How You’re Sabotaging Your Own Business

You put a lot into your business and have a commitment to make it grow. It’s likely that you want to do more than provide for your family, you probably would like to leave a legacy, and, feel the satisfaction of accomplishment. However, what’s holding your company back from its potential isn’t necessarily sinister, uncontrollable, outside forces–it’s you who is the culprit. That might sound strange, but it’s a reality that plagues many organizations, from the mom and pop brick and mortar, to software as a service, to large community companies.

While you’re busy being busy and worrying about this and that, you’re likely missing some behaviors and practices you personally do to sabotage your own business. Sure, you know about your propensity to push yourself and try to keep a sound balance between work and home life, but, there are other ways you could be causing harm.

How You’re Sabotaging Your Own Business

Entrepreneurs have a dedication to an idea, and ironically, it’s that commitment which can cloud judgment, or, cause myopia–not seeing the bigger picture. There’s more to building a business than recruiting the right people, networking, and delivering a good level of service, along with the products or a services you offer or provide. Success begins with you, and, while you might have the drive to make it a worthwhile venture, you might also be impeding growth.

Most entrepreneurs have the drive and desire to succeed. It’s what we grow up learning and what we want from an early age. But many of us have also been adversely wired by negative experiences in ways that sabotage or hinder our chances of personal and business success. The good news is that we can rewire ourselves in ways that not only neutralize our negative programming, but also put us on an even stronger path to success. —Forbes

Most business owners understand that the right pricing, marketing, and brand building are crucial factors for success. What goes largely unnoticed is certain behaviors and practices that can inflict real damage, some of which can be long lasting. So, if you’re doing one of these things, identify them, and settle on a fix.

  • Over-promising. It’s easy to give-in to pleasing your customers, and, doing so is laudable. However, when you over-promise, you run the very real risk of coming-up short. That’s a bad place to be and finding a way out of such a situation won’t be simple.
  • Micromanaging. When you have every member of your organization under your thumb, you are sending a message that says you believe them to be incompetent. What’s more, you’re indirectly telling them they are only a tool, not an asset to your company.
  • Not delegating. It’s one thing to micromanage, but it’s not the same as not delegating. You can be hands-off and not delegate, which can create chaos and decrease efficiency, as well as output. You ought to delegate to streamline your organization and make it work better.
  • Keeping dead weight on staff. When you keep toxic team members on-board, you are sending a bad signal to others. What’s more, that particular person can project a negative image to your customers and to the outside world.
  • Not setting achievable goals. You’ve probably heard the Zig Ziglar quote, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” That’s certainly true, and, it’s just as true of setting goals that aren’t realistic. Set workable goals, reach them, and then repeat.

Another way you can easily sabotage your own business is to take things personally. There will be setbacks, even outright failures, and, you’ll lose good people along the way. Don’t take things personally because you’ll make emotional decisions, not sound ones.

[shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest

Related Posts

Businessman pointing, Thank You page background

4 Foolproof Ways to Write Better Emails

Email isn’t going anywhere, yet most people still write it badly — burying the point, rambling past the reader’s patience, or hitting send before a second read. It doesn’t take a writing degree to fix this, just a few consistent habits. Here are four simple ways to make every email you send more effective.

Read More »

John Waters Talks Breaking the Mold on the Vivid Ventures Podcast

.elementor-widget-text-editor{font-family:var( –e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif;font-weight:var( –e-global-typography-text-font-weight );color:var( –e-global-color-text );}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:var( –e-global-color-primary );}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap, .elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-default .elementor-drop-cap{color:var( –e-global-color-primary );border-color:var( –e-global-color-primary );} John Waters sat down with Matt Nguyen and Trevor Jensen of Vivid Ventures for a wide-ranging conversation about what actually separates growing businesses from stagnant ones, and the episode is live now. Titled “The ‘What If?’ Mindset: How Great Businesses Break the Mold,” the episode brings together John’s 40 years in business and 17 years of entrepreneurial consulting with Matt and Trevor’s own experience working with contractors, service businesses, and product companies. The premise of the conversation is simple to state and hard to practice: most business owners run their companies the way they’ve always run them, and that habit is often the very thing holding them back. John, Matt, and Trevor spend the better part of 44 minutes pulling that idea apart, looking at where “the way you’ve always done it” quietly caps growth, and what it looks like to ask a different question instead. What They Get Into The conversation moves through several threads that will sound familiar to anyone who has hit a plateau they can’t quite explain. John talks about the gap between companies that grow and companies that stall, and why that gap usually has less to do with market conditions than with what’s happening inside the business itself. From there, the discussion turns to financial literacy, not as an abstract virtue but as a practical skill that changes how owners make decisions day to day. There’s a good stretch on team building and the kind of organizational structure that lets a business run without the owner holding every piece together personally. That naturally leads into systems and processes, and the case John makes for building operational visibility so that delegation becomes possible instead of theoretical. He also draws a clear line between reactive management, where the business runs you, and proactive planning, where you set the direction on purpose. One of the more useful parts of the episode is how John applies this questioning approach across very different kinds of businesses, from contractors to service firms to product companies, showing that the “what if” mindset isn’t industry-specific. The conversation closes with a look at leadership and infrastructure as a business scales, plus a segment on how technology and AI fit into modern business optimization, and the value of leading indicators over lagging ones when it comes to steering decisions. Why It’s Worth a Listen This episode is a good fit for anyone who has felt the friction of outgrowing their own systems, whether that’s a founder still doing too much personally, an operator trying to build a team that can actually take work off their plate, or a leader who wants a clearer read on where the business is headed before the numbers force the conversation. John’s style throughout is direct and grounded in what he’s actually seen work, not theory for its own sake. You can listen to the full episode, “The ‘What If?’ Mindset: How Great Businesses Break the Mold,” on the Vivid Ventures podcast: Listen on Spotify. Want to Accomplish More for Your Business? Do you want your company to grow faster and earn more while spending more time with your family doing everything you started your business to do? We can make that dream a reality. Give us 30 minutes, and we will show you how to get your life back. Skeptical? Good! Put us to the test. You can call us for your free appointment at 480-636-1720, or, if you prefer, send us an email. You can also visit us at Waters Business Consulting Group to learn more about us and the services we offer.

Read More »
Waters Business Consulting Group

Should You Scale or Scuttle Your Startup

When business starts to slow, it’s easy to feel like a failure and start packing up your office. But before you make any drastic decisions, it pays to look at your situation objectively—because scaling down, scaling out, and shutting down are all very different paths forward. Here’s how to figure out which one is right for you.

Read More »

Imagine Selling Your Business…

How Would Your Life Change?

You didn’t start your business just to stay busy—you built it to create freedom, security, and options for yourself and your family. Selling your business can be life-changing, but the real question is whether you’re intentionally building toward that outcome or simply leaving it to chance.

Sign up below for a free consultative session to learn what your business could be worth today and in the future! 

Thank you for your interest in learning what your business is worth. We will be in touch shortly.