Business

The 5 Biggest Mistakes That First-Time Entrepreneurs Make

Published

5 years ago

December 22, 2021

Becoming an entrepreneur is the dream of many, and that’s understandable, seeing as it comes with a lot of amazing benefits. However, when they finally achieve this dream, a large percentage of people often end up with failed businesses.

Based on information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 20% of startup businesses fail within the two years of establishment and about 50% by the fifth year. Overall, it was concluded that 75% of new businesses don’t make it to the 15th year. This is mostly a result of some rather common mistakes that could be easily avoided.

Sebastian Scheplitz, Founder and CEO of an agency network of five agencies and two e-commerce businesses, has had his fair share of problems between being in a coma, being bullied, and being unemployed. Before founding his first company, he got a degree in international marketing, PR, and business. And now, his content marketing agency for the iGaming industry, Translation Royale, has grown to become one of the top three agencies in Europe for this expertise. Shortly after, he created four more agencies, The Content Spa, Hotcopy Asia, Mastercut Video, and oak & bao, and has started two e-commerce brands.

Sebastian provides insight on some of the 5 most common mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make:

Not Having a Clear Plan and Business Strategy

The current business world is developing rapidly and therefore becoming more complicated and competitive. This is why it is more important now than before to always have a clear plan and sound business strategy. Entrepreneurs have to stand out in the market, so copying the business strategy of another business and hoping it works out may end up being disastrous for the business.

Improvising when it comes to business strategy is also not encouraged as it can often lead to a waste of capital and resources. Sebastian suggests that you have clear goals to succeed: “Don’t say you want to make more in sales; say ‘I want to sell x number more. This means x phone calls per day/x amount of ad spend more.’ Don’t say, ‘My own business would be nice’ say ‘On Saturday, I’m planning to research business ideas for four hours; and on Sunday I’m going to research competitors for each. This weekend I’m going to write a short non-detailed business plan, and print it, laminate it – so I can work with it going forward.’”

Having a Bad Support System

One of the best traits of a successful entrepreneur is accepting that you can’t handle everything alone. So you need to create a support system of people who can contribute to your goal and give you the moral support you need on your goal. According to Sebastian, nothing ruins your life and, therefore, your business more than toxic people.

The business world can be a risky place. There are factors you cannot control, like the fluctuations in the global market and environmental factors. But there are also factors you can control, and one of them is your support system. This is why you should not take it for granted.

Waiting Too Long To Launch

A lot of first-time entrepreneurs end up wasting a lot of time overthinking the same things. They always want to launch the perfect product and end up delaying the launch. But the longer the delay in launching, the more they will start to obsess over inconsequential details. Sebastian advises that you should not fall for the trap of over-researching and over-strategizing.

Waiting too long to launch can lead to a significant waste of time, capital, and resources to create a product that does not align with the consumer’s needs. The best thing to do is to launch an MVP, a minimum viable product, test for market fit, determine areas that can be improved and modify the product as time goes on. Think of it this way, iPhone 12 is a long way from iPhone 1.

Not Having a Target Audience

One of the most common mistakes first-time entrepreneurs often make is not researching the market properly to determine their target audience. It is very inefficient to build a product for every possible audience. Although everyone is a potential customer, without a target audience, even the greatest marketing campaigns can become useless once the message is misdirected.

So, in order to create a successful marketing campaign, it is important to narrow down your target audience. While researching your target audience, you need to understand all their pain points. You can even create different campaigns to target different groups for the same products. However, Sebastian recommends that you start with one of them first and focus your efforts on this group instead of trying to appeal to everyone.

Not Having a Good Work-Life Balance

New business owners are often tempted to always put their business first and neglect other aspects of their life. However, this can be very harmful to both your business and your personal life. It is important that you dedicate adequate time for both your personal and business life because any negative effects on your personal life will affect your business and vice versa.

Sebastian, who also spent time on Japanese Studies at university, explains that according to Ikigai, a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose in their lives, there are four pillars to find happiness. They are work life, relationships, wealth, and health. He further explained that if you leave one out, your life will lose its stability. You can always choose to emphasize one or two of them for a short period. But ultimately, your life, and therefore, the business will only run smoothly if all of them are stable.

Concluding Thoughts

Launching a business is the simple part; even if it doesn’t always feel like it, keeping the business alive can be even more challenging. Statistics have shown that the odds might not be in favor of new businesses.

Despite this, one should not despair because the reason why most new businesses fail can be traced back to a few common mistakes; Not having a clear plan and business strategy, Having a bad support system, Waiting too long to launch, Not having a target audience and Not having a good work-life balance.

