Whilst sitting at home thinking about all the mistakes I’ve made when starting some of my own home business ventures, I also see these same mistakes repeatedly being made by other women too.

So I thought that this would be a good topic to cover in a blog post.

Today I want to share with you the 5 most common mistakes women make when they start out on their home business journey.

Before I learned these, finding and starting my dream home business was a slow and frustrating, to say the least. I seemed to be putting in so much work and tons of effort into a home business but without getting any results.

Now things are a lot easier, and I just love waking up each day to start working on my business.

Because starting your dream home business is’t as confusing or as complicated as you initially think. You just need to know and understand the most common mistakes and break down some of the myths.

Then when you understand what you’re doing wrong, it’s so much easier to correct your roadmap – your pathway to starting a successful home business.

Five Startup Mistakes To Avoid

Mistake #1 Not Doing a Self-Assessment

Do you know yourself well? I mean really well?

If you don’t know yourself inside out, then how are you supposed to find a home business which suits you and a one that you actually enjoy?

This was my biggest mistake when starting some of my home businesses.

I saw other people having success with a certain business and so I jumped on board into that same business niche and model.

However, most times those businesses didn’t suit me or I wasn’t enjoying them because I was a complete opposite to the person who I took inspiration from.

I eventually woke up and made a ‘note to self’ to write down and do a self-assessment so I could match a business which suited me – instead of copying other people.

Mistake #2 Not Doing The Necessary Research First

The other thing I realized is that I still needed to do market research and create a business plan for my new home business idea.

I could kick myself now for not doing this because this is what I learned in my business degree and on a self-employed business course which I took years ago.

I still carried out research on who my target market were and who my main competitors were, but that was just about it.

I also see this same mistake in Facebook groups too – people coming up with a business idea and then their very next step is getting a logo created or a website.

This is a big mistake.

No deep thought, research or planning has gone into their new business venture.

You need to do research on:

and so on.

Then based on the above, you need to create an informal business plan (just for you) so you can see your business vision and the steps you need to take in order to reach that vision and your business and financial goals.

Mistake #3 Not Working on Your Business Mindset

This is a biggie.

Until a few years ago I didn’t even realize that you can have a fear (limiting belief) about making money and being successful.

This was a real eye opener for me, and a relief, because I now knew the reason why I was procrastinating and not doing the necessary tasks in each of my home businesses to make them a success.

I know you might be thinking how did I not know about all this mindset stuff, but the truth is, back in 2002 mindset was not talked about online. It just wasn’t a subject that was discussed.

Of course now it’s one of the biggest subjects talked about, especially among women in business, and I’m so pleased about this.

Related Reading: 7 Daily Habits of Women Who Succeed in Business

After doing some mind work, I found that I had many limiting beliefs about myself and being successful that were holding me back big time.

I still continue to work on my limiting beliefs and mindset each day.

Myth 4: Thinking That You Need a Ton of Start-Up Capital

Did you know that you can start a home business with no money!

This is the difference between starting a small business, or starting a small business from home.

The great thing about a home business is that you don’t have those massive overheads and start-up costs as if you were starting a business which needs rented space or an outlet.

You can start a home business with no money, or at the most $50-$100 dollars.

Isn’t that exciting and inspiring!

Myth 5: Thinking That You Need Business Knowledge

I know that I have a business degree and did a course in starting up a business, but I only put a few bits of the information I learned into practice in my own businesses.

I mainly learned everything I needed to by picking it up as I went along, especially online marketing as that was never taught back in my day.

Now looking back, I wish that I’d had a step-by-step roadmap to follow in setting up a home business from start to finish instead of scrambling around trying to find the right answers. I did eventually put together the pieces and created my own roadmap, but it took me years to get to this point.

So don’t be put off by starting your home business because you don’t have the answers to everything. Pick a couple of mentors and follow their lead, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel or try to figure out everything yourself.

What Next?

So I bet your next big burning question is how to start your home business the right way?

Well, from my experience, I would say that you need to:

you’ve chosen your dream home business, then you go about starting your business by laying your business foundations and putting them into an informal business plan.

These are the exact steps which I took and are now part of my Home Business Roadmap.

Claire

Hi, I’m Claire Bullerwell

I’ve ran dozens of home-based businesses, both offline and online, since my early twenties. I started this blog to share all my wealth of knowledge and experience to help women just like you; to find your dream home business and to live your best life.

Follow me and let’s get acquainted…