what a perfectionist is.  These are the people who feel controlled by their environment.  They are unable to make a move or take any action without a sincere belief that the action they do take will have positive effect and they will make no mistakes. Psychologists believe there is a basic underlying disconnect between self-image or self-perception and reality.  Perfectionism is a character trait that isolates individuals from the rest of society and negatively affects their ability to produce anything.

3. King of certification.  This individual may seem like a perfectionist on the surface but if you dig a little deeper you'll find a sincere desire to produce results that is not tied to a negative self-esteem or self-image.  The King of certification just plain enjoys education.  This is the person who has multiple college degrees and feels they must have a Wordpress certification before they are able to launch their first blog.  Once certified they feel comfortable outsourcing what they don't know, such as graphic design or content development.  However, they are fully assured that they cannot be successful unless they hold a specific certification or degree in their hot little hands.

4.  The avoiders.  This mistake is simple.  It is a mistake of placing our heads in the sand and believing that the world will stay the same.  It will be the same today as it was yesterday and the day before.  Fortunately or unfortunately the Internet has significantly impacted the way in which people do business.  In generations past we went to college, got a job and stayed with the same company for 30 years.  We put money in our retirement funds, retired and moved to Florida.  Today things may not stay the same for 30 months, much less 30 years.  The individual who believes that things will be done tomorrow the same as they were today is avoiding information that they know to be true in order to remain in a place that's more comfortable for them.

These are only four of the mistakes that new entrepreneurs can make, whether they are working online or off-line.  These are extreme variations of these characteristics that can cause issues in our lives.  However, if you find that you resemble just a small part of one of these it's time to take a better look at the way in which you manage your time, your life, your family and your business.

People who are willing to take a hard look at their actions and make changes have a higher rate of success than those who continue to do the same thing but expect different results.  New entrepreneurs must continue to evaluate how they do things, changing the ones that get no results and improving the things that do.  As entrepreneurs we are not paid by a company but are only paid when our company produces results.  So let's go make results!