There are many challenges associated with starting your own business… and it doesn’t matter how many times you read a version of that statement; the full impact of it fails to ring true until you’re waist-deep in debt, stress and confusion related to every third task on your to-do list.
It’s easy to forget that others have struggled before you, when crying yourself to sleep in the foetal position, in the middle of the day, because it’s too much, you’re too broke and (you think you’re) too stupid to be a businesswoman.
Better than a stiff drink or credit card shopping spree to take your mind off things, is hearing about other business owners screwing up. So, we want to hear about your less-than-impressive moments, via the comment box at the bottom of this article. Your “learning curve” could save someone else from a set-back, or it may just provide a laugh and help to remind them they’re not the only (occasional) numbskull holding a certificate of business registration.
I’ll kick things off with my own balls-up, related to domain name purchase, hosting packages and web development…
Before deciding to launch an online magazine I knew very little about these aspects of the World Wide Web and what they mean for someone who would like to own a chunk of it. This lack of education resulted in my spending $315 on nothing.
Once I’d decided on my business name nothing could stop me from registering it [SNOBS - Social Network for Opportunistic Businesswomen] and securing a URL (domain name) as soon as humanly possible.
I recall telling the web developers of my first site – this one is take-two – the exciting news, and them telling me I should finish my business course first: “It’s highly unlikely someone will buy snobs.com.au in the next few weeks.”
Yeah, but what if they do? So I whipped out my credit card to make the purchase online and managed to stuff up my order by entering an invalid ABN. Instead of entering the ABN I’ve had for years, for work as a freelance journalist, I entered the number starting with ‘BN’ that is printed on my certificate of business registration. I wound up on the phone to a sales person, which is where I explained how SNOBS would work. It’s not a requirement to tell, but he asked, and I was excited to have a captive audience.
“You’ll need a hosting package too then,” he said.
At the time, my understanding of “hosting” was that the bigger and more expensive package you buy, the more room (MB’s and GB’s) your website will have in cyberspace. Like, your site will be able to have more stuff on it and the more you pay the faster the stuff will work…
“Umm, yeah but I’m not building the website. I have web developers and I don’t know yet how much room and memory, and all that, they’ll need. I better speak to them first and then decide which package to buy.”
But because I crapped on to this guy about my site he suggested (cos I guess it’s in his job description) that I would need the “business package” at the very least.
“Oh absolutely,” I said, “I’ll probably need the biggest bad-ass package you’ve got cos it totally sucks when you go to a webpage and something won’t load properly [no idea what I'm talking about, mind you] but I’ll still check with my web guys first.”
Famous last words… except that they were nowhere near my last. By the time I hung up the phone I’d purchased a one-year business hosting subscription because they had an unbeatable sale price; two years for the price of one! Plus, I learned I could easily upgrade to a bigger package on the same excellent deal, if necessary, after I spoke to my web designer.
About two weeks later, I opened Microsoft Outlook to find I could receive, but not send, email. When I phoned the company I bought my domain name and hosting package from they discovered my outgoing mail server address was invalid because a new host was showing up.
“Hmm, it must be because of something my web designer is doing,” I said.
“I’d say so,” said the customer service operator.
When I phoned my web designer he confirmed that was the case and gave me my new outgoing mail server address. Tops! My email was fully functioning again and, because I had the equivalent of kindergarten education relating to information technology, I was still blissfully ignorant to the fact my $315 host package was now laying dormant.
A few more weeks later, I was given my first tour of the back end “control room” of snobs.com.au. Something came up about my web developer’s choice of host because it offers things that are good for what I need (not his exact words).
“Right, so… you guys have had to purchase a subscription with this new host… and I guess that fee has been worked into what I’m paying you to build my site, right?”
“Yeah, it would be,” he said.
“Oh shit,” I said.
Happy ending: persistence for a (partial) refund from the domain registration company did eventually pay off.
And now it’s your turn. The more embarrassing and costly your business-blunder story, the better!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
well the first thing that comes to mind is “staff”
when i first started out i wanted to “give people a chance ” and “make it all work out” so i trained people up encouraged and encouraged gave out alot of time and money and finally realized,………………..if someone comes to you and your first instinct is uhmmm “maybe it will work” instead of WOW save yourself time, money, and a lot of worry and stress, don’t put them on …………trust me here, im a people person and can see the in potenial in anyone and due to this had to let people go who i should of never put on in the first place . Also ALWAYS do a trial period. I have learned my lesson the hard way.
I now have a great team who really fit .
No one ever told me this so i hope it helps anyone who’s looking to open a business it helps
cheers
Lisa
For me it was Trademarking. I’d registered my proposed business name and URL eight months prior to commencing my short business course.
In the second week we had our legal class, where we were promtly told if we had to go home and register our business names and then trademark them immediately.
Feeling confident about trademarking since I had owned the business name and URL for so long, I was absolutely horrified to find someone else in another state had trademarked my business name in the same class as my business.
My business name was highly personal to me, and I really felt like someone had kicked me right in the stomach and then stole my lungs. The worst part was that I’d missed the opposition period by ONE WEEK. If we’d had that legal class in the first week of the course I might have had time to oppose the trademark.
First all I could think about was the money I’d spent… business name registration, URL registration, business card printing, I even had beautiful promotional keyrings made with my logo which cost me over $300 alone. All wasted. Then came the reality that not only had I suffered this enormous loss, but I had to think of something NEW… and I didn’t have very long to do it!
It took a very long time and a lot of anguish to come up with my new business name, knowing now that I had to consider exsisting business names and trademarks very very carefully!
I’m happy to say the story has a happy ending… I was able to negotiate the sale of my original URL to the trademark owners so I recouperated my lost expenses. And I finally chose a new business name which I now love and it really reflects my business.
And I’ve trademarked it.
Thank goodness for that!