So as long as you work hard and avoid these common mistakes, your chance of creating a successful business is very high.

Business

Ipsos Helps Brands Understand How They Get Customer Experience Wrong & Why It’s Costing Them Millions

Published

4 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Matthew Wiles

For brands looking to succeed in the modern business ecosystem, the customer experience (CX) is not something companies can afford to ignore. CX is a direct driver of revenue, loyalty, and growth for organizations.

Ipsos, one of the world’s leading market research firms, helps brands understand that failing to focus on the customer experience can lead to lost sales, which in turn can translate to not only millions in lost revenue but also lost trust and credibility in the market.

How brands still get CX wrong

“The customer decision and desire to do business with brands directly affect the bottom line,” says Brad Christian, Chief Commercial Officer at Ipsos – Experience Practice.

Customer experience may sound like a simple concept, but many brands still get it wrong. CX goes beyond surveys and feedback. Leaders who fail to connect feedback in a meaningful way to goals such as retention, repeat visits or purchases, advocacy, and operational performance fail to deliver on their service promises. The emotional and functional disconnect can spell trouble for brands. The most polished advertising campaigns cannot make up for a frustrating customer interaction or a promise that a business cannot fulfill.

According to Ipsos’s internal research, many customers today see service as too automated and impersonal. More than half report that their experience is worse than promised.

These findings don’t just result in disappointed buyers. They result in lost customers, negative feedback, and a long-term impact on the business as a whole.

“Brands have to manage the entire customer experience across each and every touchpoint,” explains Christian.

Poor CX can be expensive

Executives can often underestimate how expensive a history of poor CX can be. Global losses can reach into the billions while leaders wonder what went wrong. In an age of rapid social media communication, a single negative interaction can spell disaster for a company, leading to reduced customer spending or the entire loss of its most loyal customers.

Those losses are not just reflected in lost revenue, however. Customer acquisition and marketing dollars can also be lost as companies continue to spend money trying to retain their customer base, often skipping right over the experience part of retention.

Poor customer experience can be a deep operating problem that creates a domino effect, decimating businesses from the inside out. These poor experiences can impact not only present and future customer acquisition but also business leaders and employees.

CX matters more in today’s business landscape

The customer experience has always mattered, but it may matter more to brands trying to make it in a modern, ultra-competitive, digitally-driven business landscape. Good experiences encourage repeat purchases, boost loyalty, and increase the likelihood that customers will go online and recommend a brand to others.

“Customer experience isn’t an isolated function,” says Christian. “It’s ‌part of a larger system that ensures that brands measure and manage customer experience data and then act on that data to drive action where customer experience gaps exist.”

Brands also have to seek to understand today’s customers, who expect experiences that are seamless, authentic, and relevant. As more and more companies hop on the automation train, they will want to reassure their customers that the human element that many people consider important still exists.

At Ipsos, six drivers of strong customer relationships form the bedrock of the company’s CX platform, something that they refer to as the “Forces of CX”: certainty, fair treatment, control, status, belonging, and enjoyment.

Customers want to feel that if they have an issue with a brand, it will be handled and that their concerns will be understood. They don’t want the customer experience to feel like a battleground; they want it to feel fair and human.

“Customer experience isn’t just a nicer experience,” says Christian. “It ties directly to specific financial outcomes, whether that be increased sales, greater market share, or stronger brand loyalty.”

How Ipsos helps businesses deliver customer experiences that matter

Ipsos turns customer feedback into reliable, actionable, decision-ready information. The company goes beyond simple satisfaction metrics and implements voice-of-the-customer programs, journey analytics, relationship feedback, and quality research.

“Brands don’t just need data,” Christian says. “They need measurements as to how they are delivering on their brand promise and predictive modeling to tie financial performance measures to those measures to help them determine where to invest to maximize the customer experience and understand what financial impact those investments might deliver for the business.”

Ipsos measures the interactions that matter ‌most and shows brands how each interaction can affect retention, share of spend, and efficiency. For brands that are trying to reduce the guesswork behind CX, Ipsos helps them move beyond cosmetic fixes to achieve real, meaningful change.

Customer expectations can shift on a dime, influenced by society, social media, and even changing trends. Ipsos helps brands meet those rapidly changing customer expectations with hard evidence and comprehensive metrics.

Today’s brands need to understand how to get the customer experience right. Ipsos has the insights needed to drive home the deep importance of CX in today’s marketplace.