I’ve Worked With 131,201 Entrepreneurs — and 95% of Them Make These 2 Mistakes

Résumé détaillé

After helping more than 131,000 business owners, I’ve learned that sustainable growth usually comes down to avoiding two surprisingly common mistakes.

After nearly 30 years of working with small business owners, you start noticing patterns.

It doesn’t matter whether someone owns a dental practice, a restaurant, a home services company or an ecommerce business. It doesn’t even matter how smart or talented the entrepreneur is. Certain mistakes show up again and again.

I understand why. Running a business means making dozens of decisions every day. The urgent stuff screams for your attention. New ideas are exciting. Cutting expenses feels responsible. And the latest marketing or technology trend can make you wonder whether you’re falling behind.

Meanwhile, the boring fundamentals that actually drive growth are easy to neglect.

I’ve learned that firsthand. I built PostcardMania from scratch starting in 1998, without investors or outside funding, and I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way — including one that nearly cost me my company.

After working with 131,201 entrepreneurs, though, two mistakes stand out. I see some version of them in roughly 95% of the small business owners I interact with.

Too many entrepreneurs view marketing primarily as an expense to control. I look at it differently: Marketing is the engine that brings customers into your business.

That doesn’t mean spending recklessly. It means knowing your numbers. How much does it cost you to acquire a customer? What is that customer worth over time? Which campaigns consistently generate profitable business?

Once you know those answers, cutting marketing simply because it looks expensive can actually be one of the riskiest things you do.

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